Five nurses from same floor of Mass. hospital have brain tumors

Local News

“The hospital cannot make this issue go away by attempting to provide a predetermined conclusion,” said the nurses union, which is launching their own investigation.

Multiple nurses at a Newton hospital were diagnosed with brain tumors, the hospital confirmed after an investigation, while the nurses’ union says the environmental testing into the cause “was not comprehensive.”

As of this month, five nurses working on the same floor Massachusetts General Brigham’s Newton-Wellesley Hospital have been diagnosed with non-cancerous brain tumors, the hospital announced.

MGB interviewed eleven staff members who worked on the fifth floor in connection with concerns brought up at a staff town hall last month, according to a memo released by the hospital. 

Six of the cases weren’t brain tumors but “other health concerns,” the memo read. Five of the nurses were diagnosed with three different types of brain tumors. Meningioma, the most common type of brain tumor, appeared twice among the confirmed cases.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association said it asked the hospital to investigate in December. The union said the reports are focused on the maternity unit at the hospital, but there are reports from other areas as well.

The investigation “found no environmental risks which could be linked to the development of a brain tumor,” Jonathan Sonis, associate chief medical officer, and Sandy Muse, chief nursing officer, said in a statement.

“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,” the statement read. “As always, the health and wellbeing of our staff, clinicians, and patients is our absolute top priority.”

The hospital’s Occupational Health Service, or OHS, performed a review and found that there were 668 x-rays performed with portable machines on the fifth floor from 2020 to 2024. A nurse standing one meter away from the machines while the x-rays were performed would be exposed to about double the amount of background radiation, or normal daily exposure to radiation.

“Even if a staff member had been present for all of these x-rays, however, they would not have absorbed this much exposure (i.e., one meter from the machine) as we utilize appropriate x-ray safety techniques throughout the hospital,” the memo read.

OHS’s review also concluded that long-term mask use was not related to the tumors. While its drinking water is tested regularly by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the hospital said, OHS sent a sample to an independent environmental testing firm. The results are not yet available, the memo read.

OHS also did not find any abnormal or increased levels of ionizing radiation on the fifth floor and determined that the fourth floor pharmacy’s handling of chemotherapy medications was safely ventilating away from the building. Air quality and cleaning supplies were also checked, the memo said.

“Based on the results of the extensive and deliberate investigation described above, we want to reassure our dedicated team members and all of our patients that there is not an environmental risk at Newton-Wellesley Hospital,” the memo read.

A spokesperson with the MNA said the union’s division of health and safety is investigating the claims. The MNA received more than 300 responses from current nurses at the hospital and is “still verifying diagnoses.”

“We are engaging with the hospital about their inquiry. They only spoke to a small number of nurses and their environmental testing was not comprehensive,” the MNA’s statement said. “The hospital cannot make this issue go away by attempting to provide a predetermined conclusion.”

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.