Radioactive rock triggers radiation emergency in a hospital

Recently, the emergency room at the Sky Ridge Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, was closed for more than an hour. Some thing unusual happened. A patient arrived with a radioactive rock in his pocket, the Denver Post reported.

World Nuclear News (17 September 2010) reported Linda Watson, a spokeswoman for Sky Ridge, as saying that the hospital's emergency preparedness response team sprung into action, tested the rock and confirmed the man's claim that it was radioactive.

Immediately, the South Metro Fire Rescue Authority hazardous materials (hazmat) team was called. The hospital took the incident seriously. They isolated the patient and a handful of emergency room personnel and the emergency room roped off,

Mercifully the hazmat team determined that the rock was not harmful and that neither the patient or hospital staff were affected. The emergency room reopened while the rock was taken away for analysis. A spokeswoman for the fire authority, Becky O'Guin, said there was nothing unique about the rock - it was a rock that would be found "naturally" in the out-of-doors. It is not known why the man took the rock to the hospital.

The incident may be considered as an example of over reaction. Others may argue that the hospital went by the rule book