Telephone Company Employee Dies From Exposure to Dioxin In Chemically Treated Wooden Telephone Poles
Dioxins are environmental pollutants and are of concern because of their highly toxic potential. Statistics have shown they affect a number of organs and systems. After entering the body, dioxins endure a long time because of their chemical stability and their ability to be absorbed by fat tissue, where they are then stored in the body. The estimation of their half-life in the body is seven to eleven years.
The victim in this toxic chemical litigation case was a 44 year old husband and father of two young daughters when he was first diagnosed with liposarcoma, a soft tissue sarcoma. He had no significant history of cancer in his family, no history of exposure to carcinogens, no genetic defects, and no history of abuse of recreational chemicals that would lead to this condition. He did not do mechanical work or wash parts in gasoline, he was not an amateur painter, he did not engage in gardening or work with any pesticides. There is, however, a history of prolonged exposure to pentachlorophenol which was used to treat wood utility poles for many years. He did have exposure to wood utility poles for a period of approximately 20 years while working as a linesman for the telephone company. He did have exposure to the dioxins commonly found in pentachlorophenol which is a known carcinogen. There is undisputed, if not overwhelming evidence, that such direct exposure has caused liposarcoma in other human beings.
This victim, as most linesmen do, worked in jeans and a shirt, without protection from direct contact with the poles. The continuous out-gassing of pentachlorophenol that is common when the wood poles are dip treated, provided a fresh source of dioxin exposure to his bare arms, chest and face as he climbed the poles in hot, humid weather. Dermal absorption is usually the main route of exposure in these cases. The victim often had irritated skin with blister like presentations that oozed on the back of his neck and back. He had an acne-like condition. This was no doubt chloracne, a telltale sign of dioxin exposure which is well confirmed in the scientific literature. He was experiencing heavy night sweats, which is another indication of toxin exposure, as well as fatigue and headaches and in increase in frequency of urination.
One day the victim found a lump in his right lower abdominal area and he and his wife went immediately to the emergency room to have it checked out. He was admitted and the next day an ultrasound was performed and he was brought into surgery. When the surgeon came out of the operating room, he informed the wife that her husband had cancer, metastatic liposarcoma, Stage III. His liposarcoma was categorized as a very aggressive high grade metastatic liposarcoma. The doctors informed the victim’s wife that this was a very rare form of cancer. At the time he also had pleural effusion and was told to go home and return the following day for a chest x-ray. After the chest x-ray, they received a call from the doctor to inform them that he also had a tumor in his left chest wall.
The victim was referred to a thoracic surgeon who decided that the tumor was too large to remove and they were then referred to an oncologist for chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was administered for six months, five days per month. Of course, he experienced all of the side effects of chemotherapy, such as hair loss, mouth sores, vomiting, etc. When he completed his chemotherapy, he underwent surgery for the removal of the tumor. The surgery lasted for nine hours and along with the tumor, a portion of his lung and diaphragm were removed. He was hospitalized for approximately 20 days. He returned home and was attempting to recovery from the surgery. Approximately two months later, the victim’s wife was rubbing his back when she felt a knot on his incision. He went to the thoracic surgeon the next day for a needle biopsy which revealed that the knot was indeed another tumor.
After that tumor was found, the victim began to deteriorate rapidly. He could not eat or sleep and could barely breathe. He was re-hospitalized, a pericardium window was done, and an enormous amount of fluid was removed from around his heart. At that time, the surgeon informed his wife that he was probably not going to live for very much longer. He never returned home from that hospitalization and died shortly thereafter.
The wife contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler for assistance in this matter and after reviewing all of the evidence and discussing the case with several experts in toxic tort cases, Mr. Schuler filed suit against eight (8) chemical companies that were believed to be involved in treating these wood utility poles with pentachlorophenol in Florida and/or Georgia during the time that the victim worked as a linesman in these states and was exposed to this chemical. This lawsuit was filed since the companies knew, or should have known that pentachlorophenol is a known carcinogen and the overwhelming evidence that such direct exposure to this chemical had caused similar soft tissue tumors and liposarcoma in other human beings. These chemical companies knew that the poles treated with the pentachlorophenol could not be sent for disposal to any dump site, but rather must be taken to a Type III, Hazardous Waste Facility that can properly dispose of toxic waste. The known hazard from the penta-treated poles has caused the telephone company to change to salt-treated poles for the past several years.
As a result of this devastating disease, the victim’s medical bills and expenses totaled over $219,000.00. There is nothing more devastating than what this victim had to endure since he was first diagnosed with this rare and almost always fatal form of cancer. Medications that he had to take made him very ill, fidgety, affected his personality, and robbed him of his ability to be a good husband and father to his two children. His two daughters had to watch their father lose his hair, lose a tremendous amount of weight, and suffer through the pain that this type of cancer causes, and then watch him die a slow and painful death. It is an illness that no one should have to live through, but more importantly, it is an illness that someone’s wife and children should not have to witness.
