Copyright 2006 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
By KELLY WOLFE
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
Rescue workers got a bit of a scare Friday after learning a woman they treated was radioactive.
A fire department spokesman, citing state law, said he would not reveal the woman’s name.
The Palm Beach County Health Department said the woman was not radioactive enough to be harmful to the rescue workers who touched her.
Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue spokesman Don DeLucia said the woman had been treated for cancer using a radioactive dye. She began having a medical problem Friday and dialed 911.
While waiting for paramedics, she also called the clinic where she had been treated.
The clinic told her on the phone that she wasn’t supposed to have contact with people for 72 hours.
By that time, however, rescue workers were at her home and treating her. Usually, DeLucia said, the workers would have donned lead shields to treat the woman — but weren’t told of her condition until it was too late.
Health department spokesman Tim O’Connor said all is fine, however.
The woman was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment for chest pains. Tests showed she wasn’t radioactive enough to be harmful.
Neither O’Connor nor DeLucia knew why the woman was home after having such a procedure.