December 25th, 2007

A trial underway regarding asbestos and silica exposure hit a speed bump this week when a key witness could not be located. The man in question is a doctor that created medical files for people alleging asbestos exposure.

A doctor who is a key witness in a current trial alleging asbestos exposure to thousands of people cannot be found. The trial, involving a Florida-based railroad company, and a law firm that handles asbestos cases needed to question the doctor regarding thousands of medical reports he conducted alleging asbestos exposure. The doctor, who is in his seventies, was to be served legal papers, adding the doctor as a defendant to the legal case. The transportation company noted that the doctor had multiple residences and citizenships in foreign countries, leading the company to believe that the man has fled the US.

The lawsuits are a rebuttal to claims that the transportation company may have put thousands of people at risk of asbestos exposure. Exposure to asbestos has been known to result in respiratory diseases, including mesothelioma, asbestosis and emphysema. Asbestosis occurs when asbestos fibers are ingested and become stuck in the body; mesothelioma is the cancer that results when this occurs within the lungs.