Shocked, Shocked: Doctors Working For Coal Companies Found Black Lung In Just 15% Of Miners Tested

[hatrack]

Doctors hired by coal companies in black lung cases are far less likely to diagnose the disease in X-rays than are independent doctors or those who are hired by coal miners, a new study has concluded, pointing to conflicts of interest in the system that sick miners use to receive assistance.

The doctors who worked for coal companies to read the chest X-rays of miners found an absence of the disease nearly 85% of the time, according to the authors of the study, published Friday by the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health’s Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. In contrast, the doctors whose clients were coal miners found an absence of black lung a little more than 51% of the time.

“The more frequently a physician is hired by the employer/mine-operator to provide a medical opinion related to workers compensation cases for black lung disease, the more likely that physician will not identify black lung disease on a chest X-ray,” the study concluded. “The opposite is true too.”

The study, published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, looked at 264 specialists in pulmonology and radiology who reviewed X-rays for more than 37,000 miners from 2000 to 2013. The study examined more than 7,000 court decisions in black lung claims cases from 2002 to 2019 to determine who hired the doctors involved. The study found that coal companies paid their doctors up to 10 times more compared to doctors hired by miners or their advocates. “The miners are not paying that much to people reading X-rays on their behalf,” said Robert Cohen, a pulmonologist at the University of Illinois Chicago and one of the study’s authors. Cohen said that the general market fee for physicians who read X-rays for black lung runs $75 to $100, while those hired by coal companies can be paid as much as $750 to $1,000.

EDIT

https://ohiovalleyresource.org/2021/03/26/study-shows-bias-conflicts-of-interest-among-doctors-who-read-black-lung-x-rays/

[secondwind]

1. The evils of capitalism are endless.

[mucifer]

2. Actually 15% is an insanely high number. That is a lot of suffering

[mopinko]

3. news from the dept of- duh.

if it didnt work like that, they wouldnt pay the docs.

[eyeofnewt]

4. Soul Full of Coal Dust

I don’t see the point of a study when this is common knowledge among anyone in coal country, and has been well documented. Dr. Paul Wheeler of Johns Hopkins read black lung x rays ($750 per x ray paid by coal companies) and found no severe black lung leading to benefits for the miner in 1500 cases. An investigation led to the closing of the Hopkins’ black lung unit. For the ultimate deep dig into the nightmare that these miners suffer, often at the end of a hard working life and losing their ability to breathe with each day, read Chris Hamby’s 2020 book Soul Full of Coal Dust. It’s a well written, comprehensive account of all the players involved- miners, coal companies & their law firms, and politicians - told with empathy and understanding.

[niyad]

5. This comes as a surprise to exactly nobody. Despicable.

[Haggard Celine]

6. These "doctors" at the very least

need to have their.medical licenses yanked. I really wish they would have to do time. That kind of malpractice is criminal.

[Delphinus]

9. You said it!

[Dustlawyer]

7. This is a problem across the board.

Insurance workers compensation doctors are always willing to certify that the injured worker is ready to return to work, thus cutting off benefits.

My screen name “Dustlawyer” comes from the first half of my career representing victims of asbestos and silica exposure. The doctors for these companies would almost never diagnose any asbestos or silica disease.

[Midnight Writer]

8. I used to work for an outfit that had a "company doctor". He was a bad joke.