The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has fined Bozeman Deaconess Hospital in Helena, MT, $3,500 for losing a vial of radioactive medicine used to treat cancer patients.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the hospital plans to pay the fine, better train its staff, and establish rules through which its employees will raise concerns about radiation safety.
NRC officials found the discrepancy during an unannounced inspection of the hospital on January 27, 2010. The missing vial of samarium-153 is used to treat pain caused by cancer that has spread to bones.
The agency concluded that the hospital willfully failed to secure radioactive materials and failed to maintain constant surveillance of radioactive materials.
