Two registered nurses and the Illinois surgical center they worked for were fined after state investigators said the RNs operated a C-arm despite not being licensed to run radiographic equipment in the state, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

No patients were harmed, according to the paper, but under Illinois law, only doctors, chiropractors, podiatrists, veterinarians and licensed radiographers may operate X-ray equipment.

The two unnamed nurses received $500 fines and Rush SurgiCenter, an outpatient facility on Rush Hospital's campus in Chicago, was hit with a $2,000 fine, the newspaper said.
Illinois Emergency Management Agency, which levied the fines in January, inspected the facility in December after receiving a complaint from a former nurse who said he witnessed two separate occasions when nurses operated a C-arm -- once in August and once in October.

However, an administrator for the facility disputed the claims that anything happened in August and October, saying that more than three years ago, two separate nurses pushed a button to turn on the C-arms when ordered to by a physician, even though it was against the center's policy. The doctor was present in both instances and nobody was harmed, the administrator said.

The administrator also said that the center has made scheduling changes so the violations wouldn't happen again, the Tribune reported.

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