Report: Govt Settles Radiation Suit

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Sunday April 4 7:14 AM ET 

Report: Govt Settles Radiation Suit

CINCINNATI (AP) - Families of 90 cancer patients who allege their 
relatives were unknowingly 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. 

------------------------
Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

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