Answer to Question #4794 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Radiation Workers — Pregnant Workers

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

I am a medical doctor (practitioner) in Turkey. Two or three times a day I am in the x-ray room with the patient for positioning when the x ray is being taken. My wife is seven weeks pregnant. Does radiation I receive affect my wife?

Thank you for your question. The radiation exposure you might receive while you are in the room with a patient and an x ray is being taken cannot be taken home so it will not affect your wife or her pregnancy.

The x-ray exposure you receive is not something that you can "give" to your wife like a cold or flu virus.

Congratulations and good luck with the pregnancy.

Kelly Classic
Certified Medical Health Physicist

Answer posted on September 22, 2005. The information and material posted on this Web site is intended as general reference information only. Specific facts and circumstances may alter the concepts and applications of materials and information described herein. The information provided is not a substitute for professional advice and should not be relied upon in the absence of such professional advice specific to whatever facts and circumstances are presented in any given situation. Answers are correct at the time they are posted on the Web site. Be advised that over time, some requirements could change, new data could be made available, or Internet links could change. For answers that have been posted for several months or longer, please check the current status of the posted information prior to using the responses for specific applications.