Excessive exposure of medical patients to radiation

In general, X-ray examinations are over-used throughout the world. Far too frequently, such examination, whether of the chest, the skeleton, or the abdomen, yields little information that is clinically useful. Many are given routinely, or without medical justification, and thus are 'not worthwhile', according to a report by a group of leading radiologists convened by the World Health Organization (WHO). So overused and misused are X-rays that they constitute a major source of population exposure to man-made ionizing radiation. They are also costly, accounting for an estimated 6 to 10% of a country's health expenditure.