Mesotheliomas - Asbestosis Research - Compensation Claims

"The primary goal of the Dutch Institute for Asbestos Victims is to compensate mesothelioma victims who have been exposed to asbestos in the workplace, while they are still alive, by acting as a neutral mediator between these victims and their (former) employers or their insurers.

Representatives of victims, employees, employers, and insurers have agreed to cooperate in the formation and operation of the Institute. The process of reaching a financial settlement has been collectivized, standardized, pacified, and institutionalized.

The difficulty of awarding compensation while victims are still alive has led to the Advance Payment Scheme."

"In The Netherlands the number of asbestos-related diseases is increasing. An age-cohort model predicts a steep rise in pleural mesothelioma deaths up to 490 cases per year among men, with a total death toll close over 12,000 cases during 2000-2028.

In the past decade the number of compensation claims for asbestos-related diseases has more than doubled, with increasingly verdicts in favor of claimants. In addition to the medical information, information about the state of the art of preventive measures in different periods of time plays a decisive role in these claims.

The use of asbestos in The Netherlands, the occurrence of asbestos-related diseases, the national asbestos regulations, and the position of the claimants in asbestos lawsuits in The Netherlands are reviewed."

"Predictions of future cases of mesothelioma in Australia to the year 2020 are in the order of a total of 10,000 new cases.

Compensation claims are testing the attribution in a particular case between occupational asbestos exposure and lung cancer. The cost of the problem necessitates clarifying and standardizing the criteria for a confident diagnosis of asbestos-related disease.

The possibility of differences in criteria that determine attribution of asbestos to a disease prompted a consensus meeting of pathologists, epidemiologists, physicians, oncologists, radiologists, and others to define current thinking and to agree on an Australian document based on the scientific evidence for establishing diagnoses and attribution data of asbestos-related diseases in Australia. The participants' findings are reported."

"Workers' compensation systems attempt to evaluate claims for occupational disease on an individual basis using the best guidelines available to them. This may be difficult when there is more than one risk factor associated with the outcome, such as asbestos and cigarette smoking, and the occupational exposures is not clearly responsible for the disease. Apportionment is an approach that involves an assessment of the relative contribution of work-related exposures to the risk of the disease or to the final impairment that arises for the disease. This article discusses the concept of apportionment and applies it to asbestos-associated disease.

Lung cancer is not subject to a simple tradeoff between asbestos exposure and smoking because of the powerful biological interaction between the two exposures. Among nonsmokers, lung cancer is sufficiently rare that an association with asbestos can be assumed if exposure has occurred. Available data suggest that asbestos exposure almost invariably contributes to risk among smokers to the extent that a relationship to work can be presumed. Thus, comparisons of magnitude of risk between smokers and nonsmokers are irrelevant for this purpose. Indicators of sufficient exposure to cause lung cancer are useful for purposes of establishing eligibility and screening claims. These may include a chest film classified by the ILO system as 1/0 or greater (although 0/1 does not rule out an association) or a history of exposure roughly equal to or greater than 40 fibres/cm3 x y. (In Germany, 25 fibres/cm3 x y is used.) The mere presence of pleural plaques is not sufficient. Mesothelioma is almost always associated with asbestos exposure and the association should be considered presumed until proven otherwise in the individual case. These are situations in which only risk of a disease is apportioned because the impairment would be the same given the disease whatever the cause.

Asbestosis, if the diagnosis is correct, is by definition an occupational disease unless there is some source of massive environmental exposure; it is always presumed to be work-related unless proven otherwise. Chronic obstructive airways disease (COAD) accompanies asbestosis but may also occur in the context of minimal parenchymal fibrosis and may contribute to accelerated loss of pulmonary function. In some patients, particularly those with smoking-induced emphysema, this may contribute significantly to functional impairment. An exposure history of 10 fibre x years is suggested as the minimum associated with a demonstrable effect on impairment, given available data. Equity issues associated with apportionment include the different criteria that must be applied to different disorders for apportionment to work, the management of future risk (e.g. risk of lung cancer for those who have asbestosis), and the narrow range in which apportionment is really useful in asbestos-associated disorders. Apportionment, attractive as it may be as an approach to the adjudication of asbestos-related disease, is difficult to apply in practice. Even so, these models may serve as a general guide to the assessment of asbestos-related disease outcomes for purposes of compensation."

Mesotheliomas - Asbestosis Research - Compensation Claims for the Victims of the Asbestos Industry Links

Asbestos Research Trust - The Asbestos Research Trust was established by experienced lawyers to support victims of asbestos-related diseases.

Asbestos Victims Foil Insurers - If you worked at the asbestos industry and have developed some health problems, see what you have a right to.