Asbestos could have caused man's death

EXPOSURE to asbestos while training as an electrician could have caused the death years later of an East Bergholt man.

Michael Trinder, 61, of Hadleigh Road, East Bergholt, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in February 2006 and died on June 26 this year at the St Elizabeth's Hospice, Ipswich.

During an inquest held yesterday at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court, coroner Dr Peter Dean read from statements from his family which said he had trained as an electrician during his youth.

Since then he had studied at Loughborough University and the University of Essex, before working as an acoustic consultant to the air conditioning industry.

Following his death, the cause was given as mesothelioma, which can be caused by asbestos exposure, by consultant respiratory physician Nicholas Innes.

Dr Dean said: “While he was ill Mr Trinder said the only exposure to asbestos he could recall was when changing soffit boards.

“However he could not rule out that he may have encountered it during his earlier training as an electrician, although he had no recollection of contact.

“We are left with the question of whether this was industrial exposure or domestic exposure, or one of the very small percentage of cases where there was no exposure at all.”

Dr Dean recorded an open verdict and extended his sympathy to the family who were present at the inquest on Tuesday .

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National Mesothelioma Cancer Awareness Day- September 26th

Meso is a Rare Form of Cancer Caused by Asbestos Exposure. While It's Survival Rate is Dismal, More People Should Become Aware of This Form of Cancer.

September 26th is National Meso (mesothelioma) Awareness Day. Begun by the Meso Foundation, this day is dedicated to raise awareness of the problems, symptoms, and need for research into mesothelioma, one of the lesser-known forms of cancer.

In simplest terms, the tissues that line our lungs, heart, stomach and other organs are called "mesothelium." When these cells develop cancer, it's called mesothelioma, or meso for short. Meso is very painful because as the cancer cells grow, they crush the lungs. A person with mensothelioma may eventually be suffocated so that breathing is painful, or the heart or other organs can be crushed as the cancer grows. Most people who are diagnosed with meso die within 4 to 14 months.

Meso is caused by asbestos exposure. It can take years (30, 40, or even 50 years) to develop. According to the Meso Foundation, the U.S. EPA identified asbestos as," one of the most hazardous substances to which humans are exposed in both occupational and non-occupational settings."

The Navy, shipyard workers, household products, and many appliances, residential and commercial construction have all used asbestos. It's still around and in many schools, homes, and businesses. Even small exposure to asbestos particles can cause meso. Although the air was declared "safe" after 9/11, rescue workers and first-responders may have been exposed to high amounts of particulates in the air, including asbestos. Some people estimate that at least 400 tons of asbestos was released into the air in New York after the towers collapsed on 9/11.

The EPA estimates that over 20 million American workers have been exposed to asbestos particles. Every year approximately 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma. While it's still a rare form of cancer, it is expected to affect more people since it takes so long to develop and so many, many people have been exposed to asbestos in recent years.

According to the Meso Foundation, treatments for mesothelioma were largely ignored. While asbestos was known to be a carcinogenic, businesses were allowed to continue using it. Developing treatments for meso were ignored, perhaps because of potential legal minefields.

With a myriad of reasons behind it, the bottom line is that funding for research into treating meso has lagged far behind that of other forms of cancer. The Meso Foundation hopes to change this by drawing awareness to this rare, but painful, form of cancer. Todays treatment consistes of chemotherapy and radiation.

There is a growing need to understand more about meso. It can be difficult to diagnose and is regularly missed. Once a meso diagnosis is finally made, survival rates are bleak.

Actor Steve McQueen died of meso only 11 months after his diagnosis in 1980. In 2003, singer-songwriter Warren Zevon was also diagnosed with meso. He died one year after being diagnosed with it. The treatment of meso has not changed much since 1980.

Sources:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/myPRNJ.jsp?profileid=1151896&resourceid=3564922

Fury at low cash awards for asbestos victims

FORMER York Carriageworks union leader Paul Cooper has blasted the levels of compensation paid to victims of the asbestos timebomb.

Mr Cooper, who has long campaigned on behalf of people killed because of their exposure to asbestos dust, claimed today that sufferers and their families were getting less in damages than criminals who injure themselves.

He said in a letter to York MP Hugh Bayley that the Government had failed to act on a Law Commission report of 1999, recommending increases in damages for victims of serious diseases such as abestosis and mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos dust.

He claimed the Government was currently looking at the law of damages, and was planning to study various Law Commission reports from the 1990s which had not been actioned - but the review had left out the crucial 1999 report.

"It would oblige our members, many of whom are your constituents, if you could investigate this new matter and press the concerns of our members and affected constituents," he said.

"We continue to have victims/sufferers of asbestos mesothelioma facing a death sentence, with wives and children receiving little more than £200,000 in compensation for their loss. Criminals who self-injure get £500,000, even though they suffer no losses whilst in prison. It is time for our workers to have real justice."

