$5 million settlement reached in radiation study lawsuit

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Sun Apr 4 00:21:40 PST 1999


[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



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