Asbestos Compensation Bill Allows Double Claims

October 7, 2008

Today both The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Broadcasting System had news about a new asbestos compensation bill being proposed and introduced into the Victorian Parliament.  The Asbestos Diseases Compensation Bill would make compensation to victims of  asbestos-related diseases fairer allowing them to seek damages for the full extent of asbestos diseases - asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer.  Workcover Minister Tim Holding says the  bill is more fair to sufferers and their families.

“At the moment, a worker has to make a decision as to whether to claim damages at the point at which they are diagnosed with asbestosis or to wait and see whether they are one of the small number of workers who go on to develop mesothelioma,” he said.

“And that’s a very unfair choice.”

Under the proposed new law, a person could file a claim more than once if their health condition gets worse.  A claim for damages could be filed when diagnosed with asbestosis and, if the disease progresses to mesothelioma, file another claim for damages. 

Because it usually takes many years for any signs or symptoms of asbestos-related diseases to appear, it is often too late for medical intervention.  Mr. Holding said that these laws will alllow people at imminent risk of death to have their cases heard quickly.  The law would also clarify what happens when a person who started a claim dies before the claim is resolved.

 

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Posted by Dave Austin

New Hurdle for Asbestos Victims

October 6, 2008

Starting last week, employers in the United Kingdom will no longer be legally required to store their insurance records for forty years.  While this may help in cutting business red tape, it means that those suffering from the killer disease mesothelioma will find it more difficult to trace insurance records.  This then means that dying victims will lose valuable time in processing their claims.

Roger Maddocks is an industrial lawyer in Newcastle.  He said, “Employers will no longer have to keep backdated evidence of their Employers’ Liability Insurance, and this means we will not easily be able to identify the insurer responsible for the time at which exposure occurred.”  He has also suggested that insurers should be required to place money in a centralized fund that would be a safety net for asbestos victims when insurers cannot be traced.

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Posted by Dave Austin

Will Canada Ban Asbestos Mining?

June 2, 2008

The Canadian Labour Congress is calling for a ban on all asbestos mining in Canada. Health Canada recently hired seven scientists and medical professionals to examine the link between asbestos and cancer. That report was submitted in March but has not yet been released. However, Leslie Stayner, one of the report’s authors, has said that there is nothing in the report that would argue against the sensibility of an asbestos ban.

The CLC passed a resolution that bans the mining of asbestos and also provides financial support for the 700 miners who would be affected by the shutdown. Quebec province has the only 2 Canadian asbestos mines and that province has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world.

Canada still exports asbestos to countries like India and Pakistan even though most countries have banned asbestos.

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Posted by Dave Austin

New Protection for Mesothelioma Victims

May 30, 2008

In Northern Ireland, Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie has introduced a mesothelioma compensation bill to the Parliament of Northern Ireland. Parliament is also referred to as “Stormont” because of its location in the Belfast area.

Her bill will extend payment to all sufferers even if they do not have an occupational or causal link. That also means that spouses who were exposed to asbestos by washing work clothes or children who may have played with the work clothes will benefit as will those who lived near the factories that used asbestos.

“I will give early access to a lump sum payable within weeks of diagnosis,” she said.

“This means sufferers will get compensation while they can still benefit from it during the final months of their lives.”

Mesiothelioma is a signal of asbestos exposure and can follow exposure by upwards of 25 years. It attacks the mesothelium, the protective lining of many of the body’s internal organs and leaves its victim with a shortened life expectancy - on average up to a year.

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Posted by Dave Austin

Mesothelioma Cases- Uphill Battle in Oklahoma

May 20, 2008

Oklahoma citizens who have mesothelioma have a hard road ahead of them if they want to file a lawsuit against corporations where they worked and were exposed to asbestos.

Many in Oklahoma and other states have enjoyed the prosperity that the oil industry has brought to their state. The other side of that coin is that for years employees and their families have been exposed to asbestos, a material heavily used because of its fire retardant quality. Many have become victims of mesothelioma, a lung cancer for which there is no cure. Their families were also exposed because the asbestos particles were carried home on clothing and released into the air at home.

Unfortunately for these victims, Oklahoma law makes it very difficult to file suit about their exposure.

Nearly one-fifth of Oklahoma’s economy is dependent upon the production of petroleum. Hundreds of thousands of workers and their families were placed at risk for malignant melanoma in Oklahoma because of their exposure to asbestos. To protect the oil industry, Oklahoma government officials have chosen to pass laws that work against mesothelioma settlements and claims to which workers are entitled.

According to Oklahoma law, mesothelioma victims are only entitled to file a lawsuit if their cancer is diagnosed within two years of its development, or within two years of the time it should have been diagnosed. There are two major problems with this. First, mesothelioma side effects can take decades to develop; people do not develop it two years after exposure. Furthermore, diagnosing mesothelioma cancer can be very difficult, because mesothelioma symptoms are vague and often lead doctors to diagnosis congestive heart failure, emphysema, or other lung problems instead.

So it would appear that Oklahoma mesothelioma lawsuits seem to be on the side of the corporations, not innocent victims of this horrible disease who do not receive justice. If possible, some Mesothelioma law firms even would take their cases out of state where the process can be quicker and the settlement better. Interestingly, no Oklahoma mesothelioma cases have recently been heard in Federal District Couts.

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Posted by Dave Austin

Medical providers propose an Asbestos ban in Washington

February 15, 2008

Found this blog post over at Seattlepi.com. I’m posting all of it so you can decide whether to sign the petition or not.

Physicians, nurses, industrial hygienists, clinical scientists and others who deal with the victims of asbestos exposure are signing a petition to the House of Representatives asking members to pass an asbestos ban that will outlaw the importation and use of asbestos-containing products.Some of those pushing the petition are the same public health leaders who testified for Sen. Patty Murray in her six-year-long effort to pass a ban. And while most say they respect the Washington State democrat and admire her efforts, the bill, SB742, doesn’t do the job.

The Nov. 5 P-I story explained how lobbyists demanded that Murray’s language � which would have ordered a complete ban on asbestos like most other countries have, was watered down to get it passed.
The Senate version would not have outlawed asbestos from vermiculite, talc, taconite and other sources of contamination. But of greater concern to many of Murray’s former witnesses are that products containing up to 1 percent asbestos are exempt from prohibition, says Dr, Michael Harbut, who is co-director, National Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Cancers at the Karmanos Cancer Institute.

“What the Senate passed would even allow asbestos fibers to be present in everything from road patch to stuffed teddy bears,” Harbut said. “How is that protecting the public health?” asked Harbut, who is chief, Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Wayne State University

The House expected to hold hearing on “a more inclusive” ban in early spring, committee staffers say.

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Posted by Dave Austin