…do try to obtain one from a doctor who exists, rather than from one who doesn’t. Former railway worker Rodney Chambers, suing CSX Transportation on a claim of asbestosis, claimed to have been examined by a certain Dr. Oscar Frye on May 14, 2005 in support of his claim. Lawyers for CSX attempted to trace the doctor and found that the phone number Chambers had given for him belonged to someone else, state boards could find no record of ever licensing a doctor by that name, and the street address Chambers gave for the doctor in Huntington, West Virginia wasn’t a real street address. A further problem: the form Chambers submitted to attest to his asbestosis diagnosis “was identical to several other medical questionnaires received from doctors around the country.” Now the CSX lawyers would like to probe whether there is a wider pattern to be found among other asbestos claimants represented by Chambers’ lawyers. (Beth Gorczyca, “Claimant’s Diagnosis Challenged”, West Virginia State Journal, Jul. 27).

Filed under: asbestos, medical, West Virginia