The latest news published in the Archives of Internal Medicine publication states that the radiation from CT (computed tomography) scans performed in 2007 will cause approximately 29,000 cancers and kill around 15,000 people.  This is more evidence that Americans are being overexposed to radiation from diagnostic tests.

What is being uncovered is that there is a significant amount of radiation exposure to patients who undergo this procedure.  In fact, the dosage of radiation exposure to the patient is more than 100 times the dose of a chest x-ray!

The scary part is that physicians are performing millions of CT scans annually, and also that the numbers of scans is increasing.  About 70 million CT scans were performed on Americans in 2007.  In 1980, the number of scans given was 3 million.  The data appears to lead to the conclusion that U.S. doctors are ‘test-happy’.  It is highly unlikely that there was a critical need for 70 million CT scans for patients.

This is just more ammunition that is proving that none of the radiation we’re supposed to believe is safe, really IS safe.  The bottom line is that the very procedures that are being used to diagnose disease are causing disease!  This is not a good situation.  The Hippocratic oath says that the physician should, “first, do no harm.”  But this isn’t what is going on.

So the next time you go in to see the doctor and they recommend a CT scan (or any other diagnostic procedure that exposes you to radiation), you may want to try to find another safer way to get diagnosed. I don’t think the physicians are purposely irradiating people for profit, but they are extremely comfortable with it.  It is routine for them, but you’re basically playing ‘radiation Russian roulette’ because no one knows who will get cancer from it.

This shows how important it is to be knowledgeable and proactive with your own health.  The advice that the physician gives can only be as good as the knowledge level the patient has. Your state of health is your responsibility, not that of your physician.