BMJ  2004;329 (9 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7470.0-d

Radiological risks are not explained well

Informed consent for radiological examinations is often not sought, and even when it is, patients are often not fully informed, even for considerable levels of radiation exposure and long term risk. Picano (p 849) argues that risk might easily be communicated for each examination by reporting the dose in multiples of the dose from a chest x ray and the risk of cancer as number of extra cases in the exposed population. Patients should be told about the radiation dose of the higher risk examinations.

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Informed consent and communication of risk from radiological and nuclear medicine examinations: how to escape from a communication inferno

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BMJ 2004 329: 849-851. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]