Vijay Ganapathy considers how courts are tackling the issues associated with the treatment & costs of industrial diseases
- New treatment options for mesothelioma sufferers.
- Scope of vicarious liability.
The last few months have seen the courts determining some interesting issues relating to industrial disease. The Court of Appeal also considered whether to overturn a first instance decision on vicarious liability.
Immunotherapy
Starting with industrial disease, a topic currently attracting considerable attention in many asbestos disease cases is immunotherapy and how the costs of this relatively new treatment can be recovered by claimants.
Exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma which is a terminal cancer affecting the lining of the lungs. The choice of treatment for this condition has been quite limited so the possibility of undergoing immunotherapy has given many sufferers considerable hope.
Immunotherapy has been available for treatment of other types of cancer and recently, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved the use of two immunotherapy drugs for lung cancer patients. NICE are yet to provide similar approval for mesothelioma which means sufferers either have
