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WS11‐01The Croatian ultrasound safety law
Author(s) -
Breyer B.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.202
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1469-0705
pISSN - 0960-7692
DOI - 10.1046/j.1469-0705.2000.00009-1-65.x
Subject(s) - medicine , parliament , law , harm , medical emergency , medical physics , politics , political science
Legal regulation of the safety of medical applications of ultrasound is important for protection of the patients and physicians. The matter of ultrasound safety has recently been regulated in Croatia within the framework of the law on nonionising radiation protection. The law as approved by the parliament regulates the general principles and material cornerstones while the details are defined by rules and regulations issued by the Ministry of Health. Apart from medical applications ultrasound is used in plastic and metal welding, food processing, cleaning, electroplating, drilling and metal flaw detection, to mention but some. The law had to be general and sufficiently cover the whole spectrum allowing for the special medical exception. Namely, the medical professional may breach the integrity of human body and even harm the patient if the expected net final result of the whole proceeding is expected to help the person who seeks help. The law in Croatia states that ultrasound may not increase the temperature of the human body to more than 38.5 °C and may not induce cavitation there. However medical applications of ultrasound are specifically excluded from this limitation. The requirement is the application of the ALARA principle. The specifics of the regulation of the total field of medical applications of ultrasound are now being prepared under consideration of the existing and the presently processed IEC from IEC committees TC 62 and TC 87 documents and taking into account the present regulation in the USA.