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Case 1

During rush hour in a busy A&E department, a radiographer needs to take an AP chest x-ray for a three-years-old boy. His mother and the domestic helper accompanied the boy into the x-ray room.

The radiographer told the child's mother that either she or the domestic helper needed to hold the child during the radiographic procedure. As the mother was pregnant, oral consent was obtained from the child's mother for the domestic helper to be responsible for holding the child. In order to restrain the movement of the child, the radiographer instructed the domestic helper to use her body to press the child's legs and her hands to hold the child's arms. The child was reacting vigorously and crying. After telling the domestic helper to hold the child tightly, the radiographer took a chest x-ray for the child.

Due to the movement of the child, a poor quality radiograph was obtained and the examination had to be repeated. Again, the domestic helper was responsible for holding the child. The repeat examination was successful. However, after a few moments, the mother complained about swelling and redness of the child's right arm and started to shout at the domestic helper. The domestic helper said that she followed the instructions given by the radiographer.