Radiography Cases >> Portables/ Mobiles >> Case 1 / Case 2 / Case 3 / Case 4

Case 1

Paul, a radiographer I, was responsible for portable x-rays. One day, he was supervising a third year student radiographer, Helen, during her clinical placement. Both of them took the portable X-ray machine to the cancer ward as they had received a request to image a 10-year-old male patient, John. On the request form, pre-operative chest radiography was noted and a chest X-ray was requested.

Upon reaching the ward, Paul and Helen saw that there was a 6 year old female patient, Mary, staying with John in the same room. Mary's father, Mr Hau, was hugging her when Paul and Helen arrived. Then, Paul explained to John that they were going to take the chest X-ray for him, while Helen asked Mr Hau to leave the room for radiation protection purposes. However, Mr Hau said that it would be difficult for Mary to leave the room and he would not leave without her. He argued that Paul and Helen should not carry out the chest X-ray in the common area. As this examination was urgent, Paul ignored Mr Hau's concerns and carried out the chest x-ray. Paul ordered Helen to undertake the positioning while he was responsible for centering the beam.

After the examination was finished, Paul and Helen went back to the main X-ray department. Later they found out that Mr Hau had made a complaint about them.

Does Mr Hau have solid grounds for complaint?