US congressmen propose bill to address patient safety loophole in medical imaging

Three US congressmen have proposed a bipartisan bill aimed at addressing what they say is a patient safety loophole in medical imaging. 

Reps. Don Davis, Morgan Griffith and Ben Cline earlier this month introduced the Nuclear Medicine Clarification Act of 2025. Their concern stems from the issue of radiopharmaceutical extravasations—medical errors that occur when a radioactive drug is accidentally injected into the tissue rather than a vein. 

These incidents can cause tissue damage and compromise the procedure, they note. However, since 1980, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has exempted radiopharmaceutical extravasations from “medical event” reporting requirements, even if they result in dangerous doses.

“Patients deserve to have protections and transparency when undergoing treatment for serious health conditions,” Davis said in a statement. “Improving reporting for accidental radiation exposure is long overdue and we must restore the rights of the patients who place their trust in healthcare providers.”

Those involved say the bill would ensure transparency and simplify federal rules. The NRC in 2022 accepted a petition to close the loophole and published a draft proposed rule to require reporting of extravasations that result in injury. However, Davis and colleagues claim the proposal is “insufficient and uses a subjective standard to determine whether an event is reportable.” 

“It is disturbing that in the year 2025 patients can be extravasated with large doses of radiation that affect their imaging or therapy procedure and may have skin and tissue implications. And it is unconscionable that patients are not told, and the NRC is not informed,” Jackson W. Kiser, a radiologist with the Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virgina, who has published numerous articles on this topic, said in the announcement. “I am pleased that Congress is stepping in to force the NRC to protect patients.”

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Source: Radiology Business, 25 April 2025

Further reading on the hub:

• National campaign aims to reduce patient harm from infiltration and extravasation
• Infiltration and Extravasation: A toolkit to improve practice (NIVAS, 20 February 2024)