Republicans dig coal. Or at least they dig coal mine owners. So much so that they’re willing to let coal miners die to prove it.
Despite the decline in mining jobs, the delay between exposure to coal dust and the development of symptoms means that Kentucky is facing an epidemic of current and former miners afflicted with black lung disease.
... NPR and Ohio Valley ReSource reported nearly 1,000 cases across central Appalachia, prompting NIOSH epidemiologists to declare it the worst epidemic of complicated black lung they'd ever seen. Our ongoing survey of black lung clinics and law offices has the current count of advanced black lung diagnoses at more than 2,200 since 2010.
So how have legislators in the state of Kentucky reacted to this epidemic?
A measure signed into law in Kentucky this past week would prevent federally-certified radiologists from judging X-rays in state black lung compensation claims, leaving diagnoses of the disease mostly to physicians who typically work for coal companies.
The new law limits diagnosing black lung to pulmonologists who have a special certification. How many such pulmonologists are there? Six. In the whole state. And four of those six are employed by coal companies and their insurers. One is retired.
Studies have shown that radiologists are more accurate than pulmonologists in diagnosing black lung. That’s not allowed. And if you’re thinking that the problem might be solved by consulting out of state doctors, the new legislation bans that, as well. Miners have no choice but to let the company doctor tell them whether they live or die—despite overwhelming evidence that these doctors vastly under-diagnose the illness.
And Republicans aren’t even worried about hiding what they’ve done.
Republicans have dismissed concerns about the legislation by saying that they are “standardizing” the process for diagnoses.
During the House floor debate on the measure, [Republican Rep. Adam Koenig] said one B reader finds black lung 41 percent of the time while another's rate is 91 percent.
Which, since this is not taking place in a controlled laboratory setting, means absolutely nothing. Even if Koenig’s statistics can be trusted, there’s nothing that says one reader wasn’t assigned many more healthy patients than the other. As a justification for blocking diagnoses by the best trained, most accurate class of doctors, it sucks.
But Koenig left no doubt why he made the decision that lets the coal companies have control of the diagnoses.
In an interview with NPR, Koenig said he "relied on the expertise of those who understand the issue — the industry, coal companies and attorneys."
Already some miners are dying before they can get the diagnoses that are necessary to receive state and federal black lung benefits, and treatment, for themselves and their families.
Republicans haven’t been able to increase employment in mines by destroying safety and health regulations. But it seems they have found one way to help the industry.