Nuclear Fallout

It’s funny, how life works with all its twists and turns, Lynn thought, sadly. I had so much more planned for us.

Lynn gazed at her husband peacefully sleeping in the chair by her hospital bed and smiled. She knew he hadn’t slept much this last week, since her return to the hospital. He was there for her, as he had been these last three years.  It had been rough, and she had fought valiantly with him by her side. Each time, after returning home, he had supported her, only to get punched in the gut in the months following. She understood that he had been suffering mentally, as much as she had been physically.

But this time it was different. There would be no more histrionics about how unfair life was. No more gathering memos and other evidence. No more looking at the legal angles to prove her health issues were work related. No more trying to get her employer, The Bern Group, pay for her treatments. They had rejected all her workman’s compensation claims. Her struggles were over. It was a relief, in a macabre sort of way.

The only thing she had left to do was to make it as easy as possible on her husband. She vowed she would leave this world with strength and grace.

Tom’s snored loudly and seemingly woke himself up with one final snort. His head jerked forward and his eyes opened. When he saw that Lynn was awake, he sat up and smiled at her. 

His smile still lights up the room, she thought.

But even his smile couldn’t hide the worry that was etched upon his face. Deep lines had permanently carved themselves around his blue eyes and forehead - a reminder of how long she had suffered.

“Did I fall asleep?” he asked, knowing it was a silly question. He was annoyed at himself for letting exhaustion overtake him. He tried to hide how much this was wearing on him. He wanted to be there whenever she needed him. Selflessly, he reminded himself that she was the one going through the tough times.

“Sorry, hon, I didn’t mean to nod off. How are you doing? Do you need anything?”

“You looked so relaxed, sleeping like that,” Lynn answered. “I didn’t want to wake you. I’m fine. I rested also. The depo people will be here soon, though.”

At that, Tom grimaced, balling his hands into two fists. The deposition. He had almost forgotten that was today. They were coming to his wife’s hospital room to take her deposition. They wouldn’t even wait until she was back home. He knew what he’d like to do to whoever showed up.

“Relax, hon. I got this,” Lynn said, seeing him tense up. “Really. It’s OK. And after the depo, you can see about breaking me out of this joint. Doctor Munson said I could be released this afternoon.”

Tom nodded and attempted to smile, but he was still seething about the deposition. When they had discussed the deposition, he had told Lynn he wanted to hire a separate attorney specifically to represent her interests, in case there was daylight between what was best for The Bern Group and her. “The company is not looking out for you. Their lawyer is going to circle the wagons and throw you under the bus if you say anything they don’t like,” he had told her. He wanted to protect her from any fallout. 

But she no longer needed his protection. Lynn and Tom had never hidden anything from each other. Until now, that is. Lynn had not told Tom the truth about the last report the doctor had given her. Things were progressing too quickly and had spread beyond what was treatable.  She only had a week, maybe two, left. She had made her peace with this latest bout of cancer, but Tom didn’t know that. He thought she was fighting, like the last two times. He was hoping for another remission. 

It’s good that he still has hope, Lynn thought. It’s something I lost even before these new tests. I can’t destroy that. Not until I have to.

She knew Tom was worried the company was looking for a scapegoat. And Lynn agreed that he was right. Every word she said would be analyzed, and if she broke from the company line, they would come after her. 

Her meeting a few weeks ago with the corporate heads and the company attorney had been clear. She had been warned not to lie, exactly, but also not to elaborate. Answer succinctly, only “yes” or “no” if possible. Do not offer any opinions. Or else…

At the time, Lynn took the veiled threat seriously. But now, well, she figured she was in the driver’s seat. What could they do to her, at this point? Fire her? Laying in her hospital bed, she had secretly vowed to tell everything she knew about the accident. She no longer feared the repercussions. She would tell the truth regardless of the company line. It was the right thing to do.

She knew they had cut corners, which resulted in the accidental radiation leakage. And she knew people had been hurt as a result. If anyone at the office had asked her, which of course they didn’t, she would have told them that The Bern Group should settle. But it was out of her hands. It was now up to the judge to adjudicate the lawsuit and allocate financial culpability…as long as he had sufficient evidence.

***

It was almost exactly ten years since Tom had met Lynn. She was beautiful, smart, athletic, funny – everything a guy could want in a partner. If he thought about it, he could name a dozen adjectives to describe her, and it probably still wouldn’t fully illustrate how he felt about her. 

