Natural Resources committee  There are essentially two major life-threatening situations. One is the development of pulmonary embolism--blood clots in the lung. The second acute situation is bleeding in the intestinal tract. It is correct that a lot of patients can be taken care of with a spiral CT. If the patient cannot have a spiral CT scan because of allergy to x-ray dye, etc., the only alternative for them is a lung scan.

Natural Resources committee  There wasn't in that situation.

Natural Resources committee  The two other doctors come from large academic centres where the impact isn't as great as in community hospital settings like Sarnia, Brantford General, Pembroke Regional, and Sydney, Nova Scotia. In those situations, the department of nuclear medicine plays a significant role in the management of acute presentation of specific types of diseases.

Natural Resources committee  Good morning. Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure being here. My name is Dr. Christopher O'Brien. I'm immediate past president of the Canadian Society of Nuclear Medicine and president of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine. And I'm medical director of three community hospitals in Ontario, so I bring a perspective on what happened in the community hospital setting across Ontario.