Old medical file offers new hope

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Henry Lawrence in his home recently, while speaking with a Sun reporter and a local politician. (BRUCE BUMSTEAD/BRANDON SUN)

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Henry Lawrence, who is suffering from asbestos-related pleural lung disease, speaks with Brandon East NDP MLA Drew Caldwell on Wednesday. Caldwell has been working with Lawrence for several years in his battle for compensation. (BRUCE BUMSTEAD/BRANDON SUN)

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The X-ray report dated May 7, 1965, from the Brandon hospital’s old microfiche files, states that Henry Lawrence’s left lung and the remaining portion of his right lung were “clear.” (BRUCE BUMSTEAD/BRANDON SUN)

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Henry Lawrence is seen during an interview with the Brandon Sun on Wednesday. (BRUCE BUMSTEAD/BRANDON SUN)

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Henry Lawrence is seen during an interview with the Brandon Sun on Wednesday. (BRUCE BUMSTEAD/BRANDON SUN)

A Brandon man’s 24-year battle for justice from a deadly, long-term exposure to asbestos may soon come to an end thanks to the rediscovery of his long-lost medical records, and the kindness of a Brandon hospital employee.

Unfortunately for Henry Lawrence, his stroke of good luck has come just as his health has taken a turn for the worse.

"Right now I don’t feel like I can make it until tomorrow morning. I got up this morning and everything was dark. And then it was light and then it was dark. My eyes and my brain are just working 10 minutes at a time," Henry told the Sun this week.

"I feel so much pain, I just wish I wasn’t here. That’s how bad it is."

Lawrence, now 84 years old, joined Brandon University’s maintenance staff as a third-class engineer in 1963.

As part of his job, Lawrence was tasked with replacing aging insulation around heating pipes in tunnels underneath the university at least once a year.

Temperatures in the pipe rooms generally reached more than 100 C, and the asbestos that was used as insulation was often cracked and powdery at the end of its life cycle. As the Sun has previously reported, Lawrence said that he had to mix the asbestos-laden insulation with his bare hands.

"I’d asked for masks, but they said that stuff won’t hurt you. We had to brush it away and mix new stuff," he said in 2007.

Prior to the 1970s, asbestos was a popular material used in construction and many other industries because of its fire-retardant nature. Asbestos is found naturally in rock formations and is mined like other minerals, but it poses significant health risks when its fibres are inhaled and can lead to cancer.

In Lawrence’s case, his exposure to asbestos forced him into early retirement at the age of 60 after he developed severe respiratory problems in 1988. But it wasn’t until 2004 that a doctor finally diagnosed him with asbestos-related pleural lung disease — otherwise known as asbestosis.

Following the doctor’s diagnosis, he applied to the Manitoba Workers Compensation Board for help. Unfortunately, that application was merely the beginning of a multi-year fight that has taken its toll on Lawrence’s health, and further hastened what doctors always told him would be an early and painful end from asbestos poisoning.

After eight years, dozens of medical tests, three unfavourable WCB decisions and three failed appeal hearings, the case against him ultimately boiled down to this: Lawrence was ineligible for full compensation for his work-related injuries because he could not prove he had no prior lung condition before becoming an employee at BU.

He was, however, given a monthly allowance of $100 per month to help pay for mowing the lawn and shoveling snow — an amount that has gradually risen to nearly $200, though still a far cry from any substantial aid.

The board’s final decision was made more frustrating for Lawrence because he recalled a doctor giving him a clean bill of health in the mid-1960s after he had been hospitalized for a possible tuberculosis infection and had a small piece of his lung removed as part of a routine check for the disease.

While there was medical proof that he had part of his lung removed, he could not prove he had clean lungs when he started working at BU. Despite the efforts of doctors, the WCB, and various advocates and hospital staff, the missing records could not be located.

"The burden of proof on everything was on the poor fella who has the disease," said Brandon East MLA Drew Caldwell, who has been working with Lawrence for several years in his battle for compensation. He called Lawrence’s 24-year battle a case of "institutional denial."

"The bar that kept on moving throughout the last decade with WCB — submission of medical reports, denial, appeal. Submission of new information, denial, appeal. Submission, denial, appeal — always on the basis of, well he had messy lungs when he came in."

Having exhausted all his appeals to the WCB, Lawrence’s case seemed to have hit a dead end until this past summer, when a staff member at the Brandon hospital who Lawrence had befriended, conducted a search of some of the facility’s old microfiche files on his behalf.

Not long after making a promise to help him find the missing files, the hospital employee handed Lawrence a stack of his old medical records from the 1960s. Within the papers was an x-ray report dated May 7, 1965, that had been signed by a doctor Povah, stating that his left lung and the remaining portion of his right lung were "clear."

That file, Caldwell says, is proof positive that Lawrence had no asbestos fibres in his lungs nearly two years after he began his employment at BU.

"That person’s a hero, quite frankly," said Caldwell. "He did not have it going into his job. When he came out of his job after he worked with asbestos extensively for decades, he had it. It doesn’t really get that much clearer. After working for two decades in an asbestos-laden environment, he had asbestosis."

Having been given permission to act on Lawrence’s behalf, Caldwell’s office submitted a request to the chief appeal commissioner of the Workers Compensation Appeal Commission last month to revisit Lawrence’s case, based on the new evidence. Lawrence has since received a letter from the commission stating that Brandon University has been notified of the request and the institution has been given an opportunity to provide comment.

The Sun was unable to reach BU president Deborah Poff for comment on Friday.

WCB spokesman Warren Preece told the Sun yesterday that the organization is unable to speak directly to specific cases, citing privacy concerns. Preece did say, however, that the WCB will abide by the commission’s decision.

"It’s in their court," Preece said. "If the facts are going to change the decision, then we’ll take a close look at that. But I can’t speak for what the Appeal Commission is or isn’t doing."

Brandon and District Labour Council president Jan Chaboyer said both the WCB and the university have a responsibility to properly compensate Lawrence for all the years he has suffered from asbestosis.

"This is wrong, what has happened to this man," Chaboyer said. "I feel any and every employer and institute in this country has to take responsibility for exposing their employees to this dangerous substance."

No hearing date has been scheduled as the chief appeal commissioner has yet to decide whether to revisit Lawrence’s case.

But time is running short. Since the discovery of the missing file, Lawrence’s condition has steadily worsened. He has lost much of his mobility as the asbestos fibres slowly work themselves out of his lungs, and through parts of his skin and body.

He has undergone two operations to remove asbestos fibres from his back, and now he says the fibres have begun to protrude out of his arms and wrists.

Though he is supposed to be on daily oxygen treatments, Lawrence says his lungs "start to burn" when he puts on the oxygen mask, and too often the discomfort prompts him to use the oxygen less than he should, a situation that can often affect his memory and leave him disoriented and frustrated.

"I’m afraid that sometimes he just doesn’t know what he’s doing," Lawrence’s wife Lola, 85, told the Sun. "That gives me fear."

» mgoerzen@brandonsun.com

Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 29, 2012