Despite the exceedingly low chances, six staff members on the same floor of a Massachusetts hospital have developed brain tumors.
A sixth individual has been added to the list of staff members with a brain tumor on the fifth floor of Mass General Brigham’s Newton-Wellesley Hospital, located west of Boston. While all of the discovered brain tumors have been deemed benign, six additional employees on the same floor are reported to have “other health concerns,” per the New York Post.
One person told CBS News earlier this month that the number is even higher, that as many as ten nurses on the fifth floor have been diagnosed with various brain tumors in recent years. Some of the identified tumors, claims the anonymous source, were in fact cancerous.
“It’s getting to the point where the number just increases, and you start saying ‘am I crazy thinking this?’… This can’t just be a coincidence,” she said, per CBS News.
According to the hospital, no environmental risk factors on the fifth floor have been found that would contribute to the prevalence. For context, the American Cancer Society says the odds of a person developing a malignant tumor of the brain or spinal cord in their lifetime are less than 1%.
“After we became aware of reported brain tumors in individuals who currently or previously had worked in the same area of the hospital, we conducted an extensive investigation in collaboration with the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Newton-Wellesley Safety Officer, radiation and pharmaceutical safety offices, and external environmental consultants,” Newton-Wellesley Hospital officials said in a statement to NBC10 Boston.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association is not satisfied with the hospital’s findings, saying the inquiry was insufficient.
“They only spoke to a small number of nurses and their environmental testing was not comprehensive… The hospital cannot make this issue go away by attempting to provide a predetermined conclusion,” the organization said to Boston.com.