Should vicitims be forced to donate compensation to cancer research?
Pleural plaques sufferers will not be compensated in the future, the government has announced. It will not overturn the 2007 ruling by the House of Lords in Johnston v NEI International Combustion Limited. In that case the Lords decided that, distressing though a diagnosis of pleural plaques is, it does not in fact indicate any physical damage and therefore no compensation is payable.
No injury
The medical evidence reviewed by the government confirmed that the diagnosis is an indicator that the person has been exposed to asbestos. Although an anatomical change has occurred in the great majority of cases there is no significant physiological change or loss of lung function.
There is no available medical evidence to show that pleural plaques become malignant or lead to mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases.”
Statutory Scheme
The government has proposed a statutory scheme to make compensation payments of about £5,000 to the limited class of claimants who had started but not concluded their claims prior to the Johnston ruling. The House of Lords debated this topic last week. There were calls for strict limiting of the legal fees payable to lawyers acting under the scheme, the Lords no doubt anxious to avoid repetition of the miners compensation scheme problems.
Victims should fund the research
Lord Henley suggested legal costs should not be recoverable under the scheme at all and that costs should be fixed so that they do not exceed a reasonable proportion of the damages. He went on to say that successful claimants should have 50% of their damages deducted to fund asbestos related cancer research. I’m not sure what the innocent victims, who have a symptom-free but none-the-less devastating diagnosis, would be left with after paying fees and giving half of the money away. That they should fund the research suggests it is somehow their fault in the first place. You may have a view, if so please add to the debate below. The government says it will announce details of the scheme shortly.
