When employees at St. George Endocrine and Diabetes Clinic in Utah started feeling sick several months after a CT scanner facility opened next door, clinic director Paulette Valentine immediately made the connection. It turns out that her suspicions of radiation exposure were unfortunately correct following extensive testing.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the Intermountain St. George Imaging Center opened in mid-2023. By early the following year, workers began reporting increasingly frequent medical episodes that included dizziness, nausea, migraines, exhaustion, drowsiness, and general feelings of discomfort.
State laws required the new CT scanner lab to install lead-lined drywall between the businesses to protect employees from radiation. But when officials from Utah's Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control cut into the wall closest to the lab, they found no evidence of the protective barrier.
Because of the alleged negligence of the construction companies hired by Intermountain, employees at the St. George Endocrine and Diabetes Clinic sued the former, along with Medical Physics Consultants, Inc. — a company that specializes in developing shielding plans for businesses — claiming that 27 people, including three children, had been "exposed to excessive levels of radiation."
Since the imaging center opened, one of the patients at the medical clinic has been diagnosed with leukemia, and all the plaintiffs face a higher risk of developing iatrogenic cancer, a type of cancer unintentionally caused by medical treatments or procedures.
Despite the severe symptoms that employees began experiencing coincidentally around the time the imaging center opened, Intermountain determined that their concerns "must not be warranted" after the company reviewed an initial test performed by Medical Physics Consultants that reportedly showed that the lead-lined drywall was working as intended.
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But that answer did not sit well with Valentine, other employees, and the patients at the medical clinic, many of whom "became concerned for their health and wanted answers," per the Tribune.
They decided third-party testing might provide a clearer picture, so they called the Utah Occupational Safety and Health, whose radiation control department discovered "scatter radiation exposure exceeded the maximum amount of radiation exposure allowed for members of the public," according to the lawsuit.
State testing measured radiation levels in the hallway near the X-ray room at around 0.44 rem on average, well exceeding the maximum allowable limit of 0.1 rem of residual radioactivity per year for businesses, according to the Tribune. Langston stated that patients and employees at the diabetes clinic may have been exposed to more than 7.9 rem in the year after the imaging center opened — a dangerous level of radiation.
The Environmental Protection Agency noted that "exposure to low levels of radiation" does not cause immediate health effects, but can cause a slight increase in the risk of cancer over a lifetime. While the body has efficient mechanisms to repair damage caused by radiation, it can become overwhelmed by persistent exposure.
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Majorly 😥 Langston added that since one employee at the clinic was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy, it "obviously would concern the others that have been exposed that this might be something that is in their future."
Because companies have a significant impact on public health, it's essential to hold them accountable and ensure they follow proper safety guidelines. Thanks to the diligence and detective work by the clinic director, the patients and employees were able to get the treatment they needed much earlier than they would have if the clinic had trusted only the consulting company's readings.
Hopefully, they will make a full recovery, and the companies involved will be penalized accordingly for endangering the public.
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