That wasn’t to say it had been easy, though, for both of them. Lynn worked in a male dominated field and was constantly fighting for respect. Although a brilliant and highly successful nuclear physicist, she had to put up with juvenile antics that tried to demean her professionally. Often, she was the only female attending business meetings. More times than she could count, she had been subjected to side discussions about the female anatomy. She had endured a boss who used to time her trips to the ladies’ room, in an attempt to prove she was less productive than her male counterparts. Never mind that she was always at her desk early, didn’t take coffee breaks, and produced impeccable and timely work product. If she messed up, which she never did, her boss would be only too happy to fire her. She could recount other instances of sexual harassment at Bern, too. 

Of course, it was against company policy to create a hostile environment in this manner. Not to mention, it was against professional decency. But it had been a similar story in other firms at which she had been employed. It upset her, but when she complained to various human resource personnel, she was told it was because there were very few women in her field. And the standard “boys will be boys” seemed to be the underlying excuse. So she grew a thick skin and endured.

From the beginning, Tom was on her side, commiserating with all the extracurricular garbage she had to tolerate. He was often the shoulder she leaned on when she came home from a particularly stressful day. With all she had to put up with, and still carry on with such dignity, Tom thought she was the strongest person he knew. She deserved better, but he was powerless to stop the juvenile antics she was subjected to at work. He wanted her to quit, and find something else. Finally, she said she was considering it.

This incident, for which the deposition was needed, had been the final straw – Lynn’s company was being sued for their role in an accident at one of their nuclear facilities.  It wasn’t a full-blown Fukushima event, but about four years ago, some employees had accidentally been exposed to high levels of radiation which had leaked due to the inadequate disposal of radioactive waste material. 

Back then, The Bern Group higher-ups had decided that some of the safeguards at the nuclear plant were redundant and therefore unnecessary. Procedures were circumvented. Lynn, in her regulatory function, had railed against the cost-cutting measures. She had visited the plant often, and reported irregularities she spotted, both to her superiors and anonymously to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency, as a whistleblower. Eventually, the NRC did an audit, and The Bern Group was warned about taking short-cuts. 

And Lynn was taken off the project.

“The problem with nuclear accidents such as the one The Bern Group caused,” she had explained to Tom, “is that the health effects are usually seen years after the damage is done. It makes it hard to prove a cause and effect.”

Besides Lynn, three employees at the plant had taken ill, after exposure cleaning up an area where the radiation leak occurred. Cancer – all three. Lynn wasn’t sure what kind, but they all developed cancer within months of each other. Two of the employees later died. It was the family of those three former employees that had started the lawsuit.

The company is countersuing for damages, including legal expenses, loss of reputation and income from undue periodic closure of the plant during the investigations. They also want absolution from any real or future damages, saying it is impossible to connect the illnesses to their plant. 

Lynn is not part of the lawsuit, as she worked at corporate headquarters. And when she visited the facility, no radiation levels were taken in the areas to which she had been restricted. Any exposure she claimed was undocumented. Absent data, she was still convinced her cancers were caused by the same radiation leaks that affected the three employees of the plant.

The company line was that it was a coincidence she has been afflicted with three unique cancers in the years that followed the accident. And according to her oncologists, in their collective experience, it was unusual to have three completely different types of cancers so close together. Bern maintained that unusual does not constitute proof. As such, her workman’s compensation requests were dismissed as the illnesses were deemed unrelated to her employment. 

***

At the sound of a knock, Tom opened the door to his wife’s hospital room. Two serious looking men in business suits and a woman with a roller bag entered. 

The first man introduced himself as he held out his hand. “I’m Joe Shapiro, attorney for the defendant, The Bern Group, and this is Peter McKay, attorney for the plaintiffs. You must be Tom. We are here to take Lynn’s deposition. I believe you were expecting us.”

Tom glared at the two men, his arms by his side. He wasn’t about to shake hands, or be congenial in any way. He wanted to send a message, and hoped they would relay the same back to their respective parties. 

Vultures, he thought. They can’t even wait until she gets better.

Meanwhile, no one introduced the lady with the roller bag, who silently maneuvered the hospital bed table to the sole chair in the room and lowered it to the correct height. She then started setting up her equipment. A tape recorder and some other tools of the trade. Once empty, she moved the roller bag to a far corner so it would be out of the way.

