The Claim

Patients at Billings Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, were injected with plutonium without their knowledge.

Verified by Lenz · Jul 27, 2026

The Short Version

Historical records and official investigations show that patients at Billings Hospital in Chicago were secretly injected with plutonium in 1945 without informed consent. The strongest support comes from U.S. government, laboratory, and university sources that directly acknowledge the experiments. There is minor uncertainty about the exact number of Billings Hospital cases, but not about whether such injections occurred there.

Caveats

Some sources differ on whether two or all three Chicago-coded plutonium injections occurred at Billings Hospital itself.
The claim is historically accurate, but it compresses distinct issues: lack of patient knowledge, lack of informed consent, and secrecy by researchers and officials.
Secondary summaries are plentiful, but the most reliable basis is official DOE, Los Alamos, and University of Chicago documentation.

The Receipts

Statement on plutonium experiments
University of Chicago ChronicleJan 6, 1994
The Human Plutonium Injection Experiments
Los Alamos National Laboratory1995-unknown
Records of 18 Plutonium Tests Released : Medicine: All individuals received injections unknowingly.
Los Angeles TimesMar 8, 1994
American Nuclear Guinea Pigs: Three Decades of Radiation Experiments and Studies
National Security ArchiveOct 3, 1995
The Plutonium Files: Manhattan Project Human Radiation Experiments
Anomaly Desk / Plutonium FilesOct 2, 1995
Chapter 5: Conclusion
Louisiana State University Law CenterOct 3, 1995
DOE Roadmap: Chapter 3 - Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy2005-unknown
Chapter 5: The Manhattan District Experiments
U.S. Department of EnergyJan 6, 1994
Plutonium injections tested on Americans
Tampa Bay TimesNov 25, 1993
Human Radiation Experiments
Atomic Heritage Foundation1994-unknown

+ 8 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Billings HospitalChicago, IllinoisPlutonium