From:	Pomije, Brian D. (LCDR)
Sent:	Wednesday, November 02, 2005 10:17 AM
To:	Burke, Gerald; Clark, Dorothy M. (CIV); Ely, Karen D. (CIV); Fairchild Gregory R LT; Fong, Raynard K   CAPT; Frampton, Scott W  CIV; Giel, Daniel T. (CIV); Hecht, Sheila C , LCDR; Houston, Tony L. HM2; Johnson, Gabrielle M.; LaFontaine, Richard L CT; Loscocco, Michele F (CDR); Maher, John M CDR; Ozeroglu, Muhammed A  LT; Pomije, Brian D. (LCDR); Ruiz, Steven LCDR; Saylor, Tillman K (NNMC Contractor); Scott, John H., CIV.; Simays, Andrew E., CDR; Solanki, Haresh P; Swilley, Eugene A. (LT); Tu, Victor LT; Van Way, Rick L (LCDR); Younes, Georges  E LCDR
Cc:	Pomije, Brian D. (LCDR); Ely, Karen D. (CIV); Clark, Dorothy M. (CIV); Earles, Marvin R LCDR ; Glennon, Brendan K. CDR BUMED; Lino CDR Fragoso (E-mail) (Lino.Fragoso@navy.mil)
Subject:	NRC Cites Pennsylvania Hospital for Violation of Requirements
To all Radiation Safety Officers and Medical NRMP Permittees:

The following NRC violation is being forwarded for informational purposes only.  No response is required.

Very respectfully,

LCDR Pomije

Brian D. Pomije, MS, DABR
Lieutenant Commander, Medical Service Corps, USN
Radiation Health Team Leader
Navy Environmental Health Center
620 John Paul Jones Circle (Suite 1100)
Portsmouth, VA 23708-2103

W: (757) 953-0766; DSN: 377-0766
Cell: (757) 651-2814
Fax: (757) 953-0685
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NRC Cites Pennsylvania Hospital for Violation of Requirements

(Excerpt taken from U.S. NRC News Releases, Vol. 25, No. 42, Week Ending October 21, 2005)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has cited Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, of Hershey, PA for a violation of NRC requirements.  The NRC is not issuing a fine for this violation.

Based on an investigation conducted by the NRC's Office of Investigations, the agency determined that in three instances former Hershey nuclear medicine techs used NRC-licensed radioactive material to perform unauthorized nuclear medicine tests on themselves in the 1996-1997 time-frame, in October 2002 and April 2004.  NRC regulations require that a technician use byproduct material for medical uses only under the supervision of an authorized user physician.

The enforcement decision was reached through a process called Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR).  Once the NRC identified the apparent violation, it offered Hershey the opportunity to attend a pre-decisional enforcement conference to discuss the apparent violations or exercise ADR.  When choosing ADR, a company meets with the NRC and a mediator to resolve any disagreement on whether a violation occurred, to discuss the appropriate enforcement action and to gain alignment on the appropriate corrective actions.  The ADR session between the Hershey Medical Center and the NRC was held on Aug 23 in King of Prussia, PA.

NRC and Hershey Medical Center have agreed that these medical administrations were not done in accordance with NRC regulations and that two of the administrations were deliberate.  This did not have an impact on the health and safety of patients at the Medical Center.  The facility has taken numerous corrective actions to ensure the events do not recur and has agreed to take additional actions, including providing orientation for new students and employees that describes this enforcement action, and both discussing this issue at professional conferences and communicating it via industry trade journals.  Those commitments were confirmed in an order issued by the NRC.

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