In Spain, someone dies from lung cancer every 20 minutes, and nearly 30,000 new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed last year, accounting for almost 25% of all deaths from malignant tumors.According to a study by Dr. José Miguel Sanz Anquela and Dr. Manuel Peinado Lorca, 8 to 12 percent of these are due to asbestos exposurea figure that means nearly 3,000 people in Spain die every year from lung cancer, victims of asbestos.
The situation is like this bizkino Demetrio C., died of pleuropulmonary asbestosis in 2021, worked for 24 years at FOSECO, a manufacturer and marketer of steel products. However, to his widow’s surprise, social Security Denied the family’s ability to receive occupational disease benefits because, according to the agency, the cause of death was COVID-19 and not chronic lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibers.
Between 1970 and 1994, Demetrio C. performed packaging and unpacking of asbestos-containing parts, which led to his diagnosis of pleuropulmonary asbestosis on September 26, 2019. exactly, Up to 10% of workers with long-term, intense exposure to asbestos will develop the diseasesymptoms of which usually don’t appear until many years after initial exposure.
Two years later, the Basque was admitted to hospital, where he eventually died from bilateral pneumonia and severe respiratory failure. And, although the death certificate did initially indicate that the disease, caused by asbestos, was the cause of death; the Social Security Administration and the National Institute of Social Security refused to grant the widow assistance due to occupational disease because the cause of her death was a common disease ——COVID-19.
‘He wouldn’t have died if it hadn’t been for asbestosis’
has been for many years After a long battle, it was finally proven that Demetrio died from an illness caused by long-term asbestos exposure, not COVID-19, so that his family could qualify for the benefits.. During the trial, which took place on September 6, doctor and expert José Miguel Sanz Anquela tried and succeeded to prove why asbestosis was the cause of the death of the man from Vizca The underlying cause of death of a 78-year-old man from Bizkaia. Like “According to statistical studies, if Demetrius did not have asbestosis, he would not have died.” Proof that the family’s fight has ended with a happy ending: Bilbao’s Seventh Court declares Demetrius The cause of O’s death was pleuropulmonary asbestosis, reversing the INSS’s decision to list the common disease caused by the coronavirus as the cause of death. die.
“The pulmonologist who studied the case and signed the death report believed that pleuropulmonary asbestosis was the underlying cause of death because this disease causes chronic damage to the lungs due to exposure to asbestos. Intermediate conditions such as COVID-19 and gastrointestinal bleeding caused Demetrio’s health complicated and his lung function deteriorated, eventually leading to severe respiratory failure, which was the direct cause of death,” he explained. Doctors and experts in Jose Miguel Sanz Ancra case. In his study, he noted that more people die from lung cancer each year than from colon, breast and prostate cancer combined.
“Asbestosis is a disease caused by asbestos that requires the highest levels of exposure and is therefore the most preventable,” he explains. “Because this can be avoided by reducing exposure below a cumulative threshold of 25 fibres/ml/year. Below this exposure the disease is less likely to develop,” he insists. Although he assured that the first-instance judgment would not create precedent, he noted that “if on appeal, the Supreme Court reaches who confirms the first-instance judgment, it could be used in similar cases.” This campaign could lead to action for thousands of families, Prove that a member of their family has died due to exposure to this material.
The doctor, who has been handling three other asbestos-related cases, assured that this was an important verdict as it could encourage other families to educate people about the disease, an occupational disease for which the government has not instituted compensation. Create a fund for his victims. In Basqueti, given its industrial nature, a large number of asbestosis patients are expected to be diagnosed in the coming years, although Sanz Ankra recalls that this is a potential problem throughout the country: “The ruling was not only based on medical aspects, it was very Importantly, it refers to a ruling of the Andalusian TSJ on how causation (disease and death) should be interpreted, and that it does not have to be exclusive, but relevant, and therefore sufficient to prove that an occupational disease was a cause, without this Reason, it has to be unique.”
In 2002, Basqueti banned the use of asbestos. Since that year, the material has been removed from pipes, boilers, furnaces, buildings, pavilions throughout the territory. However, these actions are not enough for the families of workers who have died from exposure to the material, who have been demanding compensation from the government for decades. Asbestos Victims Compensation Fund. To this day, that has not come.