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

Los Angeles Jury Awards More Than $5.55 Million to 70 Year Old Navy Veteran

Los Angeles Jury Awards More Than $5.55 Million to 70 Year Old Navy Veteran and Pump Mechanic Exposed to Dust From Asbestos Gaskets and Packing While Working at C&H Sugar in Benicia, California.

Richard Keeney

The Worthington Law Firm and co-counsel The Farrise Law Firm are pleased to report that on January 27, 2012, a Los Angeles, California jury of 6 men and 6 women awarded more than $5,550,000 in favor of their clients Richard Keeney and Howard Garcia. Mr. Keeney declares, “I am utterly amazed at what the two firms have done for me. They both worked really hard.”

Mr. Keeney is a 70 year-old gentleman who served his country in the U.S. Navy from 1958 to 1979, earning five Good Conduct Awards, a National Defense Service Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal, a Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Korea) and a Navy Unit Commendation. After his retirement from the Navy, Mr. Keeney worked as a pump mechanic at the C&H Sugar plant in Benicia, California from 1976 to 1995.

While working at C&H Sugar, Mr. Keeney was frequently exposed to dust from asbestos gasket and packing materials used with pumps and other machinery at the plant. In January 2011, Mr. Keeney was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer which attacks the linings of the lungs in persons exposed to asbestos. Mr. Keeney has received treatment for his disease at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center including a lung-sparing pleurectomy/decortication surgery performed by surgical oncologist Robert Cameron, M.D.

In March 2011, the Worthington and Farrise firms filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Keeney and his domestic partner against over 45 defendants. Pre-trial settlements were reached with many defendants. On December 12, 2011, the case proceeded to trial against John Crane, Inc., a company which manufactured and/or sold more than 300 different asbestos containing gasket and packing styles from 1917 through at least 1985.

Rick's honorable
discharge from the
U.S. Navy, 1979

Trial lasted approximately 4 weeks. Attorneys Simona A. Farrise and Carlos Guzman lead the effort for plaintiffs. After deliberating for 14 days, the jury awarded damages of more than $5,550,000 in favor of Mr. Keeney and Mr. Garcia. The jury found John Crane, Inc. 12% negligent and strictly liable for its asbestos gasket and packing materials that Mr. Keeney worked with for approximately 15 years. According to Mr. Keeney, he states “I don’t want to put a value on someone’s life, but I think what the jury and the court decided is fair.”

Mr. Keeney is glad that the case has finally come to an end and states that he’s been amazed by the process and what his legal team has been able to do for him. He states that he was “…flabbergasted by the defense tactics of deflecting blame even when confronted with the facts. It boggled my mind and was hard for an ill person like myself to tolerate day after day.” He is grateful for the dogged representation of his attorneys, especially Simona Farrise, whom he describes as “ferocious” and “relentless” in her fight for his rights.

Recovering from
surgery.
February, 2011

Mr. Keeney will now return his focus to fighting his disease with the assistance of Dr. Robert Cameron. A new spot was recently found in his pleural cavity which will soon be biopsied. If the growth is malignant, Dr. is recommending cryoablation, a new minimally invasive procedure which uses controlled freezing to dissipate small tumors. Mr. Keeney describes Dr. Cameron as “incredibly well-informed and absolutely wonderful” and states that it is a constant “relief to know that I am in the right hands.”

When things settle down, Mr. Keeney and his domestic partner, Mr. Garcia, to whom the jury awarded damages for loss of consortium, are looking forward to traveling to Washington D.C. where he plans to re-visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the United States Navy Memorial. “Having the opportunity to take this much awaited trip confirms for me how great it is to be an American. I'm grateful to have had access to outstanding medical and legal talent.”

February 1, 2012

A Tribute to a Dedicated Man: John Johnson. 1943-2012

John and Sue Johnson

celebrating John's
69th birthday in their
home in Newport
Beach, CA.

January 21, 2011

What is the measure of a man?

