Thursday June 30, 1:56 pm ET

Press Release Source:  Doctor-Patient Alliance  Click here for .pdf version

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- An alliance of mesothelioma patients and 34 doctors nationwide who treat them called on each member of the U.S. Senate today to reform serious flaws in the proposed asbestos trust fund bill (SB 852)

"We are doctors and patients who are speaking up about our mission to end the asbestos cancer public health crisis," said Dr. Robert Cameron, head of thoracic surgery at UCLA Medical School and co-chair of the Doctor-Patient Alliance for Responsible Asbestos Cancer Policy. "The asbestos trust fund bill presents an historic opportunity to make up for years of neglect. However, in several areas, it sadly falls short."

The Doctor-Patient Alliance is calling on the Senate to cure three primary flaws in the proposed law: the arbitrary $1.1 million one-size-fits-all cap on awards to mesothelioma patients, the absence of assurance that patients will obtain awards during their limited life spans, and the inadequate level of funding for a research and treatment program.

"The $1.1 million cap is insufficient to meet the medical, hospital, travel, lodging and other costs of mesothelioma patients who pursue the best treatments, which include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or a combination of therapies," said Dr. Cameron. "The inflexible cap fails to address the ongoing medical costs of patients who survive long enough to outlive the median survival time but who remain disabled and unable to earn a living. The bill ends up discriminating against the early stage, usually younger, patients whose life-long medical costs are certain to exceed their award."

Co-chairs Dr. Bret Williams, also a mesothelioma survivor, and Klaus Brauch, another survivor, have furnished data showing that younger patients who pursue novel treatments both live longer and absorb more treatment costs. Both patients have undergone lung amputation (called an "extra-pleural pneumonectomy"). Mr. Brauch, who is a four-year survivor, has incurred over $1.2 million in medical bills, not including the costs of travel, lodging and over the counter drugs. Dr. Williams, a two-year survivor, has accumulated over $550,000 in medical bills.

The Alliance calls on the Senate to institute a due process proceeding modeled after the 9/11 Victims' Compensation Fund that will allow asbestos cancer and other asbestos-disabled patients to prove up their special medical and financial hardships and receive fair compensation tailored to their particular facts and needs.

In addition, the Alliance argues that any awards should be made while the money can be effectively invested in life-extending cures. "I doubt very much that the new bureaucracy will be up and running within my life time," predicts Dr. Williams. "It will take at least two years or more for the new federal agency to start paying out claims, while the median survival for mesothelioma patients is about nine months. The fund won't benefit me or my family, as I will almost certainly be gone before existing claims are processed."

The Alliance expressed "deep concerns" that the Senate is missing an opportunity to hold accountable the companies who are ultimately responsible for the asbestos disease epidemic in this country. "The asbestos companies and their insurers can certainly afford to invest more than $17 million per year to mitigate their damage to the public health," said Dr. Cameron, noting that the combined market value of the major defendants in asbestos litigation today was in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

"Mesothelioma research has long been neglected, even though about one- third of the patients contracted their asbestos exposure while serving in the U.S. Navy. We have grave concerns that unless key senators take the proper steps to appropriate the federal dollars to the National Institutes of Health, the mesothelioma program will exist on paper only as just another federal 'unfunded mandate.'

"Although SB 852 is reasonable in its initial concept, the functional reality is that it would not provide fair compensation for mesothelioma patients, nor would it adequately fund medical research. Compared to the size of the massive bailout it would grant industry and insurers, the level of help to actual patients and the research community is tragically trivial," concluded Dr. Cameron.

To review the Alliance's policy paper and cover letter to each member of the U.S. Senate, click here ( http://www.phlbi.org.)

Contact:

*** POSTED JULY 1, 2005 ***