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==Death==
Crofut underwent treatment for the burns to his chest and forearm in the months following his initial injury. On June 1, 1981, Crofut was admitted to a local hospital and placed into intensive care due to an ongoing infection, where he then died somewhat unexpectedly.<ref name=DesMoReg></ref>
Due to the exceptional circumstances, Crofut’s injury and death were followed by the media, and reported to be “agonizing”. One doctor stated that Crofut’s “Cells were degenerating before our very eyes". Crofut's attorney, Richard Gibbons, described the radiation burns as “grotesque” and “painful”, saying “the area that I looked at was the left side of his chest and it was the most of the left side from his belt line up above his breast. The meat was just completely eaten out and gone for a depth of at least 2 inches”. Gibbons said the radiation burns kept growing, finally “eating away until it got to a vital organ - probably his heart. The man was in such obvious pain.”<ref name=UPI></ref>
Karl Seyfrit, who was director of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) office in Arlington, VA at the time of Crofut’s death, stated that he knew of no other deaths directly attributable to a radioactive source, and Crofut was believed to be the first Amercian to die of radiation injuries since the early days of atomic bomb experimentation.<ref name=Gadsen></ref><ref name=DesMoReg></ref>
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