Is it the degree of devotion by his loving wife? Is it the respect and admiration of his grateful children? Is it the way his grandchild giggles when he kisses her plump cheek?

Is it the way he, despite great personal discomfort, soldiers on, driven by an unbreakable commitment to his family? Or is it the way he stands his ground - nay, moves forward -- into the killing zone of the beast, appropriately afraid, but resolved to fight to the last breath for what's right, what's fair, and what's good?

Of course, it's all these things. It's a rare thing when a man measures up on all counts. But, call it luck, call it destiny, call it whatever, I have been honored and blessed to meet such a man, and call him my friend. His name is John Johnson, an ordinary guy who did extraordinary things in his 69 years on this orb.

My friend John died today. And I am sad. I am sad for his family -- Sue, who stood by him, bathed him, fed him, cared for him, made him laugh, held him the way a mother holds a child, and, in the end, against every fiber in her body, had to let him go, had to say goodbye to the only man she's ever loved, the man who had become a part of her like an arm, a leg or a beating heart.

Moments after crashing with

one lap to go at the 2011
Masters National Championships
in Bend, Oregon.

Michael on the right

and his wife Nichole

in the green.  Mike and

I have dedicated

our 2012 racing

season to John Johnson.

I am sad for his sons Mike and Ronald. Mike, like his father, is an embodiment of both tenacity and tenderness. When his Dad was diagnosed with mesothelioma back in the summer of 2011, Mike, a bicycle racer, vowed to win the national championships in his Dad's honor. With a lap to go, bad luck struck. Mike crashed, along with his quest to bestow upon his father the coveted Stars and Bars jersey.

On Sunday, Mike and I went for a ride, a hilly ride in North San Diego County. John, after a massive surgery and 28 rounds of radiation, despite his grit to persevere, was getting weaker as the pain ratcheted upward. Mike is not a dramatic guy. He sort of whispered that this ride was for his Dad, sensing, I think, that the end was near, and he needed to appeal to something bigger than himself, to rise above limits, just like his Dad had done the past six months.

Mike felt the spirit, and had the ride of his life, and it was both wonderful and daunting to keep up with such a motivated man on a spiritual mission.

I am sad, but honored. It's not very often that you come across a man like John Johnson. His obit will say he was a US Marine who loved mountain bikes. It will say he married the love of his life, Sue, 46 years ago, and they fathered two fit and robust boys. It will say he was plumber and an auto mechanic who was exposed to asbestos. It will say he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in August of 2011, had two surgeries, was blasted with radiation, and never gave up hope.

John Johnson mountain
biking in Red Rock

Canyon, NV. 2010

I will remember him for these things, yes, but more than that: his capacity to endure pain for the love of his family. We like to say that the recently departed died with dignity and honor, we say these things because we don't know what else to say and it sounds right and reverential. But I am saying John Johnson died with dignity: I know it. 

On behalf of my partner John Caron, and everyone in my office who were privileged to work with John, we extend our deepest sympathies to Sue, Michael, Nicole, Ronald, Alexa and Noah. We lost a great man, but his legacy of grit with grace will live on, forever.

John Johnson, rest in peace.

Your Friend,

Roger Worthington
January 24, 2012
--------------------------------------------------------------------

On Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 9 a.m. there will be a  Memorial Ride honoring John Johnson held at the Cottonwood Valley / Late Night Trailhead at Blue Diamond Rd/NV160 outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The ride is sponsored by the The Las Vegas Mountain Bike Group and is open for all level of riders:  beginner, intermediate and advanced.

Click here for more details.

Click here to view photos from the ride!


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Honoring our Duty to Treat Veterans with Late Onset War-Related Diseases, Worthingtons donate $100,000 to the Pacific Meso Center

LOS ANGELES. As we celebrate the end of the war in Iraq, in which nearly 4,500 US soldiers were killed in action, and over 30,000 were injured, we are mindful of our grateful nation’s duty to medically treat our veterans returning home with war-related disabilities.

