Indy
12-20-2006, 09:00 AM
Baby is sent through X-ray machine at LAX
A woman places her month-old grandson in a bin for carry-on items. Doctors later determine he did not get a dangerous dose of radiation.
By Jennifer Oldham, Times Staff Writer
December 20, 2006
A woman going through security at Los Angeles International Airport put her month-old grandson into a plastic bin intended for carry-on items and slid it into an X-ray machine.
The early Saturday accident — bizarre but not unprecedented — caught airport workers by surprise, even though the security line was not busy at the time, officials said.
A screener watching the machine's monitor immediately noticed the outline of a baby and pulled the bin backward on the conveyor belt.
The infant was taken to Centinela Hospital, where doctors determined that he had not received a dangerous dose of radiation.
Officials, who declined to release the 56-year-old woman's name, said she spoke Spanish and apparently did not understand English.
She initially didn't want the baby transported to a hospital, but security officials called paramedics and insisted that the child be examined by a doctor.
The grandmother and the child were subsequently allowed to board an Alaska Airlines flight to Mexico City.
The rare incident drew attention to whether officials are staffing often-busy security checkpoints enough to prevent such an accident. And it raised questions about the danger of X-rays used to pick out suspicious metal shapes in passenger bags, given the medical community's warnings that even low amounts of radiation can build up over a lifetime...MORE HERE (http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-baby20dec20,0,4869996.story)
:no3 What the heck is wrong with people???????
A woman places her month-old grandson in a bin for carry-on items. Doctors later determine he did not get a dangerous dose of radiation.
By Jennifer Oldham, Times Staff Writer
December 20, 2006
A woman going through security at Los Angeles International Airport put her month-old grandson into a plastic bin intended for carry-on items and slid it into an X-ray machine.
The early Saturday accident — bizarre but not unprecedented — caught airport workers by surprise, even though the security line was not busy at the time, officials said.
A screener watching the machine's monitor immediately noticed the outline of a baby and pulled the bin backward on the conveyor belt.
The infant was taken to Centinela Hospital, where doctors determined that he had not received a dangerous dose of radiation.
Officials, who declined to release the 56-year-old woman's name, said she spoke Spanish and apparently did not understand English.
She initially didn't want the baby transported to a hospital, but security officials called paramedics and insisted that the child be examined by a doctor.
The grandmother and the child were subsequently allowed to board an Alaska Airlines flight to Mexico City.
The rare incident drew attention to whether officials are staffing often-busy security checkpoints enough to prevent such an accident. And it raised questions about the danger of X-rays used to pick out suspicious metal shapes in passenger bags, given the medical community's warnings that even low amounts of radiation can build up over a lifetime...MORE HERE (http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-baby20dec20,0,4869996.story)
:no3 What the heck is wrong with people???????