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medpundit |
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Monday, November 04, 2002The Cleveland Plain Dealer is running a series this week on asbestos. RangelMD has written eloquently about this before, but this series has a slightly different angle, so I’m going to add my two cents worth. Sunday's story was about a young man who was diagnosed with mesolthelioma at the age of fifteen. His family is suing the company his father once worked for, arguing that his father brought home the asbestos fibers from work that caused the boy's cancer. There are several problems with that argument. First and foremost is that his father doesn't have any evidence of damage from asbestos exposure. Presumably, his exposure would have been much higher. Then, there's the fact that not every mesothelioma is caused by asbestos. Mesothelioma is a cancer that grows from the cells that form the lining of the body cavities - the chest, abdomen and pelvis. The cells also cover the outside of the organs that are contained in those cavities - the lungs, the heart, the gut, the ovaries, the bladder, and the uterus. Something goes wrong in the cells making up this lining, it only takes one cell, and suddenly, there’s a cancer. Thirty percent of mesotheliomas occur in people with no exposure to asbestos. Radiation exposure, for example, can play a role. There is, in fact, a whole host of other possible causes: Other factors that may promote DMPM (diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma - ed.) include chronic lung infections, tuberculous pleuritis, radiation, and some mineral fibers. The simian virus 40 (SV40) has been implicated as a potential etiologic factor after sequences corresponding to its T antigens were isolated from human samples of diffuse malignant mesothelioma but not from adjacent normal lung. Furthermore, tumors histologically identical to malignant mesothelioma have developed when SV40 DNA material is injected into the pleural cavities of hamsters.. In fact, mesothelioma in children, which is what this story is all about, is not believed to be caused by asbestos at all. Of course, none of this has stopped the lawyers. Do a Google search on “mesothelioma etiology” and you get an equal mix of medical and legal sites. It’s a boondoggle for the lawyers, but a travesty for businesses, most of whom were unaware of the health risks of asbestos when they used it: More than 200,000 asbestos lawsuits jam dockets coast-to-coast and name 6,000 defendants. In Cuyahoga County, 34,000 claims monopolize the time of two judges brought out of retirement. Because of the glut of asbestos lawsuits - many filed by people who were exposed to asbestos but are not yet ill - some of the sickest victims will die before their cases are resolved. The burden of paying asbestos claims has sucked billions from thousands of otherwise-healthy companies, pushing 62 into bankruptcy - more than 20 since Jan. 1, 2000. I’ve written before about the patients I have who have been told by lawyers that they have evidence of asbestos exposure on x-rays - a claim that I usually can’t corroborate with independent films. The lawyers who are doing this are the very same ones responsible for the state of affairs in Cuyahoga county. Clearly, this is wrong. Now you know why Ohio so badly needs tort reform. posted by Sydney on 11/04/2002 08:25:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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