Toxic Tort: Medical and Legal Elements Second Edition

By Ernest P. Chido MD….JD..MPH…CIH

Toxic Tort: Medical and Legal Elements, provides a primer covering medical and legal issues involved in toxic substances litigation.
A physician-attorney who has been a senior public health official, and expert witness and a trial attorney, wrote this book. His experiences have provided him with unusual insights into the interplay between the medical and legal elements of toxic substance litigation.
These insights will provide interesting reading to attorneys dealing with this area of law. Unique features of this book include summaries of commonly encountered toxins as well as examples of independent medical evaluations designed to counter Daubert Challenges.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 23, 2007
• ISBN: 9781469120454

Ernest P. Chido MD….JD..MPH…CIH

ERNEST P. CHIODO is a physician and an attorney who is actively engaged in the practice of both professions with specialization in the medical and legal aspects of toxin exposures. Dr. Chiodo received his Bachelor of Arts from Kalamazoo College, his medical, law, biomedical engineering, and industrial toxicology degrees from Wayne State University. He received his Master of Public Health from Harvard, and his Master of Threat Response Management and Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago. He is a former Medical Director of the Detroit Health Department. He teaches toxic tort law at John Marshall and Loyola University law schools in Chicago.

Book preview

TOXIC TORT

Medical and Legal Elements

Second Edition

Ernest P. Chiodo, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., C.I.H.

Physician-Attorney

Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine

Diplomate of the American Board of Preventive Medicine

in Occupational Medicine

Diplomate of the American Board of Preventive Medicine

in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine

Diplomate of the American Board of Industrial Hygiene as a

Certified Industrial Hygienist in the Comprehensive

Practice of Industrial Hygiene

Copyright © 2007 by Ernest P. Chiodo, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., C.I.H.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

38585

Contents

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FORWARD

INTRODUCTION

WARNING

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

PART TWO

TECHNICAL ISSUES

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

PART THREE

SPECIFIC TOXINS

ACROLEIN

ANTIMONY

ARSENIC

ASBESTOS

BARIUM

BENZENE

BERYLLIUM

CADMIUM

CARBON MONOXIDE

CARBON TETRACHLORIDE

CHLOROFORM

CHROMATED COPPER ARSENATE (CCA)

CHROMIUM

COBALT

CYANIDE

DIBROMOCHLOROPROPANE

DICHLORODIPHENYLTRICHLOROETHANE (DDT)

2,3,7,8-TETRACHLORODIBENZO-P-DIOXIN (DIOXIN)

FORMALDEHYDE

LEAD

MANGANESE

MERCURY

MOLDS

OSMIUM

PHOSPHORUS

PLATINUM

POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS (PCBS)

RADIUM

RADON

SILICA

VANADIUM

PART FOUR

CASE STUDIES

CASE ONE

CASE TWO

CASE THREE

CASE FOUR

CASE FIVE

CASE SIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DEDICATION

To

My Mother and Father

Nothing is a poison and everything is a poison,

it is only a matter of the dose.

Paracelsus

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ernest P. Chiodo is a physician as well as an attorney licensed to practice medicine and law in the State of Michigan. He is also a certified industrial hygienist. He is a graduate of Kalamazoo College, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Wayne State University Law School, and Harvard University School of Public Health. He is board certified in the specialties of internal medicine, occupational medicine, public health and general preventive medicine, and industrial hygiene. He has served as the Medical Director of the Detroit Health Department and as the Medical Director of the pension boards of the City of Lansing, Michigan. He is a clinical assistant professor of internal medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine where he has been a frequent lecturer in the division of occupational and environmental medicine. He has active admitting privileges into the Henry Ford Health System and maintains a medical practice in occupational and environmental medicine. Dr. Chiodo has been an expert in toxic tort cases inside and outside of the State of Michigan. He also has a practice as a toxic tort attorney. He currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Environmental Litigation and Administrative Practice Committee of the Environmental Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. He has been elected by his fellow environmental attorneys to serve on the Environmental Law Council of the State Bar of Michigan. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Industrial Hygiene Society.

