Chris Hamby at the Center for Public Integrity writes
Senators push reform of black lung program that 'failed' sick miners:
| U.S. senators are crafting legislation to reform the black lung benefits program, using a series of reports by the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News as a guide, Sen. Robert Casey said Monday.
“The system didn't work” for ailing miners, Casey said. “Their government failed them as well as their company failing. So we have, I think, an abiding obligation to right this wrong.”
The reports revealed how lawyers and doctors retained by coal companies have played a key role in helping defeat the benefits claims of miners sick and dying of black lung disease.
Casey, D-Pa., said he is working with Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to identify gaps in a bill previously introduced by Rockefeller and to strengthen the legislation to better protect miners. […]
Meanwhile, government and union officials kept the pressure on Johns Hopkins Medicine, which announced Friday it was suspending its program of reading X-rays for black lung, pending a review, in response to the Center-ABC investigation. Doctors in a unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital have amassed a long record of reading coal miners' X-rays as negative for severe black lung, the Center-ABC probe found.
The leader of the unit, Dr. Paul Wheeler, has been involved in more than 1,500 cases decided since 2000 but never found the severe form of black lung that automatically triggers benefits. Wheeler has defended his work, saying he is following standard medical practice.
The government agency that certifies doctors to read X-rays for black lung issued a statement Monday saying it was “deeply disturbed” by the findings of the Center-ABC investigation. The agency, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), said efforts to address the problems raised in the reports should emphasize “accuracy and mainstream views and minimize the impact of outlying views.” […]
The union representing miners called for an investigation of doctors in the Johns Hopkins unit. Daniel Kane, the international secretary treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America and a former miner himself, also demanded cases involving Wheeler be reopened.
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For those interested in more, I urge you to read Hamby's excellent three-part exposé on this subject—
Breathless and Burdened: Dying from black lung, buried by law and medicine'.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2010—Another Scarborough political donation:
| Politico's Ken Vogel flags another donation from MSNBC host Joe Scarborough to a Republican candidate, this one made in April of this year for $5,000 to a GOP candidate in Alabama. Combined with his 2006 contribution of $4,400 to a GOP congressional candidate, Scarborough has donated at least $9,400 to Republican candidates as an MSNBC host -- more than the amount that led to Keith Olbermann's suspension.
It's not just contributions, either: Vogel points out that in August, Scarborough traveled to Alabama to headline a fundraiser for the county GOP where he made his contribution.
Given the obvious double-standard here, Griffin's decision to suspend Olbermann but not Scarborough seems to be motivated by personal or political factors. After all, Joe Scarborough not only has contributed more money than Keith Olbermann, he's headlined fundraisers.
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Tweet of the Day:
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to write their own stuff
#RandPaulSpeeches
— @randyprine
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