December 21, 2004

At an October deposition a radiologist testified, to the dismay of his plaintiff's-bar sponsors, "that he shouldn't have signed his name to silicosis diagnoses that were subsequently used as the medical basis for each of" 3,617 claims of silicosis. According to defendants, screening companies and attorneys have mass-produced dubious claims of silica lung damage (Sept. 22 and links from there) with the most intense activity found in the Gulf Coast stretch that includes Mobile, Ala. and Pascagoula, Miss., dubbed "the screening hub of the universe". Eddie Curran of the Mobile Register, whose reporting on these issues has been outstanding, has the developing story. PDF documents from MDL litigation in Corpus Christi before U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack: motion for summary judgment, exhibit, deposition transcript of George Martindale, MD, judge's order. (Hat tip: Scipio).