FORWARD

By

Donnelly W. Hadden, J.D.

Former Chairman of the Environmental Law Section of the

State Bar of Michigan

This is a book about poisons and lawsuits. We live in a world of chemicals; indeed,

we are ourselves made of chemicals. Many chemicals are benign and are essential to human life. However, some chemicals are poisonous to mankind. This has always been the case. There are poisons in nature including the hemlock plant, oleander, some mushrooms, locoweed, and many other types of flora. Some animals produce venom dangerous to humans. There are toxic minerals and elements, such as lead, phosphorus, and quicklime. These kinds of toxins have been known since the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. Many more recently developed useful common substances are toxic if misused. Gasoline, which was first refined from crude oil in commercial quantities a little more than a century ago, is a chemical that is necessary to the function of our modern society. It is ubiquitous. It is also toxic if swallowed. The same is true of many common products including ammonia and paint thinner.

With many toxic substances it is not so much the act of ingesting them that produces toxicity, rather it is the amount taken in. Grain alcohol is a very popular poison. Taken in small quantities it produces a state of blissful relaxation known to many adults. Consumption of larger quantities causes intoxication with the drinker suffering from ethyl alcohol poisoning. Continued ingestion can cause death. So, it is not only the type of toxic chemical that one is exposed to that is important, but also the amount of the chemical. The dosage as it is referred to in pharmacological terms is important. I have a friend who is an anesthesiologist that has testified on behalf of some of my clients. During the course of qualifying him as an expert on direct examination he likes me to ask him the following question: Doctor, what does an anesthesiologist do. He always answers the question with the statement We poison people. His statement is true. He deals in very skillfully controlled administration of doses of toxic chemicals that have the potential to be deadly.

We are familiar with household products and have learned to cope with their toxicological risks. It is when people are involuntarily exposed to toxins that the legal system becomes involved. Toxic substances are being deployed in tremendous quantities all through our environment every day without our knowledge or consent. Everyone is exposed to toxic substances daily in unknown dosages and in unknown mixtures. The combined health effects of most of the mixtures have never been studied. Chemicals are often used by people that have little knowledge or training concerning their harmful effects. My anesthesiologist friend once commented during direct examination that I spent twelve years in college, medical school, internship, and residency learning to use my poisons. However, this pesticide applicator received one week’s training, of which one day was watching video tapes and four days working with another applicator, after which he was turned loose to douse people’s homes with multiple poisons.

With today’s burgeoning proliferation of toxic chemicals broadcast by people knowing and caring little of the harm that they may cause, it is inevitable that injuries will occur. Government agencies are supposed to protect people from the untoward effects of exposure to toxic substances; however, they are often lax in fulfilling their responsibility. Consequently, it often falls to the tort law system to compensate victims who should never have been victims and to maintain the potential for litigation as a deterrent to rampant misuse of toxic chemicals.

To help deter the poisoning of America, the tort lawyer must be an effective advocate for his of her client. Litigation of a toxic tort case is not a skill that is taught in law schools. The attorney must learn the art and science of toxic tort litigation while in practice. The attorney may not even recognize a toxic tort case when one comes in the door. With this book the attorney will learn to recognize a toxic tort case and will know what to do with it.

The book is not intended to be an exhaustive tome with all the answers to every question. That would require an extensive library. It is intended to lay out the basic issues and concerns in a toxic tort case. It enables the practitioner to know a toxic tort case when it appears, how to set it up, organize it, determine the parties liable and understand enough about the chemicals involved in order to communicate knowledgeably about them. It will enable the advocate to appreciate the skills of the experts and allow the advocate to effectively communicate with experts and find ammunition for cross-examination.

Ernest P. Chiodo, J.D., M.D., M.P.H., C.I.H. is the ideal author for a work such as this. He is a physician board-certified in internal medicine and in occupational and environmental medicine. He is also one of the few physicians in the country who is also a Certified Industrial Hygienist. He has a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University. He is not just an academic;