Final answer:
Pregnant nurses should refrain from caring for patients receiving sealed internal radiotherapy to avoid exposure to any potentially harmful radiation. Safety measures are to protect the health of both the pregnant worker and the fetus.
Step-by-step explanation:
No, pregnant nurses should not care for patients receiving sealed internal radiotherapy. It is a standard safety precaution in healthcare to prevent pregnant workers from being exposed to potentially harmful radiation, even if it is sealed internal therapy. While the risk from sealed sources is significantly lower than unsealed ones, as a safety measure, pregnant healthcare workers are often reassigned to non-radiation duties during their pregnancy. This practice helps to protect both the health of the mother and the developing fetus from any potential adverse effects of radiation exposure. Furthermore, cancer cannot typically spread from the mother to the fetus because the mutations causing cancer are in the somatic cells of the mother, not the reproductive germ cells that would affect the baby.
However, types of work that increase radiation exposure of workers include occupations where individuals handle radioactive substances, such as radiologists, nuclear power plant workers, and some research scientists. Individual worker safety and monitoring are critical in such environments.