Aug 2, 2007 11:37 am US/Pacific
King-Harbor Hospital Cited For Safety Breach
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital
Los Angeles County public health officials have cited Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital for a slew of lapses in radiation safety rules, it was reported Thursday.
Lax monitoring and handling of radioactive materials in recent months, and in some cases, years, were among 18 violations found by public health surveyors, according to a report from county public health director Dr. Jonathan Fielding to the county Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Officials from the Department of Public Health's Radiation Management Unit inspected the hospital on behalf of state regulators for three days starting July 17, The Times reported.
The inspection occurred after radioactive substances turned up on a diaper that was found in a garbage bin at a Downey waste facility last month. The diaper apparently came from an intensive care patient who had undergone a routine medical procedure that involved radiation, according to The Times.
The disposal of the radioactive waste, which activated an alarm at the dump, broke state and federal laws that require that such materials be disposed of at specially licensed facilities, Fielding's report said, according to The Times.
The levels of radioactive material in the diaper were "very low."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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