Asbestos victim caught deadly disease during just two days’ work

Thomas Pritchard was employed as a handyman at Coventry Hospital for around nine months during 1970-71, when he came into contact with the deadly substance.

It wasn’t until he developed a persistent and worsening cough in November 2013 that the mesothelioma, a terminal and incurable lung condition, started to present itself. His family doctor prescribed two courses of antibiotics, but to no avail. A hospital check-up then found a build-up of fluid on a lung.

Medics drained four pints of fluid from the lung, analysed it and carried out a biopsy, confirming their worst fears; Thomas had developed malignant mesothelioma.

During the early seventies, Mr Pritchard had spent a day working on the task of removing and replacing old asbestos-based insulation padding from a boiler and its pipes in the hospital’s boiler room and the underground corridors nearby. He then spent another day on the same duties in the pump room.

Once the old lagging was removed, Thomas had to mix powdered asbestos and water by hand, without any personal protective equipment such as a dust mask or gloves, until it became a paste that he could apply to the pipes and boiler.

As a young man aged 26-27 during this work period, Thomas had no idea of the dangers of working with asbestos. Aside from the two days of lagging work, he also spent many days walking the corridors and inspecting the asbestos-covered pipes for damage, possibly breathing in the deadly fibres even further. No other job throughout his life brought him into contact with asbestos.

On the recommendation of his doctor, Thomas approached Asons Solicitors of Greater Manchester in August 2014 in order for them to investigate his work history and find exactly how he contracted the disease.

It’s especially tragic that asbestos exposure should occur in a hospital, an environment in which the public expect to be cured of disease rather than contract it. We’re now in a more enlightened time where we understand the dangers of working with asbestos, but a disease like mesothelioma is a ticking time bomb for many thousands of an older generation.

The latest information provided by the Association of Personal injury Lawyers (APIL) indicates that there were 2,538 mesothelioma deaths in the UK during 2013. Figures also suggest that 80 out of every 100,000 people in the UK are affected, and that 85% of cases are due to workplace exposure to asbestos.

Asons obtained Thomas’s medical records, sent a letter of claim to the hospital and then arranged for an engineer’s report to estimate the extent of his exposure to asbestos at the hospital. Once all the hospital notes, X-rays and scans were obtained, a medical report was sought from a consultant respiratory physician.

The medical expert confirmed the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma of the pleura (the lining of the lungs), stated that it was most probably due to his asbestos exposure in the early 1970s at Coventry Hospital and advised on his life expectancy, which is severely curtailed due to the condition.

The Defendant in the case – the Secretary of State for the Department of Health – refused to make an interim payment until the medical report was available. £50,000 interims are common in these cases, pending a final settlement or a trial.

Instead, Mr Pritchard was awarded a £16,000 lump sum from the government and then Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit before a final damages amount was decided. Asons then sent the medical report to the Defendant’s solicitors and a final settlement was negotiated for £150,000.

This was roughly broken down as: Compensation for pain, suffering and loss of amenity - £80,000; financial losses, including nursing care costs - £70,000.

Mr Pritchard’s settlement was calculated on the basis of loss of income during the years he would have survived, had it not been for the mesothelioma. He has grown children living in England along with grandchildren and so the compensation will help him to relocate to Gloucestershire from County Londonderry so that he can spend his remaining days among his family.

Mr Pritchard was represented by Gavin Evans, Solicitor and Head of the Serious Disease Unit at Asons in Bolton.

Commenting on the outcome, Gavin said: "This is a tragic case in which our client was exposed to this deadly dust for only a very short period in the early 1970s, but has many years later developed mesothelioma. It is a horrible disease, which could have been prevented in this case, had my client’s former employers taken adequate precautions to prevent him inhaling the deadly dust.

"I am so glad, for his sake, that his claim was settled pretty quickly once the medical evidence was obtained. The compensation obtained for him will help to make his last few months more comfortable and also assist him in moving house to be nearer to his family, but obviously nothing can now give him back his health.”