Donald Thorp

1946-2003

USN 1964-1985

Mesothelioma, 1999

Historically, while our country has offered valuable medical care to veterans with open and obvious physical injuries, it hasn’t done a great job treating or attempting to treat our veterans afflicted with latent onset injuries, such as asbestos-caused malignant mesothelioma.

Today, to honor our country’s surviving veterans, whether from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or more recent conflicts, who were exposed to deadly asbestos fibers, but for whom the US Department of Defense has never funded a treatment program, we are proud to donate $100,000 to the Pacific Meso Center (PMC).


The PMC stands alone as the only medical foundation which is dedicated to both basic science and clinical research on therapies for treating patients with mesothelioma. Of the 3,500 Americans diagnosed with mesothelioma annually, about a third of those patients were exposed to asbestos while serving their country in the armed forces or working as civilians in shipyards which built or repaired naval ships. For over 40 years, these service men and women, many of them heroes, have been dying of this horrible disease and this amounts to ten times the number of deaths as the entire Iraqi war!

Clyde Robison, Sr

USN 1956-1960

Mesothelioma, 2007

Regrettably, despite the clear link between mesothelioma, asbestos, and the US Navy, the DOD has never acknowledged it's duty to care for vets with asbestos diseases. The DOD has invested trillions of dollars over the past three decades in equipping our forces with the most sophisticated weaponry in the world, but it has been inexcusably penurious when it comes to funding programs to help prevent, diagnose or treat vets with service connected asbestos disease, such as mesothelioma.

We salute our front line soldiers, as well as all the doctors, nurses, and personnel within our vast network of Veterans Administration hospitals who daily attempt to treat veterans with asbestos diseases, which can take 20-50 years to manifest after initial asbestos exposures.

Thomas Reed

1950-2007

USCG 1969-1973

Mesothelioma, 2006

Unfortunately, within the colossal VA system, treating meso patients is not a priority. Despite an annual budget of over $132 billion (2012), the VA has neither a research nor a treatment program for vets stricken with war-related mesothelioma. 

One bright spot on treatment front, however, is the work and energy of Dr. Robert Cameron, a thoracic surgeon at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, who also serves as the Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles and one of the only mesothelioma experts in the VA Medical System.

Dr. Cameron, a scientific advisor for the Pacific Meso Center, has thankfully taken a leadership role in framing the mission to develop a nationwide treatment program for veterans with mesothelioma.

Dr. Cameron commented "we are preparing to ask the VA to live up to its obligations to provide the best medical care for these veterans suffering from mesothelioma by creating a national center of excellence for both research and treatment at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center where any veteran from across the country can come and be treated with the most advanced medical treatment available worldwide. We not only can but we must finally do this for our veterans." We applaud his interest in this orphan, underfunded disease.



James Hart

1943-2007

USN 1961-1963

Mesothelioma, 2006

Twenty years ago, when we first began representing veterans with mesothelioma, the lack of a federally funded program was perhaps understandable. But, today, the lack of a program is simply negligent. As my client Donald Thorp, a former Navy officer, said in 2000, "We served our country honorably. I cannot accept that our country has not taken responsibility to serve us."

Dr. Cameron recently lectured a large group of asbestos industry lawyers that despite an annual budget of $5 billion, the National Cancer Institute has never funded research on asbestos cancer commensurate with its incidence. He also noted that three promising therapies -- the IL-4 toxin, cryotherapy and stromal cell immunotherapy -- would each require start up funding of $2-3 million, which is a tiny fraction of the financial investment for chemotherapy drugs.

Can the country afford a few million dollars a year for meso research? Yes.  In 2012, our country has budgeted a whopping $1.4 trillion for defense related costs, including $707 billion for the DOD. 

We are hopeful that our donation will spur the PMC to continue to champion its campaign to partner with the DOD and DVA in the creation of a mesothelioma research program for our veterans who, long after their honorable discharge, continue to battle with war-related cancer.