She must be the transcriber, to take note of all that is said, thought Lynn. Good! I hope she gets everything. 

“Tom, go get a couple of more chairs from the lobby, please. I’ll be ok,” Lynn said.

Reluctantly, Tom left the room in search of chairs. 

After Tom left, Joe asked Peter and the unnamed lady to give Tom a hand, so he could have a moment to speak to Lynn. “Look Lynn, this shouldn’t take too long. We really do hate to bother you in the hospital, but the sooner we take care of business, the sooner this frivolous lawsuit can be put to rest. I’m sure you agree.”

Lynn was incredulous. Frivolous lawsuit?

“Frivolous lawsuit. That’s an interesting way to phrase this,” she told him. “You do realize that people died. And others were sickened.”

“Look, we understand you are not feeling well. I’m sorry about that,” Joe responded. “Just stick to what we spoke about the other week at the office. As long as you and the company are on the same page, I will represent you as well. We don’t want you to lie, but we don’t want you to embellish, either. Don’t be foolish. Just “Yes” and “No.” Got it?”

Lynn nodded. A knock saved her from responding further. Tom and Peter, along with the no-named lady, entered, each carrying a chair.

“Thank you, Tom. Now if you’ll excuse us, we are going to start. Lynn can have the nurse notify you when we are finished.”

Lynn smiled and nodded at Tom to let him know she was fine, so he left the room. 

***

Tom paced in the hallway for about an hour before the nurse finally convinced him to go to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee. When he returned to the floor, he saw Peter and the transcriber lady leave his wife’s room.

Weird how they never even mentioned her name. It’s like she was invisible, he thought as he looked at the transcriber walk down the hall toward the elevator. He shook his head as he remembered how his wife had been treated. Sarcastically he thought, boys will be boys, and vowed to make every effort at his job to make sure all women were treated with respect.

Tom entered the room. Joe was packing up his things, readying to depart.

“So, how did everything go?” he asked, looking intently at his wife.

“Well…they never asked the right questions,” Lynn said. “It was obvious that their attorney, the one named Peter, had no idea what goes on in a nuclear facility…how radioactive material is to be disposed, regulations, half-life … he knew nothing. He didn’t even know what records to ask for.”

“Which is just fine for our side,” Joe chimed in, a little too gleefully for either Lynn or Tom’s taste. “No records means no proof.”

“But  you have to disclose whatever records you have, don’t you?” Tom asked. “Anything related to possible exposures at the plant or radiation levels exceeding the norm?”

“We would, if we had any. Unfortunately, I have been informed by the corporate heads that all those records were accidently destroyed years ago. Somehow they were wiped from the server. Very unfortunate, but apparently there are no records to disclose,” Joe said smugly. “I think this matter will be put to bed very soon.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Lynn said as Joe left the room.

“You didn’t…” Tom looked at his wife.

“Yup. I did. You remember Yogi Berra’s famous quote – it ain’t over til it’s over?”

“Yeah…,” Tom said hesitantly.

 “Well, this lawsuit ain’t over. Not by a long shot!” she replied. “I have all the records that were accidentally ‘wiped’ from the server. Plus a lot more.  I made hard copies when I was first diagnosed. Copies of all my emails, warnings about the illegal disposal of radioactive waste -reports of all the regulatory violations. I have all the recorded radiation levels to which the employees were subjected. And, the boxes in our car-those are all my records in triplicate. We can mail them on the way home! Three boxes of documents to mail – one to Bern, one to opposing counsel and one to the NRC.”

“Will this help you – at least to get workers comp to cover your medical bills? Or could you join in the lawsuit now, as a plaintiff?”

Lynn stared into space, then looked at Tom. “They were right about one thing-there were no records of radiation levels in any of the areas I was in. I can’t prove anything related to my illnesses, but I had plenty of damning information supporting the plaintiffs’ lawsuit. They should receive a very large settlement.”

“They’ll fire you,” Tom said, again admiring his wife. And, looking at her in that moment, Tom knew. He gasped.

Lynn smiled and reached for Tom's hand. “I gave Joe my resignation letter – slipped it in his briefcase. Now, let’s get out of here and enjoy this beautiful day. Please.”

And he took his wife home for whatever time they had left.

***

Author's note: This story is primarily fiction, but some elements are based on true events.