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Discussions with Dr. Christine Waterhouse and Dr. Bale, University of From the discussions with Dr. Waterhouse i t would appear that she was not involved i n the very early phase of the study. According toher,Dr.Bassett ran the Metabolism Ward by himself. It was a small unit of two beds. Generally Dr.Bassett was assisted by one other physician. On the other hand, however, patients admitted to this Ward were,research material for more than just Dr.Bassett and his deputy. Asa matter of fact,Dr. Waterhouse a t one time performed some unrelated studies on one of the plutonium people. According toDr. Waterhouse, Dr.Bassett was a very conscientious physician and i t would appear almost inconceivable to her that Dr.Bassett would not go through the process of discussing with the patient the procedure and its possible adverse effects. She is quite sure that in view of the security he was notable to use the word plutonium but according t o her i t was most likely that he informed the patient that he was going to inject Most of the people that worked at that time on the Metabolic Ward are now dead with the exception of one technician Geneva Horvath who may have known about the project. When Dr.Bassett left the University of Rochester t o go t o Los Angeles he transferred the responsibility for two of the plutonium patients to Dr. Waterhouse. He did inform Dr. Waterhouse at that time that one of the patients, Eda Schultz, had been injected with plutonium. Subsequently, Dr. Waterhouse found out that the other pti ent Russo had also been injected with plutonium. She does not seem t o remember how she obtained the latter
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piece of information. Both patients have remained under the care of Dr. Waterhouse over the years and are still being seen by her. Both of them are elderly people who repeatedly were admitted tothe Metabolic Ward for medical problems and not for reasons related to the plutonium study. In the past year Dr. Waterhouse stated that she was approached by Rowland and was visited by Dr. Littman from the Center for Human Radiobiology i n regard tothe surviving plutonium patients. She clearly agreed t o cooperate in this venture because she felt that for scientific reasons it was important to collect information on these patients.As a result of this, excreta were collected from the two patients during their stay at the Metabolic Ward. Dr. Waterhouse explicitly stated that she did nothing to the patients except collect excreta and that the patients were admitted because the patients were sick and not for the plutonium study. In addition, she agreed t o having people from the Argonne Laboratory measure radioactivity in one of the patients. During the visit she emphasized that she is willing and planning to disclose to both of these patients as soon as possible the fact that they were injected with plutonium. She has not done it at this time in order not to interfere with any plans the Commission might have for disclosure to all of the people involved inthe study. Dr. Waterhouse gave us the opportunity t o have a quick look a t some of the patient medical records and several of the Ward books. Superficial inspection of these documents would lead tothe conclusion that the medical . .. .f iles do not contain any information either on the matter of consent o r on the plutonium study itself.I indicated to Dr. Waterhouse that in the future the need may arise to have a closer look at these records. She indicated that she would cooperate.
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In a separate folder that came with the medical records I found a number of documents -- some of them relating to the plutonium study which were copied and brought back t o Headquarters. Following documents were Receipt of material -- Ltr.toDr.Friedel l dated 2/14/67. Ltr.toDr. Bradbarry from Andrew Dowdy dated 2/18/47 re writing o f cooperative report of study. Ltr.toDr.Friedel l from Andrew H. Dowdy dated 2/18/47 re including Oak Ridge case in report on plutonium studies. Memo toDr. Bale from Dr.Bassett -- Rough draft of sections responsible for on Report of Pu+4 citrate dated 7/23/47. Memo toDr. Bale from Dr.Bassett dated 12/2/47 re Proposal of work for metabolism section. Memo toDr. Dowdy from Dr. Bale dated 12/3/47 re Program of Work Publication of Work performed under Contract No. LASL and Contract No. W-7401-3ng-49, "The University of Rochester -- Ltr.to Wright Langham from Dr.Bassett dated May 11, 1948 re outline of book. Memo toDr. Bale from Dr.Blair re Human Metabolism Program dated Transmittal control of technical report dated 1/23/48 re The Excretion of Hexavalent Uranium Following Intravenous Administration I1 Human
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11. Memo t o Jane Wike from Marianne Maurer r e Change of Address. 12. Classified Material Receipt dated 6 / 2 5 / 4 8 re The Excretion of Hexavalent Uranium Following Intravenous Administration. I1 Studies on Human Subjects. 13. Memo t o Miss Jane Wike from Marianne Maurer re Transmittal of Technical Report Form dated 6 / 2 5 / 4 8 . 14. Memo t o D r . Howland from Marianne Maurer re Transfer of Personnel of Metabolism Section. Subsequently Imet with Dr. William F. Bale of the Atomic Energy Project whose name appears quite regularly in the files.Dr. Bale at the time was deputy toDr.Blair. Dr. Bale indicated that he was aware of the project at that time ; that he did not remember whether the matter of consent was discussed before the study was initiated but indicated that he has a fairly complete file on the MED phase of the Rachester project and would be willing to go through the files to see if there are any documents of interest to us.I would recommend that in the very near future someone visit Dr. Bale t o search his early records for documents pertinent to the plutonium study.