Roger and Ann Worthington
December 16, 2011

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Admiral Elmo Zumwalt

1920-2000

USN 1939-1974

Mesothelioma, 1999

Honoring Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and Remembering the Service Connected Asbestos-Induced Mesothelioma That Killed Him

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honoring Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and Remembering the Service Connected Asbestos-Induced Mesothelioma That Killed Him

[Bath, Maine]  Mesothelioma, as we know, does not respect fame, fortune, fitness, beauty or power.  It has taken down movie stars (Steve McQueen), athletes (Merlin Olsen), artists (Warren Zevon), politicians (Bruce Vento), and warriors, such as Admiral Elmo Zumwalt.

Back in the late 1990s, when I helped launch the first-ever meso medical research  foundation (MARF),  Congressman Bruce Vento had just been diagnosed. Although his plate was full, and understandably he was reluctant to let the asbestos cancer shape his legacy, he agreed to serve on MARF’s board of directors.  Vento was exposed to asbestos while working construction jobs earlier in his career.

About the same time, Admiral Zumwalt, who served as the Chief Naval Officer from 1970 to 1974, was also diagnosed, and soon after he passed away. Admiral Zumwalt was exposed to asbestos while serving his country on Navy ships. His mesothelioma was truly a “war-related disease.”

I was privileged to meet Congressman Vento, but I never met Admiral Zumwalt. We reached out to the Admiral’s children at the time his condition was made public to ask whether they would be interested in by serving on MARF’s Board. Mouzetta Zumwalt-Weathers agreed.

Branding Meso as a War-Related Disease

In the early days, Mouzetta helped MARF shape it’s research and advocacy agenda. This included the effort to re-define mesothelioma as a “service connected disability” for thousands of asbestos-exposed US Navy Veterans. We hoped the “rebranding” would help persuade Congress and the DOD, in particular, to establish an asbestos cancer research program, much in the same way as it did for Agent Orange injured veterans.

In the early 2000s, there was also an effort in Washington, D.C., led by Senator Patty Murray, to ban asbestos.  It was during this mission that I had the honor of meeting retired Lt. Colonel Jim Zumwalt (USMC).  Jim gave a passionate speech on the day the bill to ban asbestos was announced, a speech laced with history, poetry, and the call to duty. 

Jim Zumwalt became my hero of sorts.  Like his father, who was not afraid to shake things up in the pursuit of progress, Jim expressed indignant disbelief that despite knowing about asbestos diseases since the early 1900s, and despite the thousands of warriors and civilians whose lives were cut short by asbestos, the US Government had yet to ban the evil carcinogen.

I'd Share A Fox Hole with this Guy



Jim and Mouzetta Zumwalt

I was at once struck by Jim’s palpable strength, his charismatic leadership and his Homeric honor. I remember thinking at the time that if I was ever thrown into combat I’d like this guy in my fox hole.  Over the ensuing years, we exchanged e-mails and I always looked forward to reading his columns.  Not only is Jim an amazing orator, the former Marine is an author and  journalist who writes muscular and cliché-free columns about some of the unsung yet dire threats facing our national security. 

So a few months ago, when Jim invited me to join his family in the “laying of the keel” ceremony for a new class of destroyers named after his father, I lept at the opportunity. I’m certainly not a student of naval warfare. I don't invest in companies who profit handsomely from the military industrial complex. I don’t hob knob with politicians. And Bath, Maine was 3000 miles from home.  But both Jim and Mouzetta had volunteered their time and energy to help causes that were near and dear to me, so I felt like it was the least that I could do.

Meso: In Search of a Poster Boy

And, on some level, as an asbestos research advocate, I was curious about whether anyone would mention Admiral Zumwalt’s cause of death. It’s one of those telling details I look for.  Every cancer, it seems, has a “poster” boy or girl.  Mesothelioma certainly has its celebrities, but for understandable reasons, few survivors, and even fewer of their heirs, are eager to attach their names to something so hideous as mesothelioma.  Most of us want to be remembered for how we lived, and the things we accomplished, not how we died, or what killed us.

