Historically there were actually "live" x-ray machines, where you could have seen yourself wiggling your toes. They aren't used now due to the horrific exposure to x-rays, but before that was understood to be bad they were used in shoe shops (!). I don't know that they were ever used in hospitals though
Digital x-ray sensors require a much smaller exposure than film, and I'd guess a lot smaller exposure than a shoe sizer machine, too.
For multiple exposures in motion, it will add up, but assuming there's a reasonable diagnostic benefit and the total exposure isn't too long, and the staff is well protected, it's a reasonable risk.
It took several minutes and a couple tries to get the exposure right on certain shots. They didn't seem overly concerned about the exposure. The person operating the machine didn't seem at all worried about it, so I didn't worry either. Can't rule out that I should have!
These days the machine itself should also warn if it's on too long, so perhaps the operator was relying on that. These days even UV treatment gets added to your record so that further treatments don't accumulate too much. Well, it does in the UK at least.
> UV treatment gets added to your record so that further treatments don't accumulate too much
Which also takes into account how much time you spend outside during daylight hours, right?? That seems like such a large confounding variable that it renders the hospital-side measurement kind of pointless...
And of course the most harmed by fluoroscopes weren't the customers (bad enough) but the sales staff, who had multiple daily exposures day after week after month after year.
Checking your Wikipedia link: Yikes! These were used into the 1970s.
And of course industry denialism of any possible harm the devices might cause....
Historically there were actually "live" x-ray machines, where you could have seen yourself wiggling your toes. They aren't used now due to the horrific exposure to x-rays, but before that was understood to be bad they were used in shoe shops (!). I don't know that they were ever used in hospitals though
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-fitting_fluoroscope