National Affairs: Escape

Last October William C. Twitchell, 36-year-old atomic engineer at the University of California’s radiation laboratory, was hospitalized for neurological observation. Civilian doctors who soon diagnosed Twitchell’s illness as cancer passed their diagnosis on to the Atomic Energy Commission, for whom he worked. The AEC, fearful that Twitchell might disclose atomic secrets during periods of delirium, promptly moved the young engineer into a private room in the Letterman Army Hospital at San Francisco’s Presidio. Last week William Twitchell died, thereby at last escaping the 24-hour-a-day surveillance which specially screened male nurses had maintained over him for the past two months.