Did I want, in some selfish way, for my hero Jim Zumwalt to mention how his father died? I’m not sure. General Dynamics printed up a very classy glossy brochure about the Admiral Zumwalt. Inside were headshot pictures of the three surviving Zumwalt children and the deceased fourth and oldest son, Elmo Zumwalt III.  Beneath the latter’s photo, the caption read: “A Navy Lieutenant and Vietnam veteran, Elmo died in 1988 as a result of Agent Orange induced cancer.”

There it was, in frank language, the connection between the war, the combatant and the product that took his life. The brochure told us what killed the son, a carcinogenic herbicide used by our forces to defoliate the jungles of Vietnam.  But it didn't mention what killed the father and namesake of the new line of sophisticated destroyers -- asbestos products.

Toxic Words?

I listened with rapt attention to the speeches.  Would anyone mention asbestos?

Jim delivered a fine speech, telling us that in 2000 when President Clinton decided to name a new line of destroyers after Admiral Zumwalt, the decision was met with stiff resistance. But for the valiant advocacy of a few stalwart officers, according to Jim, it never would’ve happened.  Mavericks tend to make enemies.

Mouzetta first thanked the thousands of Bath Iron Works shipyard workers who have been diligently building the revolutionary ship.  She then read a letter from President Bill Clinton, who praised the Admiral for championing the civil liberties of all sailors, regardless of their sex, race or creed.

And Ann Zumwalt stepped up to the podium and playfully announced that Daddy always loved her best, adding a welcomed dose of warmth and humor to the solemn affair on such a frigid day.   She said hello to her Mom and Dad up above, who “had the best seats in the house.”   And, with a dramatic flair, she fittingly put her Dad in a long line of intrepid sailors going back to Odysseus: strong leaders who identified with the hardscrabble, bloody knuckled sea dogs. He was, she said, a "sailor's sailor."

To say that I was moved and amazed by the Zumwalt children is a massive understatement. Their Dad was a giant. It was not a day to grieve. Instead it was a day to celebrate and give thanks to all the many friends and shipmates who remained loyal to their Dad when the bullets flew, as they inevitably did around a man who wasn’t afraid to go toe to toe with stupid traditions.

Neither the children, nor any of three other dignitaries who spoke at the ceremony mentioned asbestos or mesothelioma.  I searched the internet the next day and of the 20 or more articles that covered the “laying of the keel” ceremony, not one mentioned what killed Admiral Zumwalt.

Getting it Right

Does this upset me? I’d like to say it doesn’t, as my family and I were honored to be able to witness an important milestone in our nation’s naval history. I met Jim after the ceremony and sincerely congratulated him and his sisters for their moving tribute.  I didn't dwell on the "elephant in the room" omission – it was their story, and their ship, and their father, and their moment, not mine.

And, yet, now I admit to feeling a bit uneasy. Admiral Zumwalt was known for telling it like it was. When it was highly unpopular, he took a stand to open up the US Navy to African Americans and to women.  He cared about the living conditions of the sailors.  He cared about boosting morale. He identified with the sailors and their welfare was important to him. He struck me as the kind of leader who would want to get it right.

Ten years ago I went to Washington DC for a tribute to Congressman Vento, who at the time was being treated for mesothelioma.  President Clinton spoke, as did one of the greatest raconteurs of our time, Garrison Keillor.  Nobody uttered the word “asbestos” or “mesothelioma,” like the words themselves were toxic.

A few years later Keillor wrote a book and in the book he mentioned meeting Congressman Vento who, he wrote, at the time was being treated for “lung cancer.”  Mesothelioma is not lung cancer.  I wasn't trying to be picky or pedantic.  It wasn’t an “inside baseball” or “gotcha” thing but I felt compelled to write to Keillor.  I explained to him that it was “mesothelioma” not “lung cancer” which had stricken the Congressman.  The distinction was important, I wrote, because mesothelioma was an orphan, “industrial” disease that nobody wanted to talk about, let alone try to treat or cure.

