Doctor comments on asbestosis scams

After the Manhattan Institute released its damning report on asbestosis lawsuit scams, a doctor who has been involved in testifying as an expert witness commented on the situation. Dr. David Weill, who has testified twice as an asbestosis expert before Senate committees, is the director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant at the Stanford University Medical Center. Asbestosis, says Weill, is a “pretty serious thing, possibly fatal.” That makes it frustrating that thousands of fake asbestosis claims have made it difficult for the genuine asbestosis sufferers to obtain fair compensation for their injuries. Weill says that the genuine claims “get diluted out by the false claims.” In the very large class action lawsuits, plaintiffs often receive only a few thousand dollars. A windfall for people who don’t actually have the disease, but for people who are genuinely affected by asbestosis, a few thousand dollars can’t begin to compensate them for the way their lives are changed by the disease. In recent years, Weill helped uncover facts about a massive scam that was carried out in Texas. It was discovered that plaintiffs suing for compensation for silicosis had already received compensation for asbestosis, a disease with an entirely different cause. The scam involved both lawyers and doctors, and the manufacture of thousands of false silicosis claims. In testifying to the Senate, Weill explained that on an x-ray asbestosis and silicosis look like entirely different diseases, and furthermore than it “would be extremely unusual for one person in a working lifetime to have sufficient exposure to both types of dust to cause both diseases.” In addition, said Weill, “outside the litigation setting, confusion between silicosis and asbestosis does not occur.” Weill says that the attempted fraud in the Texas case was so blatant that the same plaintiff was diagnosed with asbestosis by one screening firm in February, and the next month was diagnosed with silicosis by another screening firm. However, in both cases the screening firm didn’t pick up any symptoms of the other disease. According to Weill, a treating physician would have diagnosed both silicosis and asbestosis in the same x-ray if both diseases were present. However, in these massive class action suits, the physicians who read the x-rays rarely had any contact with the patients who supposedly had the diseases. Weill was later hired by W.R. Grace & Company to help design a clinical study of the asbestos claims that had been made against the company. The study demonstrated that more than 80% of the asbestosis claims that had been made against W.R. Grace & Company were actually false. The American Bar Association has been supporting federal legislation that would establish specific medical criteria for asbestos-related litigation since 2003. However, the Manhattan Institute report says even that may not be enough, as unscrupulous attorneys might soon find ways around such legislation. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)