SOME RECENT LEGAL SETTLEMENTS
*Jan 1999, £150,000 out-of-court settlement for a Glasgow radiographer who worked in a Medical Centre and had to retire 9 years ago at the age of 46 on medical grounds. Case taken by the MSF Union.
*In Glasgow, Scotland, the MSF Union also won a £180,000 out-of-court settlement with the Greater Glasgow Health Board for darkroom disease in 5 radiographers and technicians. For 15 years, claims of ill-health were fobbed off as “mass hysteria” and “women’s troubles”. Anne Clarkson has a huge list of things she must avoid including “disinfectants, most fabrics, felt pens and petrol fumes. She can’t drink tea out of a plastic cup because fumes triggered by the heat hurt her throat. ‘It started with a tingling inside my lip then my nose got pins and needles. Skin was peeling off like perished rubber. My face burned and my eyes were sore and by the time I got home I was physically sick’.” She received £50,000. Rose Paterson received £80,000. She cannot even use a telephone without losing her voice because of her sensitivity to plastic. More than a hundred other claims in Scotland are expected. Daily Record, Oct 24, 1998.
*Court of Appeals of Arkansas. Case for Workers’ Compensation allowed against her employer. The appellant worked as a GI lab assistant for 8 yrs disinfecting GI equipment. Diagnosed with thrombocytosis (abnormal increase in blood platelets), reactive airways disease etc. May 27, 1998.
*Southern Crown Health Enterprise, NZ, pleaded guilty to exposing 2 nurses to glutaraldehyde - fined $8,000. Safeguard, May/June 1997. A proportion of the settlement went to the nurses.
*The British HSE prosecuted a farmer for exposing a worker to disinfectant after the worker entered a mushroom shed being fumigated and suffered ill-health. The farmer was fined £4,000 and costs of £1,500. (Nov 1997.)
*In Ogden v Airedale Health Authority, 1995 a hospital radiographer won £77,000 in the first case to reach the English High Court, after developing occupational asthma caused by exposure to darkroom chemicals. Occ Health Review, March/April, 1996. Professor Peter Hewitt and Dr Sherwood Burge were expert witnesses in this case. (Professor P J Hewitt, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Ph: 01274 383202 Fax: 01274 307951. email: vcb@bradford.ac.uk )
*1990, Bath Hospital paid £62,500 compensation to radiographers. 1992, David Wilcox, radiographer, settled out-of court with Colchester General Hospital, England. There have been a number of other settlements involving radiographers.
*Cases for workers’ compensation from exposure to Xray processing chemicals have been accepted by ACC in New Zealand since 1983.
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCSS) Cases in NZ
*One case for multiple chemical sensitivities won at ACC Appeal, Oct 1992. John Robert Marriott, from exposure to chemicals from his work as a photo engraver, and diagnosed as “darkroom diseases” by Dr John Gillies, Respiratory Physician, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity by Professor Glass. Judge Blackwood stated: “There has not been a precise clinical diagnosis of a reaction to any specific chemical, but in the light of the reports from Dr Turner and Professor Glass, I am bound to accept that long-term exposure to a chemical mix can give rise to multiple chemical sensitivities”. (ACA 249/91 Decision No 402/92.)
*Derrick John Burston; exposure to many solvents. Neurotoxicity and multiple other health effects. Judge Cartwright: “...the appellant became very ill following exposure to chemicals in the course of his employment... That the evidence is not entirely conclusive as to the precise diagnosis of the appellant’s ailment, is not a necessary prerequisite...it is most unfortunate that the real cogency of the appellant’s case came to be dismissed in the slipstream of the debate on MCS.” July 1998. (ACA360/94. Decision No 58/98.)
*Craig McPherson for 2,4,5-T etc in his job as a sharemilker. Itching skin, skin loss, violent stomach pains, diarrhoea, muscular aches and pains, lethargy, headaches. Judge Cartwright: “The contest over the labelling of the condition, whether MCS or herbicide poisoning with a subsequent persisting chronicity, creates a digression or focus on the wrong issue...MCS is a diagnosis which ACC is able to accept, and which it has accepted previously. McPherson still suffered sensitivity to a variety of chemicals, including fresh ink fumes, some soaps and toothpastes, some food and drinks, flysprays and antibiotics...” October 1998. (ACA 066/88 Decision No 86/98.)
*Mark Wardle for Paraquat and Roundup after clearing a section (piece of land) - won at ACC appeal. Dizziness, rashes, sweats, fatigue, mental confusion, headaches. Became sensitive to other chemicals including paint and petrol fumes. The judgement stated: “...multiple chemical sensitivity does indeed exist”. (NZ Herald Dec 21, 1998). Decision No 100/98. Reference ACA 517/93
*John Trembath for chemical poisoning from being drenched with 245-T and 24D in 1981. (Dominion, Jan 4, 1999).
