Mesothelioma Case Study

George Dewar flies to the United States to see his six-month-old grand-daughter for the first, and perhaps the last, time.

Like many hundreds of tradesmen working with asbestos during the past 40 years, Mr Dewar contracted mesothelioma, or asbestosis, and his life expectancy is uncertain. The only certainty is that he will die from the disease, for which there is no treatment.

Unlike other workers however, Mr Dewar, 50, of Alyth in Perthshire, has no recourse to compensation. His wife may not in fact even be entitled to his meagre £ 29.67 disability pension when he dies.

The issue of the dangers of working with asbestos was raised afresh last week with a new report which forecast a steep increase in the number of middle aged sufferers who contracted the disease while working in the construction industry.

Mr Dewar contracted asbestosis while a serving sailor - but under a 1987 Act of Parliament, is barred from seeking compensation or suing the Government.

When his condition was diagnosed six years ago, Mr Dewar discovered that two years earlier the Government had repealed a 1947 Crown Proceedings Act which means effectively that no serviceman who had left the forces before 1987 could sue for injury or death.

He has written to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Defence and MPs, but each time he has been referred to the act.

"I can understand a bar on people who were on active service seeking compensation, but I contracted an industrial disease which the Government has been aware of since 1906," he said

It was while working in the Royal Navy's maintenance branch in the Far East in the Sixties that Mr Dewar came into contact with asbestos. "We were stripping out brown and blue asbestos lagging from pipes and pumps without masks and replacing it with white asbestos.

"We were never told of the dangers or given any warnings that even one grain of the stuff in your lungs could finish you."

His work with the maintenance unit continued at HMS Lochinvar at South Queensferry, again stripping asbestos.

It was only after he left the service that he became aware of the dangers, and ten years ago he began to experience breathing difficulties. Initial tests appeared negative, but six years ago his fears were confirmed.

He was awarded a disability pension - the navy accepted he had contracted the disease while a serving sailor - but Mr Dewar discovered too late that the 1987 legislation debarred him from making a claim.

Mr Dewar said: "I feel very bitter that I served my country but contracted an industrial disease and am now being denied my rights. My concern is that unless I die from asbestosis, and not a heart attack or something related, my wife may not even get my pension."

To rub salt into the wound, Mr Dewar has had to ask permission from the War Pensions Board to enable him to travel abroad. "It's a requirement of the pension. If I don't tell them, I don't get paid."

Mesothelioma |