Mr Cooper, who received a Community Pride Volunteer of the Year award in 2005 for his work on behalf of asbestos victims, said he had written to the MP twice before on the subject, but the Government appeared still to be trying to avoid the issue.

"In the case of the victims from the Carriageworks, the state was responsible for their deaths, so the state should accept responsibility."

Scores of former Carriageworks employees have died from mesothelioma over the years, following widespread exposure to the deadly dust, particularly in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s.

Hugh Bayley said he had been campaigning on behalf of carriageworks asbestos victims since becoming MP, and he had helped ensure that they remained entitled to compensation when the railway industry was privatised in the 1990s.

He said he had only recently signed a Commons Early Day Motion calling for people suffering from pleural plaques - scarring of lung tissues caused by exposure to asbestos - to be given more compensation.

SOURCE

Asbestos Claim won by Air Guard mechanic's widow

A Windsor Locks woman whose husband died of respiratory failure in 2003 while suffering from asbestosis, apparently stemming from asbestos exposure during his 32-year career as an aircraft mechanic for the Connecticut Air National Guard, will receive workers compensation benefits.

The woman, Rita M. Fredette, won the right to the benefits through a state Supreme Court decision this month, following an extended legal tussle with the state that turned entirely on procedural issues.

Fredette is the widow of John O. Fredette, who died at age 65 on March 25, 2003. He worked as a civilian mechanic for the Air National Guard from July 1960 until he retired at the end of 1992.

The medical validity of the claim never was litigated before the state Workers Compensation Commission because the state claims administrator missed a 28-day deadline for contesting Rita Fredette's claim. As a result, a workers compensation commissioner granted a motion by her lawyer to preclude the state from contesting the compensability of her claim.

But the state fought back, arguing that the Workers Compensation Commission lacked jurisdiction over the case because Rita Fredette filed her claim too late.

The case turned on the interrelationship of two provisions in the state's workers compensation law setting different deadlines for filing claims. The issue was technical and legally complex, but the state Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Rita Fredette filed her claim on time because it came less than three years after her husband's diagnosis with asbestosis of the lung.

It isn't entirely clear whether Rita Fredette's workers compensation claim would have succeeded if the state claims administrator had met the deadline for contesting it.

The notice of workers compensation claim filed in May 2003 by Rita Fredette's former lawyer, Richard L. Gross, lists the nature of John Fredette's injury as follows: "Occupational disease/pulmonary asbestosis from exposure to asbestos as an aircraft mechanic and death caused by complications of occupational disease."

Different picture

But in a death certificate on file at the Windsor Locks town clerk's office, Dr. Martin Forrest of Hartford, who was John Fredette's internist, certified the cause of death as respiratory failure due to "pneumo thorax," which, in turn, was due to "bullous emphysema."

Pneumothorax - which John Fredette suffered in the last three days of his life, according to the death certificate - is a type of lung collapse caused by leakage of air into the space between the lungs and the chest wall.

Bullous emphysema - which the death certificate says he suffered for more than 20 years - involves complete destruction of lung tissue, producing an air space greater than a centimeter in diameter.

Smoking is the most common cause of emphysema. A Hartford Hospital discharge summary from the September 2000 admission during which John Fredette was diagnosed with asbestosis of the lung says he "quit tobacco use approximately 10 years ago."

Asbestosis is listed on the death certificate under the heading, "Other significant conditions: Conditions contributing to death but not related to cause."

Manchester lawyer Brian E. Prindle, an emeritus member of the Connecticut Bar Association's Workers Compensation Executive Committee who isn't involved in the Fredette case, said death certificates aren't the final word on the validity of a workers compensation claim.

"The legal test for workers compensation is if asbestos exposure is a substantial factor in causing his death," Prindle said. He said doctors aren't trying to make that legal determination when filling out death certificates.

John Fredette's death certificate shows that no autopsy was done on him, and Prindle said that is common.

"Death certificates typically might carry some evidentiary weight but not typically very much," said East Hartford lawyer Robert J. Enright, who heads the bar association's Workers Compensation Section. He said the determination of cause is typically based on medical records and the deposition testimony of doctors.

Matthew Shafner, a partner in the Groton law firm representing Rita Fredette, said the death certificate would "not really" have been a problem if she had had to prove her case.

Combined cause?

"They both combined to cause significant problems," Shafner said of the emphysema and asbestosis. "The last person in the world who should be exposed to asbestos is a person who has an emphysema problem. They don't have much margin of tolerance for another pulmonary insult."

Rita Fredette declined requests for an interview, citing the emotion surrounding her husband's death.

The amount of compensation she will receive hasn't yet been determined, according to Betty Rainey, the administrator of the Workers Compensation Commission's 8th District office in Middletown, which handles asbestos cases from throughout the state.

