San Francisco
SECRET experiments on corpses were carried out illegally at Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to allegations by the widow and
daughter of an employee who died from radiation exposure almost forty years ago.
Last month, the women filed for damages. Their lawsuit could open the floodgates
to suits on behalf of a thousand families whose relatives were the subject of
similar experiments.
The lawsuit focuses on the death of Cecil Kelley, who worked at Los Alamos in
the 1950s. On 30 December 1958, Kelley was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation
when a stock of plutonium accidentally reached critical mass, triggering
uncontrolled fission. Kelley died 35 hours later, and his widow gave Los Alamos
permission to conduct an autopsy. She says her husband鈥檚 body was delivered to
her in a sealed casket.
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The basis of the Kelley family鈥檚 claim is that without their consent or
knowledge, about 4 kilograms of tissue were removed from Cecil Kelley鈥檚 body
during the autopsy as part of a secret research programme. 鈥淭hey took most, part
or all of internal organs, muscles, tissue and bone and shipped it to labs
around the country,鈥� says Richard Hughes, whose law firm in Santa Fe is one of
four representing Kelley鈥檚 wife Doris and his daughter Katie Kelley Mareau.
Hughes says the family only became aware of the violation in 1993, when
laboratory documents were made public after the Albuquerque Tribune
mounted an investigation into human radiation experiments at Los Alamos. The
family is seeking unspecified damages for suffering and violation of their civil
rights.
In a written statement that Jim Danneskiold, a spokesman for Los Alamos, says
鈥渟peaks for itself鈥�, officials admit that after Kelley鈥檚 death the lab started a
鈥淗uman Tissue Analysis Project鈥�. As part of the project, tissues from 1520
people, including laboratory staff and the general population, were studied over
the decades that followed.
According to the statement, the work was not kept secret. It says that data
from the studies were regularly reviewed and published in scientific journals,
and led to a better understanding of the health effects of radiation. Los Alamos
also claims that for each sample it has a signed autopsy consent form which 鈥�
allows pathologists to remove for diagnostic, scientific or therapeutic purposes
tissues as judged to be proper鈥�. Danneskiold says: 鈥淭he issue in this case does
seem to be, what does the permission of autopsy entail?鈥�
Hughes does not dispute this. But he maintains that the consent given for
Kelley鈥檚 autopsy did not include the research the laboratory carried out. 鈥淚t
was for an autopsy, for ascertaining cause of death. There was no need to remove
all this material.鈥�
Hughes also says the family will ask for the court to certify the lawsuit as
a class action. If a judge grants that request, Kelley鈥檚 family will be able to
sue on behalf of the hundreds of families whose relatives鈥� bodies were used in
the studies.