Five Nurses. One Unit. All Diagnosed with Brain Tumors

When five nurses on the same floor get brain tumors, “coincidence” doesn’t cut it.

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Five Nurses. One Unit. All Diagnosed with Brain Tumors
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The hospital cannot make this issue go away by attempting to provide a predetermined conclusion... They only spoke to a small number of nurses and their environmental testing was not comprehensive.

— Massachusetts Nurses Association, via Boston Herald

 

Five nurses—all working on the same maternity floor at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts—have been diagnosed with brain tumors. Six more staff members from the same area are dealing with other serious health issues.

And the hospital's response? Nothing to see here. They claim environmental testing found "no risks.” But the Massachusetts Nurses Association says the testing was incomplete and not enough nurses were even consulted. Their health and safety division is now conducting its own investigation.

Meanwhile, the state's Department of Public Health says it's "in communication" with the hospital—but so far, they're allowing the internal investigation to play out.

We know how this goes. You show up, do your job, ignore the strange smells, weird headaches, malfunctioning vents—whatever. You trust the system. But what if that trust is what puts you in danger?

This could've been your floor. Your shift. Your scan.

Stories like this force us to ask... 

Where is the accountability?

⚠️ How many nurses have to get sick before we stop calling it coincidence?

⚠️ Could the hospital be hiding something?

⚠️ Why are nurses being gaslit for speaking up about serious safety concerns in the hospital environment?

⚠️ If you raised concerns, would anyone actually listen?

We all deserve to feel safe in our workplace. But what happens if the real danger is potentially behind hospital doors?

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Erin Lee

About Erin Lee, BSN, RN

(Editorial Team / Admin)

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Not enough facts to think any particular thing about this other than that looking into it is a good idea.

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Although Infound several articles discussing this, your link returns to this page.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Procedural, Care Coordination, LNC.
chare said:

Although Infound several articles discussing this, your link returns to this page.

😳 Opps. Thank you for letting us know @chare! Resource link has been updated - Boston Herald

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It's nightmare fuel... it's obviously some sort of workplace related environmental exposure because that many nurses with the same type of cancer surely breaks statistical possibility of it being random. My first guess would be there is some imaging equipment on a floor above or below that is emitting radiation through the floor or ceiling. Or they're being exposed to some routine medication that requires use of additional PPE, and they are not being informed/educated about the additional precautions. It was an L&D floor, right? I don't think those units typically have imaging or dangerous drugs?

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AllNursesAcct said:

because that many nurses with the same type of cancer

But they don't all have the same type of cancer, in fact they don't have cancer at all according to the news reports currently available. The reports are of benign brain tumors of different types. At this point with the information available there is nothing refuting whether these could even be "incidentalomas" (findings noted on testing but not thought to explain symptoms) for example—just one of many possibilities. 
 

Again, obviously investigation warranted but beyond that there is nothing else that can really be said about this. 
 

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I don't think those units typically have imaging or dangerous drugs?

They do perform imaging, news reports note the number of X-rays performed there in a given time period. Remains to be seen if there is any connection. 

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