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Frivolous silicosis claims spur backlash
By LUKE BOGGS
06/14/05 - There's a courtroom drama unfolding in Texas with all the makings of a Hollywood movie. But this is one true-life legal yarn that won't be coming soon to your neighborhood multiplex.
Why? Because the corporate lawyers are the good guys, the plaintiffs' lawyers are the bad guys, and most of the so-called injured aren't.
The case involves 10,000 claims of silicosis, a lung affliction caused by the inhalation of sand dust.
Overseeing the case is U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack. As a doctor's wife and former nurse, Jack has more than a passing familiarity with medicine. Neatly summing up, she said, "This case is more about fraud and money than it is about criminal liability."
Craftily, the plaintiffs' lawyers started out with thousands of folks identified in earlier cases as having lung troubles. Problem is, these people were said to have a different lung ailment, asbestosis.
In fact, more than half of the plaintiffs — 5,174 out of 10,000 — had previously filed asbestos claims. Independent doctors say the occurrence of both silicosis and asbestosis in the same patient is very rare.
And what of the other plaintiffs, those who weren't asbestos retreads? While sleazy lawyers have traditionally chased ambulances, attorneys in the silica case didn't trail anyone to a medical facility. Instead, they set up their own, putting an X-ray machine and a doctor in a trailer in a restaurant parking lot. Seriously.
Not only that, but the X-ray machine was owned by a real estate broker, the doctor wasn't a radiologist, and no one had a license to take X-rays. Once this mess came out in court, doctors in the case couldn't abandon their diagnoses fast enough.
Given decades of abuse by contingency-fee attorneys, it's nice to see the hunters become the hunted for a change.
Lawyers behind fraud-fattened silica and asbestos suits are also reeling from reform legislation enacted last year in Ohio and this year in Georgia, Texas and Florida that allows compensation for sick people, not those who may have been exposed to the substance but show no signs of disease.
In Washington, lawmakers are struggling to organize a massive industry fund to settle all outstanding asbestos claims. Some insurers are balking at the $140 billion price tag and a clause allowing more lawsuits when the money runs out.
A better approach would be a federal statute that would require plaintiffs to be sick. Given all the lawyers and trial-lawyer money in Congress, however, such reform probably won't come quickly, if at all.
NHRC to constitute working group to deal with silicosis
New Delhi, June 12, 2007: With the incurable disease of silicosis caused by inhalation of silica-laced dust taking a toll on miners across the country, the National Human Rights Commission has decided to constitute a national working group to deal with the problem.
Noting that states have virtually failed to implement the concerned law to deal with the problem, the NHRC has also recommended that the government launch a programme to deal with and create awareness regarding the dreaded disease.
Silicosis is caused by inhalation of dust containing free crystalline silica and is common among mine workers. The rights panel has also asked the government to monitor the states with a high number of cases of the disease and collect surveys already available with different agencies to identify and map the pockets where the disease in prevalent.
It is observed that once a person is exposed to silica, the disease progresses even without further exposure. Taking note of a study by an NGO claiming that many labourers have died or are dying as symptoms appear only after they return to their respective villages, the panel has suggested a need for working out adequate compensation to the victims.
Though the Factories Act, 1948 has declared silicosis as a notified disease, there is no authentic reporting system or the statistics of affected people, it noted.
With several states ignoring the threat despite several laws, the group would also deliberate whether existing Laws were adequate or not.
Only five states -- Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu -- have issued notification regarding silicosis.
In view of this, the NHRC would also deliberate whether there is a need for separate/specific legislation dealing with the issue.
Chaired by NHRC chairman Shivraj V Patil, the group will comprise an NHRC member, officials from Labour, Industry, Health and Environment ministries.
The recommendations were drafted at a recent meeting of NHRC chairman with officials of the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Indian Council of Medical Research besides others.
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