Asbestos Mesothelioma and VA Hospital Employees

May 7, 2009

Murfreesboro, TN Airborne asbestos fibers are a known cause of asbestos mesothelioma. So, it would follow that reducing the presence of asbestos and any associated risk of airborne fibers would be the safe and sensible thing to do. Recently, it was discovered that the Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in Murfreesboro has old piping in the basement covered in asbestos, which has likely put hospital employees working in that area at risk.



Dwight Statum worked at the VA hospital for 30 years. In a recent interview with a local television news station, NewsChannel 5, he said he believes that there is a good chance he will suffer some long term effects from his exposure.



He also told reporters that neither he nor his fellow employees who had to do repairs to the asbestos-covered pipes were given protective clothing or respirators. "As far as a respirator, I was never issued one. I was there 30 years and I did not have one when I left the hospital," he told the TV reporters. "They knew full well what they were doing, but they didn't care. It was just go ahead and get the job done. We'll deal with the repercussions later."



In an effort to get something done about the situation, Statum took photographs, and delivered them, together with documentation, to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). An investigation followed and guess what? The OSHA slapped the VA with no less than 6 safety violations, all reportedly concerning asbestos and employee safety. According to the NewsChannel 5 report, OSHA said that the VA failed to "determine employee exposure to asbestos" and "failed to notify employees of the location and quantity of asbestos."



Apparently, the VA failed to provide signage –or in any way indicate the presence of asbestos so employees could avoid the affected areas.



A VA spokesperson, Don Beard, who is responsible for workplace safety at the hospital and who was interviewed by the TV news crew, said the hospital believed the employees were aware of the presence of asbestos- it was a well known fact and had been known for some time.



That may be, but that does not mean signage and protective gear aren't necessary, or at the very least wouldn't help.



For their part, the VA noted that patients at the hospital weren't exposed directly to asbestos–they were never placed in areas that contained asbestos. And the hospital is now doing air quality tests. As well, signs have been put up that indicate the presence of asbestos and employees going into the affected areas are issued with the appropriate safety gear.



So is this an almost happy ending? Possibly not for Dwight Statum, and other employees like him. While Dwight no longer works at the hospital, the legacy may be lasting. If he has suffered asbestos exposure from airborne fibers during his 3 decades of employment, he could be facing a possible diagnosis of asbestos mesothelioma.



The Math on Asbestos Exposure

Asbestos mesothelioma can easily take 20, possibly as much as 40 years to manifest. The exact latency period is not known, and is different for everyone. It can also develop quickly in some people. Why the development periods differ is not clear, but what is known is that millions of people in the US have been exposed to the mineral. In construction alone, some 1.3 million workers are estimated to have been exposed because asbestos is still widely used in materials like roofing tiles, as well as friction products.



For people who have been exposed to asbestos and are concerned about developing asbestos mesothelioma, getting tested is critical. And that's just what hundreds of people are doing. Sadly, the numbers are reflected in the government's own statistics.

According to United States federal health officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), deaths from malignant mesothelioma are on the rise. In a recent analysis of death records of US citizens, CDC officials found that between 1999 and 2005 malignant asbestos mesothelioma accounted for 18,068 deaths and that the numbers of deaths increased annually during that period. Given that more than 27 million workers were exposed to asbestos between 1940 and 1980, the fatalities should not come as a surprise.



What is a surprise, however, is that a hospital, one for veterans no less, would not do their bit to provide safe environments for their employees. The fact that the Murfreesboro VA did not appear to be concerned about asbestos exposure is worrying because it speaks to the overall level of concern around health risks within an institution that is supposedly all about promoting health.