A 53-year-old man, a house painter in 1945, was misdiagnosed with terminal stomach cancer and chosen for a radiation experiment. Since he was “doomed to die” within the next six months, he was injected with the highest known radiation dose without his consent or knowledge. Despite his expected death, he ended up living for another 20 years.
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| Source: Wikipedia | Public domain |
A 53-year-old man, Albert Stevens, a house painter in 1945, was misdiagnosed with terminal stomach cancer and chosen for a radiation experiment.
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Since he was “doomed to die” within the next six months, on May 14, 1945, he was injected with a dose of plutonium-238 prepared by doctors at the University of California, San Francisco (which is 276 times more radioactive), without his consent or knowledge.
It was only later, when he was taken to the lab by doctors to remove his internal organs through surgery, that they found out the ulcer initially diagnosed as cancer was in fact benign.
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Regardless of the surprising findings, Stevens and his family were never told that he did not have cancer. But despite his ill-fated misdiagnosis and having received the highest form of radiation, he went on to live another 20 years.
Stevens died in 1966 due to heart failure, in the 21st year after checking into the UCSF hospital.
Stevens was considered to be the first patient in California to receive a plutonium dose and survived the highest radiation dose in human history.
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