"A New Policy on Radioactive Hotel Guests"

"A drawn-out fight over the guidelines for thyroid patients who are given radioactive drugs has taken a new turn, with a decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it is not a good idea for them to go to hotels.

Patients who are given radioactive iodine used to be quarantined in a hospital so they would not irradiate others. Over the the years, however, as more medical procedures have been shifted to settings other than hospitals, thyroid treatments did as well. Many of the doctors who give such treatments work in places that have no quarantine facilities or other places for housing patients overnight. "

Matthew L. Wald reports for the New York Times' Green blog February 15, 2011.