Garrison Keillor wrote me back, which I thought was honorable in itself. He wrote words to the effect that he lamented his error,  and that from what he knew of the man, Bruce would’ve wanted him “to get it right."

What Would the Admiral Want?

The Zumwalts have given much to our country.  The admiral and his oldest son were both casualties of war-related injuries.  Both Jim and Mouzetta have donated their valuable time and energy in the campaign to ban asbestos and fund meso research. I can see why on a chilly day in the short amount of time allotted they chose not to mention what took their Dad’s life. It's a special honor to have a new class of ships named after your Dad. 

And yet, I guess I’m disappointed that nobody, at any time, in any medium, including the media who photographed, filmed and covered the event, attempted to “get it right. “  



Roger Worthington with his wife Ann
and daughter Vivian

Crusading for mesothelioma research is an exhausting and thankless mission.  I’ll end this account by noting that over a decade since mesothelioma  took the lives of great Americans like Congressman Vento and Admiral Zumwalt, we still don’t have a bona fide federally funded asbestos cancer research and treatment program.  And, unforgivably, asbestos has not  been banned. Progress is slow going.  Hope can hold out only so long against the corrosive rust of frustration.

Congress has budgeted around $10 billion for the three Zumwalt destroyers. $10 billion with a "B." Thanks in large part to the advocacy of Admiral Zumwalt, whose own son was dying from cancer caused by chemical exposures, the DOD created a program to help Vietnam Vets suffering from Agent Orange induced cancers. 

The history books will remember Admiral Zumwalt as a "sailor's sailor" who dragged the Navy "kicking and screaming" into the 20th Century. My guess, and this is only a guess, as I never met the man, is that the Admiral would’ve been pleased to allocate a slice of that $10 billion budget to fund a federal program to help treat his fellow sailors who were put in harms way by asbestos. He would've wanted to be remembered for making things right.

R. Worthington

11/19/2011

To read more about the laying of the keel of the prototype of the Zumwalt class DDG-1000 guided missile destroyers, see below.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works Moves 4,000-ton Section of Destroyer "Zumwalt" (DDG 1000). Oct. 27, 2011  Click here

Ceremony at BIW marks a milestone for Zumwalt. Nov. 18, 2011  Click here

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works Lays Keel of DDG 1000, First Zumwalt-class Destroyer. Nov. 18, 2011  Click here

Milestone marked in Maine on stealthy destroyer. Nov. 18, 2011  Click here

Dr. Cameron to Asbestos Defendants: Do the Right Thing, Fund Research, Help Us Clean up Your Mess

[Las Vegas, NV] Sometimes you just gotta throw it out there, even though the cards are totally stacked against you.

Asbestos litigation has raged on for about 50 years.  The asbestos companies have spent billions to defend and settle lawsuits.  Hundreds of millions have been spent on concocting junk science to prove that asbestos is as benign as mother’s milk.  But nary a penny has been invested in finding a cure.

On the medical front, nobody can say with a straight face that in the last 30 years there have been any significant advances in extending the life of mesothelioma patients. Yes, we can talk all day about multi-modal therapies, whether EPP is rational or not,or whether there’s any proven benefit of pursuing chemotherapy versus doing nothing at all.

We’re the richest nation on Earth. Some may argue that when it comes to matters of science, engineering, medicine and even justice we’re the smartest nation on Earth.

But the fact remains that when it comes to extending the survival of mesothelioma patients, we’re barely out of the Dark Ages.  It’s not for a lack of money – the asbestos industry, the government, the drug companies, and the insurance companies over the years have had access to trillions of dollars.

And it’s not for the lack of plausible ideas despite the lack of actual public and private funding of research to treat meso patients, there have always been reasonable theories to convert meso from an always fatal cancer to a treatable chronic disease.

