[Remarkable, the things that the government admits doing, and nobody thinks is news]
$5 million settlement reached in radiation study lawsuit
Copyright © 1999Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
CINCINNATI (April 3, 1999 8:12 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
Families of 90 cancer patients who allege their relatives were
unwittingly subjected to military-sponsored radiation experiments have
reached a proposed $5 million settlement, The Cincinnati Enquirer
reported Saturday.
The lawsuit, filed five years ago, alleged terminally ill cancer
patients who sought treatment at Cincinnati General Hospital between
1960 and 1971 were given full-body and partial-body doses of radiation
researchers could measure the effects. The facility is now known as
University Hospital.
The agreement was reached Friday when the last surviving patient from
the study agreed to its terms.
The suit - which named the hospital and the federal government among
defendants - contended many of the patients' deaths were hastened by
the treatment. Researchers in the 11-year study defended their actions
as attempts to cure or ease pain in the earliest days of radiation
therapy.
The government was included in the suit because the Defense Department
paid $651,000 for the test results to learn about the effects of
radiation exposure.
On Friday, the settlement earned the approval of Donna White Christy,
the study's sole survivor, who was treated for cancer at the hospital
when she was a child.
Robert Newman, an attorney for about 50 of the plaintiffs, said the
settlement will amount to about $50,000 for each family.
Terms also include an apology from the government and a memorial
plaque to be placed on the University of Cincinnati campus listing the
patients' names.
U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith will be asked to sign the
agreement on Monday.
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media