But Prindle said the calculation of workers compensation benefits is usually a straightforward process based on formulas - and often can be accomplished without a formal hearing. He said a dependent would be entitled to 75 percent of the employee's after-tax earnings - or the earnings of someone doing his former job - plus a $4,000 burial allowance.

John Fredette was diagnosed with asbestosis in September 2000, when he went to Hartford Hospital with chest pains after painting a snow blower and spreading fertilizer on his lawn, according to the hospital discharge summary, which is part of the court record.

He told medical personnel at that time that he had experienced difficult or painful breathing on exertion for several years, with the condition growing progressively worse.

John Fredette also reported a history "of significant asbestos exposure in the National Guard," and Forrest agreed that he had "extensive asbestos exposure and asbestosis," according to the discharge summary.

At the time of the hospital admission, John Fredette had an "intermittent nonproductive cough" and couldn't complete sentences without shortness of breath, the discharge summary says. He was sent home on oxygen therapy.

SOURCE.

$3.4M asbestos verdict upheld

NEWPORT NEWS - The Virginia Supreme Court upheld a $3.4 million jury verdict to the family of a former Newport News shipyard worker who died in 2005 of mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer.

The court said Friday it unanimously rejected an appeal by John Crane Inc., the Illinois-based maker of gaskets and other asbestos parts that were handled by shipyard worker Garland F. "Buddy" Jones Jr. in the 1960s.

But the woman who spearheaded the case - Jones' wife of 41 years, Wanda T. Jones - won't see that money. She died of an unrelated cancer just three weeks ago. The couple's three children are the beneficiaries.

In July 2006, a Newport News jury determined that the family deserved $10.4 million in the wrongful death suit filed by Jones against three companies that made equipment with asbestos components.

Aside from John Crane, the defendants were Denver-based Johns Manville Corp., a maker of insulation industrial materials, and Garlock Sealing Technologies of Palmyra, N.Y.

A judge reduced the jury verdict to $10 million, the amount the family initially sought. John Crane, the jury said, was responsible for $3.4 million, with Johns Manville and Garlock Sealing each responsible for $3.3 million. However, Johns Manville and Garlock Sealing settled their cases before the verdict - for far less than the jury-determined amounts, Hatten said.

The $3.4 million award still ranks among the largest verdicts in a Virginia asbestos case, said Bob Hatten, the attorney with Patten, Wornom, Hatten and Diamonstein who handled the case.

Ansley Higginbotham, 29, Jones' daughter who lives in Orange, northeast of Charlottesville, said she and her two brothers are disappointed their mother didn't live to see the court uphold the verdict, but are grateful the "greatest legal minds in Virginia" found the award just. "It's a bittersweet day for our family," Higginbotham said. "It was important to our mother to receive justice in this case. She worked very tirelessly to make it happen, and I'm very proud of her for seeing it through during such a difficult time. She did not allow such a big company to intimidate her."

Because shipbuilding involved the use of asbestos for so many years, Hatten asserted, the Peninsula has one of the nation's highest rates of asbestos-related cancers.

Jones worked at Newport News Shipbuilding between 1963 and 1967, later becoming a computer programmer near Richmond. But he had enough exposure to asbestos fibers in those years to spur mesothelioma, a cancer that forms in the lungs, some decades later.

Jones was diagnosed with that cancer in January 2005 - 38 years after he last worked at the yard - and died within six months at age 60. He initiated the lawsuit in Newport News Circuit Court before he died.

Higginbotham testified that her father's death in a nursing home was an "absolute nightmare."

"It was intractable pain, pain that is not eliminated with any type of narcotics, and it's constant," Hatten said.

Jones' three children will share two thirds of the $3.4 million verdict against John Crane, or $2.27 million. Because the family had spent $100,000 for expert testimony at the trial, their effective award is $2.17 million.

The lawyers on the case, Patten Wornom, Hatten and Diamonstein, and the Colorado firm of Trine & Metcalf, will share the remaining one third of the verdict, or $1.13 million.

John Crane could still appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The company could also seek a rehearing by the Virginia Supreme Court.

Officials with John Crane did not return attempts to seek comment. The company had appealed the case on several grounds, including assertions that the trial court judge erred on evidence rulings and allowed the case to proceed under federal maritime law rather than Virginia law.

State and federal courts have the authority to hear federal maritime cases. Federal maritime law is considered a better route for the plaintiffs in wrongful death cases because it has a lower burden of proof and allows recovery for the suffering of the deceased.

But the Virginia Supreme Court disagreed with Crane on all counts and rejected the company's contention that the verdict was too big. "We cannot say the trial court abused its discretion in determining that the verdict was not excessive and not so out of proportion to the injuries suffered," the court's opinion noted.

SOURCE: DailyPress