Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Science, Law, Causation
This NYTimes story is as old as the hills but far more irritating. It is the by now old saw about someone that spent "a lifetime" working with a chemical and in their old age has developed "symptoms" but they cannot get compensation because, well, there is no evidence linking the exposure and the injury.
But that is too obvious a point in this little corker of a propaganda piece. Here is the real matter that I want to address:
Look I have all sorts of sympathy for the health problems being experienced by Mr. Abney and his co-workers. There is little doubt that they are part of some sort of symptomatic cluster. And yes, that cluster corresponds with the presence of the solvent they choose to blame it on. But, there is no causational pathway established, nor, and this is a vital nor, is there the elimination of other environmental factors in the area. Maybe it was dust from cutting the particular alloy they made pipe out of. Maybe it is some local agricultural product. Maybe there is some generations old genetic marker shared by the ill people. The amount of study required to simply eliminate all other corollary factors, let alone prove causation, is mind-boggling.
And so, on what amounts to suspicion, there people would start forcefully moving money around. That dear friends, would spell an end to civility in this nation. After all, I "suspect" everybody owes me money.
How many people are caught in the same bind as Mr. Abney, “nobody really knows,” said Rafael Metzger, a California lawyer who specializes in cases involving diseases contracted in the workplace.Now be careful and parse that little bit of rhetoric very thoughtfully. It says in essence, "We cannot connect the dots, but my client still ought to get paid." Are we to start using the force of law to transfer money around our society based on suspicion? I mean come on, give me a break!
“Most workers who have an occupational disease don’t think they have an occupational disease,” Mr. Metzger said, adding that “the few who might think it are mostly not successful” in getting compensation “because there isn’t a robust body of literature to support the claim.”
Mr. Abney’s wife, Anita Susan Abney, is frustrated by the high standard of proof required. “If you’re saying in your study, ‘Yes, the dots have been connected,’ you should be able to say it in a court of law,” Ms. Abney said. “You should be able to say it at all levels.” She added, “I don’t blame it on the doctors, but on the strictness of the research.”
But that is too obvious a point in this little corker of a propaganda piece. Here is the real matter that I want to address:
Individuals like Mr. Abney are caught between the conflicting imperatives of science and law — and there is a huge gap between what researchers are discovering about environmental contaminants and what they can prove about their impact on disease.What "conflicting imperative?" What "gap?" Nope the difference is one between correlation and causation. This is a perfectly logical concept shared by science and the law.
Look I have all sorts of sympathy for the health problems being experienced by Mr. Abney and his co-workers. There is little doubt that they are part of some sort of symptomatic cluster. And yes, that cluster corresponds with the presence of the solvent they choose to blame it on. But, there is no causational pathway established, nor, and this is a vital nor, is there the elimination of other environmental factors in the area. Maybe it was dust from cutting the particular alloy they made pipe out of. Maybe it is some local agricultural product. Maybe there is some generations old genetic marker shared by the ill people. The amount of study required to simply eliminate all other corollary factors, let alone prove causation, is mind-boggling.
And so, on what amounts to suspicion, there people would start forcefully moving money around. That dear friends, would spell an end to civility in this nation. After all, I "suspect" everybody owes me money.
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