Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
They were talking about this on the radio. Apparently, when the anti-tort-law legislation was passed, there was a window before it took effect, and all these lawyers in Mississippi and Texas went crazy rounding up people to sue a sand company for giving its workers silicosis before the law changed.
Quote:
US Lawmakers Seek Information from Lawyers in Silica Cases --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USA: February 20, 2006
WASHINGTON - US lawmakers Friday expanded a probe into thousands of suspect lawsuits that blame silica for lung disease and demanded information about the conduct of 13 law firms in Texas and Mississippi that filed many of the cases.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee last autumn opened its investigation by seeking information from a dozen doctors who had diagnosed silicosis in the claimants. Silicosis is a lung-scarring disease caused by inhaling silica dust, typically in occupations such as sandblasting. Silica sand is used to make glass and is a common ingredient in many industrial products.
Friday, the House committee announced it was now looking into the conduct of the lawyers involved in the cases as well.
The panel sent letters to 13 law firms and to authorities in six states where mass x-ray screenings were conducted to find victims to make the claims.
The silicosis lawsuits involved in the probe were first questioned last June when US Judge Janis Jack in Corpus Christi, Texas sent about 10,000 of the claims back to state courts, saying they had had been "manufactured for money."
The judge said many of the people diagnosed with silicosis had previously filed claims for asbestos-related disease, which medical experts said was highly unusual.
The House committee followed up with an investigation, but has not publicised its findings so far. A committee spokesman said Friday it was too soon to say if lawmakers would hold hearings or propose legislation.
The letters sent by the panel to the law firms questioned if a doctor-patient relationship existed with the mass screenings, noting some used mobile x-ray equipment in the back of a truck to find people to file the lawsuits. "It is hard to imagine circumstances where leaving such tasks to lawyers could be considered acceptable medical practice or serving the interest of public health," they said.
The House panel gave the law firms until March 3 to respond with information about their financial arrangements with doctors and medical screening companies.
The lawmakers also wrote to state health authorities in Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, asking about state regulations for diagnostic testing done without the prior authorisation of a licensed physician.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
simple schoolboy wrote:
Mmmm... unecessary lawsuits...
What concerns me more than the lawyers are the doctors who up and diagnosed hundreds of people with this disease. I question the professionalism of the diagnosis and the ethics of the doctor.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
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