Cost of hospice care recovered in mesothelioma claim
Rodney Nelson-Jones has recovered
compensation for the cost of a claimant’s hospice care in a case
that is thought to be the first of its kind. Hospices are generally
exclusively funded by charitable donations. As part of the
settlement, the firm was able to recover £12,500 to be paid over to
the hospice.
The case arose out of the death of a 64 year old man due to
mesothelioma, an
asbestos-related cancer, in December 2007 after spending his final
days being cared for in a North London Hospice dedicated to cancer
patients.
Throughout his life he had worked as a carpenter, painter and
labourer. In 1963, whilst employed as a painter for J Murphy &
Sons Ltd, he was exposed to asbestos dust
whilst sanding down and filling in walls in prefabricated housing
containing asbestos. He was then exposed to further asbestos when
working for them at a factory in Dagenham, cleaning debris from the
guttering on roofs made from corrugated asbestos.
In August 2005 he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an asbestos
related cancer on the lining of one of his lungs. He was eventually
admitted to the hospice where he spent the last month of his
life.
Rodney Nelson-Jones, partner in the Asbestos Claims Group at
Field Fisher Waterhouse, was instructed to claim compensation on
behalf of the family. The firm was able to recover £170,000 from J
Murphy & Sons Ltd, £12,500 of which is being paid to the
hospice which provided him with care worth over £400 a day.
This is thought to be the first time that compensation has been
recovered for a patient’s hospice care, which is usually funded by
charitable donations. It has long been possible to recover
compensation for the value of care provided by relatives. FFW’s
innovation has been to extend this principle to charitable care
provided by hospices. The firm plans to continue to claim the cost
of hospice care in future mesothelioma cases.
Rodney Nelson-Jones commented:
“We are delighted to have been able to secure extra funding
for the hospice. Hospices do a wonderful job and rely on charitable
donations to provide much needed palliative care for cancer
patients. We hope that this case will mean that they are now
provided with an additional source of funding.”
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