[ RadSafe ] Cancer suit filed against Los Alamos Labs

[Steven Dapra]

June 22

         This doesn't say much for the intellectual rigor of jurors, does it?

Steven Dapra


At 07:17 PM 6/22/08 -0500, Dan W McCarn wrote:
>Dear Group:
>
>Having been involved in civil environmental litigations as an expert
>witness, sometimes it doesn't matter to a jury if a person was exposed to a
>contaminant exceeding a drinking-water quality threshold or not.  If those
>contaminants at issue can even be detected, or a case made that they might
>have been present at one time is enough to move a jury to return a verdict
>in favor of the plaintiff. This, of course, also extends into the more
>emotive issues related to radiation or radionuclide exposure.
>
>Dan ii
>
>Dan W. McCarn, Geologist; 3118 Pebble Lake Drive; Sugar Land, TX 77479; USA
>Home: +1-281-903-7667; Austria-cell:  +43-676-725-6622
>HotGreenChile at gmail.com   mccarn at unileoben.ac.at   UConcentrate at gmail.com
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
>Of Perle, Sandy
>Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 4:18 PM
>To: Steven Dapra; radsafe at radlab.nl
>Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Cancer suit filed against Los Alamos Labs
>
> >>According to an article in the Las Cruces (NM) Sun-News, Ryman's
>daughter "said her father's doctors were mystified about the cause of
>his
>cancer until they talked to her about his past.
>"I told the doctor he grew up in Los Alamos, and he looked at me, put
>down
>his pen and said, 'Your dad has radiation exposure,' [the daughter]
>said."
>
>The link is <http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_9152106>.  (How's that for a
>diagnosis?  The doctor never so much as saw the patient.)<<
>
>Steve,
>
>Not an unusual occurrence. This happens more often than you think.
>Worker works with radiation and becomes ill. Member of the public
>becomes ill and it's the radiation that causes the illness. This trend
>towards litigation is partly what I have written about in the ALARA
>dialogue. Employers are at risk where radiation is a part of the work.
>People do get ill, and, where there is an illness, radiation is often
>suggested at the root cause, right or wrong. If employers or businesses
>don't do what is considered prudent, they are portrayed as ruthless and
>not concerned about the public's or their worker's welfare. Juries can
>be swayed. I observe where employees believe that they have been treated
>fairly at work, generally don't sue. If they believe that management has
>not treated them fairly, they will often sue.
>
>Regards,
>
>Sandy
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>Sander C. Perle
>President
>Mirion Technologies
>Dosimetry Services Division
>2652 McGaw Avenue
>Irvine, CA 92614
>+1 (949) 296-2306 (Office)
>+1 (949) 296-1144 (Fax)
>
>Mirion Technologies: http://www.mirion.com/