What to do

[Jodielynn]

What is the name of your state? Utah My husband died due to a lung disease that I believe was work related. When a lung biopsy was done while alive arsnic was found in the tissue. He was a welder for 35 yrs and arsnic is a by-product of fly ash from the boilers in the power plants. I don't know what to do next or who to contact his doctor ruled out the possibilities of several diseases. We couldn't do this while he was alive because he would have lost his insurance coverage. I sure would like to speak to someone to explan the rest of the story to see what my options are. My husband developed Hodgkins lymphomia and as a result of the chemo treatment one of the drugs used had a high possibility of damaging the lungs and as I studied about this drug it didn't need to be included in the chemo treatment. We were never told about this possibility and when there were signs of his lungs getting worse why were we not told what our options were? I'm angry about us not being informed of our options. Please help me I have 3 small children and my husband was only 58. Please?

[tmwilliams]

Are there any other workers at the plant that have tested positive for this? If yes, then I would think OSHA would be the place to go, but good luck, they're not the fastest acting agency. It might be better to get as much information from the other workers before filing anything if you can. That way you can have solid evidence it was work related. You could also try looking into EPA air permits, see if this company is in compliance.

[url]http://www.epa.gov/air/oaqps/permits/index.html[/url]

Hope this helps.

[Wes1212]

ILLINOIS

There is quite a bit of legislation going on now about fly ash.

OSHA has their TLV's and PEL's already in place about levels of stuff such as: Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, Beryllium, Bismuth, Boron, Chlorine, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Fluorine, Gallium, Germanium, Iodine, Lanthanum, Lead, Manganese, Mercury, Molybdenum, Nickel, Palladium, Platinum, Rhodium, Selenium, Silver, Strontium, Scandium, Tin, Titanium, Uranium, Vanadium, Yitrium, Zinc, Zirconium, all found in the ash. There are other chemicals like PAH's, PCB's, and a some others I can't remember just now.

Our county roads were made with loose fly ash left uncovered from 1985 to 2002. Everyone living along the road was affected somehow from it. My father died last April from lung cancer, which the doctors say is very suspicious. I had pathology remove and store a lung for evaluation but I have to locate a lab myself.

He had 2 law firms working on the case and they were boiling over with excitement for about 6 months and then something happened and they started saying that the case was impossible, so nothing got filed. I have been told that when lawyers suddenly devalue a case, that their motivations need to be carefully considered.

It feels like my neighborhood was poisoned and nobody cares. The local residents personally paid to have the ash roads covered but the job was shoddy. Dust clouds still stir up from the edges and where surfaces meet others.

I have an ongoing appt at a cancer clinic because of abnormal bloodwork. I have given a Certificate of Analysis found at:
[url]https://srmors.nist.gov/certificates/1633b.pdf?CFID=16128194&CFTOKEN=c7e66af7c1c7908e-939438CD-C774-2CE8-0253DCEC1F0D9A7F&jsessionid=b4304eb0b546343a4628[/url]

to all my doctors who all sort of went "Uh Huh" after 10 years of being baffled by my symptoms. They are not helping us legally though...

Kind of makes me suspicious of the lawyers motivation when cases are settled with less evidence than we have here:

"Following is an example of the amount of proof one needs to get compensation from an exposure unjury:
“Concerns of cancer clusters in Illinois have made news in the past. In Taylorsville, a town of about 11,000, a civil suit was filed against AmerenCIPS by parents of four children with cancer. The children were all diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer of the nervous system, in the early 1990’s. One in every 330 people will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday, but of these only about one in every 100,000 children will be diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Although environmental connections have not been proven, the parents sued for a possible cancer link. AmereCIPS owns a local former coal-gasification plant where carcinogenic coal tar was present. Denying any blame, AmerenCIPS agreed to pay the families $3.2 million dollars. Although the majority of childhood cancers are of unknown causes; there is continuous research about possible environmental contributors.”

Dad's lawyers said his case is impossible without proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the ash caused his cancer.

Good luck! If you or anyone finds a lawyer interested in helping, I hope you let me know.