What’s lacking? Simple. There’s been a lack of will. A failure to take ownership of the problem, a denial of the problem, and a refusal to truly marshal the resources to solve it. 

It was against this historical backdrop of pessimism, nihilism, and willful indifference, in a place where reasonable men and women eagerly sojourn to test their luck against impossible odds, that a little bit of history was made.

The Defense Research Institute,  the self proclaimed “voice of the corporate defense bar,” to its credit, invited a doctor who treats meso patients to come talk to the nation’s top defense lawyers about ways to extend the survival of meso patients.

The doctor? Dr. Robert Cameron, a thoracic surgeon renown for putting the interests of his patients above any other financial or academic or ego driven agenda. If you’ve read any of this website you know that when it comes to making choices about treatment options we regard Dr. Cameron as the cool calm voice of reason in a stormy sea of hype, bad science and balderdash.

To that esteemed audience, an audience to which it can reasonably be asked – why would you care about extending the life of patients who are seeking big damages against your corporatate clients? --  Dr. Cameron let it all hang out. Nothing slick. Nothing pre-packaged.  Nothing designed to make you feel good.

His message was simple:  we haven’t advanced much on the medical front, but we do have promising ideas to tame this tumor.  The government has never funded research proportionate to its incidence, impact or responsibility, and corporate America has even done less.  Dr. Cameron was excited – I repeat, he said he was “excited” about several potential therapies  but at the same time ‘frustrated’ that despite their promise he’s never been able to put them to work on account there’s been no money to fund them. 

And these promising research projects don't carry Hoover Dam sized price tags.  Dr. Cameron said that research and trials for the IL-4 toxin, cryotherapy (which he’s already using successfully to freeze out tumors that recur post surgery) and stromal cell manipulation could be underwritten for about $2-3 million each, a drop in the bucket when you consider the size of the NCI cancer budget ($5 billion a year) and the wealth of the corporate defendants (hundreds of billions).

Obviously Dr. Cameron was pitching to a tough crowd.  The asbestos defendants have paid out billions in settlements. About 40 companies have filed chapter 11.  The only asbestos company to ever fund medical research, Owens Corning, filed Chapter 11. Another, WR Grace, pledged to fund research but alas also sought bankruptcy protection. Dr.Cameron could hardly point to any empirical evidence that funding research to clean up the asbestos mess was a sure fire way to drive up a company’s stock price.

So why would an asbestos defendant want to contribute to medical research? Dr. Cameron offered an analogy. In medicine, mistakes are common place. Sponges get left in the human body.  An organ gets nicked. A vessel gets cut.  Accidents happen. But doctors don't always get sued when they make a mistake.  Instead, the doctors who fess up immediately, who speak directly to their patients about what went wrong and why, and own up to their error, usually don’t get sued, because their patients still trust them. It’s the doctors who try to cover up their mistake that get called onto the carpet. It’s usually not the negligence, it's the attempt to cover it up, that gets folks in trouble.

Dr. Cameron humbly admitted that he was not a testifying expert and he did not pretend to know if there were any ramifications regarding liability.  But, he suggested, virtue is its own reward.  Money invested in converting meso from a fatal to a treatable disease would not only engender public goodwill, but it could also perhaps limit damages, as successful patients could die from what all of us hope to die from – old age.

Did it work? Were the lions tamed? Will corporate America step up? When Dr. Cameron finished his earnest speech, going down in history as the first treating doctor to ever ask the asbestos defense (an audience he described as “the top 1% of America’s brain power”) for their help in coming up with funding strategies, the moderator thanked the good doctor for his passion but, on the question of will they or wont they, said: “Never gonna happen.”

R.Worthington

11/14/11

VW Gone Buggy

I grew up adoring Herbie the Love Bug.  Herbie was the odd-car out.  Short, stubby, and, next to the Camaros and Firebirds and Chargers, wimpy. But Herbie had a heart of gold. Despite it’s undersized engine and buggish shell it managed to overcome and win not only the race but our hearts and minds.

