UN Worker Blames Roosevelt Island Home For Cancer Diagnosis: Suit

ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NY — A former resident of a Roosevelt Island apartment complex is suing his former co-op board, alleging that an electric transformer installed on his building gave him cancer.

Dragan Micic and his wife, Lidija Bubanja, filed the suit last week in state court against managers of Rivercross, a 365-unit development on Main Street.

Micic, 48, works for the United Nations, where since 2014 he has served as a partnerships advisor with the UN's Office for Project Services. In 2019, he and Bubanja purchased and moved into a ninth-floor apartment at Rivercross — but were not told that a transformer had recently been installed just outside their apartment, sharing a wall with their bedroom, according to the suit, which was first reported by the New York Post.

"For the next 17 months, Plaintiffs slept less than one foot away from the transformer and their upper bodies, more specifically their heads and necks were exposed for 6 to 10 hours a day to levels of radiation that exceeded recommended standards," the suit reads.

In August 2020, Micic was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer after doctors discovered a tumor in his nasal passage and behind his eyes. Meanwhile, he and his wife began suffering from constant headaches, fatigue, anxiety and insomnia.

Micic contends his cancer was caused by radiation emitted by the transformer. The validity of that claim may be dubious: studies have not proven any link between electromagnetic fields and cancer risk, according to the EPA, though the issue is still being researched.

Patch was not able to reach Rivercross's board for comment, though a manager for the co-op declined to speak to the Post about the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Rivercross's Board of Directors emailed residents Tuesday to deny Micic's claims, calling the lawsuit "without merit," according to Roosevelt Islander.

By 2021, on the advice of Micic's surgeon, Micic and Bubanja were forced to sell their apartment at a loss and move to Westchester County, according to the suit.