Radiation treatments for cancer patients may put the public at risk

GOODYEAR, AZ - Cancer patients who have been sent home after treatment could be putting your health at risk.

"The thing about radiation is, it is scary because you can't see it, you can't smell it and you don't even know it's there," said Courtney Ducker, a nuclear medical technologist.

Ducker works every day around radiation such as radioactive iodine pills.

That pill is one of the last steps in the treatment of thyroid cancer, which is a  treatment David Zarra just finished after finding out he had cancer in January.

"I couldn't believe it, my whole life just seemed to be going into shambles," Zarra said.  

Zarra had to be isolated in a room lined with lead so that the radiation wouldn't spread.

"You're so radioactive you can't be around little ones, children, or anybody," Zarra said.

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Goodyear, they won't release patients until they know it's safe for the public.

"We go a few more days just to make sure they're completely safe," Ducker said.

But according to a new congressional report, some patients are getting sent home too early with instructions to isolate themselves, which isn't happening.

"I'm now absorbing the radiation from the patient that's sitting next to me and I have no idea," Ducker said.

The report details instances of patients setting off radiation alarms in public areas.

"That exposure could cause damage to your own thyroid or if you're pregnant it could cause cellular damage to the fetus," Ducker said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding meetings this week to see what action they might need to take.