By Andrew Hoxha In addition to being happy at our work, we also want to feel safe and comfortable as well. The last thing that we would want is to be in a situation where we were put in harm’s way, but unfortunately, that does happen at times.
For some nurses in Massachusetts who work in a maternity ward of the hospital, safety is on their minds constantly. Over the past years, a number of nurses in the department have developed brain tumors, and this is causing quite a stir.
Some of the brain tumors that the nurses get are benign, but others are cancerous. According to one of the nurses who doesn’t want to be identified, 10 of the nurses at Newton-Wellesley Hospital have developed different types of brain tumors over the past few years. Some women are currently employed by the hospital and others were employed previously. This includes the anonymous individual.
Many of the nurses think that it is more than a coincidence that there has been such a breakout of brain tumors and somebody should be taking things seriously. The source said: “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.”
Three of the 10 women who have developed tumors have had surgery and the source said that she doesn’t feel the hospital was being supportive. She said: “We want reassurance, because this has not been a reassuring past few months for a lot of the staff members.
“We want to feel safe, the same way we want to make our patients feel safe.”
The hospital says that its investigation has been ongoing since December and eight interviews have been taken by investigators. Five of those women who were interviewed had benign brain tumors.
After the investigation, a statement was sent by the hospital, where it claimed that after learning of the tumors, it investigated with the Department of Occupational Health and Safety. They also claim to speak into the safety officer at the hospital, along with pharmaceutical safety and radiation safety offices. Additional work was done with external environmental consultants.
The statement reads: “Every staff member who came forward was given the opportunity to be interviewed by the Occupational Health and Safety team to evaluate each diagnosis in the context of their individual medical history and risk factors.
“The investigation found no environmental risks which could be linked to the development of a brain tumor.
“Based on these results, we can confidently reassure our dedicated team members at Mass General Brigham/Newton-Wellesley Hospital and all our patients that there is no environmental risk at our facility. As always, the health and wellbeing of our staff, clinicians, and patients is our absolute top priority.”
Some of the nurses would like more information and an independent investigation. This includes Paula Warner of the Massachusetts nurse Association. She said: “I think the concern is [that] we don’t know what it is.
“And nurses are scared, they’re worried, and they want to make sure they’re not working in an unsafe place.”
The anonymous nurse who spoke out said that she thought the nurses should be the first people because they brought it to their attention. They think that they should be informed first rather than being left out of the loop.