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COMMENTS ON MEETING WITH L HEMPELMANN ON APRIL 17, 1974

HREX; ETHICS; EXCRETA; HUMANS; INTERVIEWS; METABOLISM; PATIENTS; PLUTONIUM; PLUTONIUM INJECTION EXPERIMENT

Location - DOE/NNSA NUCLEAR TESTING ARCHIVE Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - NTA@NV.DOE.GOV

LEGAL DOCUMENT

1974 Apr 17

Never classified

0002

NV0700001

1994 Aug 27

2017 Dec 21

THESE TWO PAGES ARE TYPEWRITTEN NOTES BY AN UNIDENTIFIED AUTHOR ON A MEETING WITH DR. HEMPLEMANN ON APRIL 17, 1974. INITIALLY DR. HEMPLEMANN WAS THE ONLY PHYSICIAN IN CHARGE OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE AT LOS ALAMOS. HE WAS CONCERNED THAT THERE WAS NOT ADEQUATE INFORMATION ON HUMAN METABOLISM OF PLUTONIUM TO PROTECT WORKERS. DURING A VISIT BY STAFFORD WARREN AND HYMER FREIDELL, HEMPLEMANN (AND PERHAPS WRIGHT LANGHAM) RECOMMENDED THAT INFORMATION ON PLUTONIUM METABOLISM BE OBTAINED IN "PATIENTS." STAFFORD WARREN ON RETURN TO ROCHESTER BEGAN A CLINICAL PROGRAM WITH THE HELP OF DR. BASSETT, WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF THE METABOLIC WARD. HEMPLEMANN THOUGHT THAT BASSETT PREPARED THE SYRINGES WITH PLUTONIUM SOLUTION AND HANDED THESE TO ANOTHER PHYSICIAN WHO INJECTED THE PATIENT. HE WAS CERTAIN THAT THE LATTER PHYSICIAN DID NOT KNOW THE CONTENTS OF THE SYRINGES AND BELIEVES THAT A DELIBERATE DECISION WAS MADE NOT TO INFORM THE PATIENT. DR. HEMPLEMANN SAID THAT HE NEVER DISCUSSED THE PLUTONIUM STUDIES WITH DR. WATERHOUSE, A RESIDENT AT THE METABOLIC WARD AT THE TIME OF THE INJECTIONS AND BELIEVES THAT SHE WAS NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED. HE SAID THAT LANGHAM WAS ONLY INVOLVED AS THE FOCUS FOR THE PLUTONIUM ASSAY OF THE EXCRETA COLLECTED BY THE ROCHESTER PHYSICIANS. HEMPLEMANN REMEMBERED THAT WHEN THE AEC TOOK OVER, IT WAS RUMORED THAT THE AEC BIOMEDICAL COMMITTEE WAS INFORMED OF THESE EXPERIMENTS, AND "THEY WERE QUITE UPSET." HEMPLEMANN WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE RECENT FOLLOW-UP BUT KNEW OF IT THROUGH PAT DURBIN (AND PERHAPS ROBLEY EVANS).