Medical radiation exposure and accidents. Dosimetry and radiation protection. Do we only benefit the patient?

This article presents and discusses new information on the old Hippocratic moto of "...not to harm but to benefit the patient". Some radiation accidents are due to medical errors. Millions of medical tests exposing radiation are performed every day worldwide increasing and sometimes exceeding the annual permissible dose administered to the general population. Public authorities are now seriously concerned about medical radiation overused. In U.S.A. both the House of Representatives and the Food and Drug Administration have recently delt with this problem. Others and we have suggested before and the International Atomic Energy Agency now proposes: a "Smart Card" for every individual who receives medical radiation. In this card the amount of medical radiation administered will be recorded. It is time to issue rules for protection of the public from medical radiation overdose.