Mesothelioma Patient’s Bill of Rights

We, the mesothelioma patients of the United States, in order to form a more humane justice system, enhance domestic tranquility, provide for quality of life, promote the healing process, respect the rights of the injured to seek redress, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our families, do propose this Mesothelioma Patients’ Bill of Rights.

1.   Neither the courts nor the defendants shall do harm to a mesothelioma patient who seeks compensation for injuries caused by asbestos poisoning.

2.   If a mesothelioma patient shall produce a prescription from a treating doctor limiting the hours of a deposition, the court shall enforce said time limit in the interest of the patient’s life, liberty and dignity.

3.   Depositions of a mesothelioma patient should follow the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and be limited to seven hours.

4.   If the defendants seek additional time for cross examination, they shall carry the burden of proving, through admissible evidence, that the additional time is necessary to discover facts not more efficiently obtained elsewhere; moreover, that the added time, in the opinion of the patient’s treating doctor, will not do harm to the patient. 

5.   If a trial date has been set in a mesothelioma patient’s case, and the patient should pass away before resolution of the case, the patient’s estate shall have the same claims as if the patient was still alive. The defendants shall obtain no economic windfall because the plaintiff has passed away as a result of the tumor caused by asbestos.

6.   If a mesothelioma patient’s treating physician provides the court a sworn declaration attesting that substantial doubt exists regarding the patient’s survival beyond six months, and the patient commences a deposition but passes away before the deposition is concluded, the completed testimony provided shall be admissible at trial.

We hold this policy to be self-evident, that simply because a patient seeks justice for injuries as a result of asbestos poisoning, that worthy pursuit does not give the defendant cause to retaliate with torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments.

The Worthington Law Firm

February 6, 2012