My pre-adolescent adoration spread to Volkswagen in general, who artfully played to the counterculture crowd in the 1960s. Their VW bus actually became a symbol of the freedom-loving hippy generation.  The VW became part of a costume – you wore the Bug or Bus like you would love beads, tie-dye, peace symbols, sandals, a doobie and an acoustic guitar.

I didn't learn until many years later about how the VW "love bug" sprang up during pre World War II Nazi Germany. On reflection, it made sense for VW to reject orthodoxy and embrace the free-loving, free-speaking ways of America’s “flower children.” Which car company would want to be associated with the goose-stepping, iron crossed Wehrmacht?

So imagine my surprise when recently Volkswagen knocked the dust off its old playbook and used an arm of the government to trample all over our cherished freedom of speech.

It went like this.  Simona Farrise, a tenacious litigator and fierce defender of the justice system, was engaged in a heated trial with VW, Ford Motors, Nissan and a few others. Her client, Richard Steiner, was dying of lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. 

The defense had already taken over 50 depositions and spent millions of dollars during discovery, but that wasn't enough.  VW asked the Court to order the Farrise Firm to take down portions of their website.  The pages in question dealt with attorney Farrise’s verdicts against other asbestos brake manufacturers in other cases dealing with other diseases.

The Court, regrettably, not only acquiesced, but went further.  The Court ordered attorney Farrise to take down her entire website. Whoa Nellie! Isnt that a bit extreme, especially in a freedom loving country like the US of A?  I mean, haven’t good men and women died for our right of free speech? Don't’ we decide in this country to encourage unfettered, unlimited speech and decide later if a line was crossed that warrants punishment?

It gets weirder.  The Court had already admonished the jurors not to “google the lawyers” or do any of their own research.  And we all know that jurors who violate such admonishments are subject to fines or jail for contempt.  Neither VW, Ford nor any other defense counsel offered any evidence that particular jurors either had or surely would violate the “gag” rule. 

Added to which there was nothing on said website that rose to the level of false, inflammatory or prejudicial misinformation.  Attorney Farrise had simply posted her verdicts in other friction cases. The truth. The facts. Nothing defamatory. When did telling the truth become…illegal?

Nonetheless, the Court ordered Farrise to take down its website for the duration of the trial, which was slated to last 6-7 weeks.  It must be said that the defense lawyers were not ordered to take down their websites. Nor was Volkswagen or Ford ordered to take down any of it’s websites.

So where are we?  The matter is now before the Supreme Court of California.  This should be a no-brainer.  Even a big lummox like Walter Sobchak in “The Big Lebowski” knew that “the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint…” Strategically, VW might rejoice that they trampled on the rights of the Farrise firm.  Good for you. A rag- around that stomach punches a plaintiff lawyer is, after all, a "win."

But there’s a larger sin here. VW, like so many tyrants before, hate a justice system in which common folks are allowed to decide the fate of  … tyrants.  VW implored the Court to force a plaintiffs firm to take down a truthful website without a shred of evidence or even suspicion of juror misconduct.  In so doing VW exposed a cynical and hostile presumption that jurors qua jurors are untrustworthy, dishonest, and rogue.

Shame on VW! Shame on the Court for blessing such contemptible nonsense.  And high fives to Simona Farrise for taking this fight to the Supreme Court of California, which should, as Professor Sobchack pounded home, "roundly reject" this nasty display of prior restraint.  If the lovable Herbie knew what its brutish parent was doing today it would blow a gasket.

RGW
10/24/11


"Has the whole world gone crazy?

Am I the only one around here who gives a sh** about the rules?!"

Postnotes:

Ford joined in VW's motion to restrain speech.

The inflammatory content that VW and Ford wanted to suppress on the Farrise Firm's website mentioned a verdict against Ford in two prior meso cases.  Obscene, defamatory, riot inciting hate speech? You decide.