CHARLESTON – A 63-year-old nonsmoker says she was diagnosed with lung cancer after working in various hospitals and medical facilities during her years as a nursing student.
Donna R. Spurling filed her complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Monongalia County General Hospital, United Hospital Center, West Virginia University Hospitals doing business as Fairmont Medical Center, West Virginia United Health System dba WVU Health System and the Fairmont State University Board of Directors.
According to the complaint, Spurling, 63, is a lifelong non-smoker who was diagnosed with lung cancer in February 2022. She was a nursing student at Fairmont State from 1998 to 2004. During her years as a student, she was sent to various hospitals and medical facilities as part of the school’s nursing education program.
She says she was exposed to building materials containing asbestos on a regular basis at Mon General, Chestnut Ridge Center, Fairmont Medical Center and United Health Center.
“Plaintiff was exposed to and did inhale dust and asbestos fibers … resulting in plaintiff’s impairment,” the complaint states. “The plaintiff’s lung cancer was diagnosed in February 2022. Plaintiff was unaware of and could not discover the nature and cause of her lung cancer before February 2022. ...
"Defendants had actual knowledge of the dangers to Donna R. Spurling of asbestos exposure, nevertheless, defendants deliberately, intentionally and purposefully withheld such information from Donna R. Spurling thus denying her of the knowledge with which to take necessary safety precautions such as periodic x-rays and medical examinations and avoiding further dust exposure."
The complaint details the history of asbestosis, saying the danger of asbestos dust to result in the potentially fatal lung disease was recognized in medical and scientific circles by the early 1930s. In the 1940s, the cancer risk from breathing asbestos dust was receiving increasing attention, and most of those medical writings were concluding that there was an excessive rate of lung cancer among asbestosis victims seen at autopsy.
It goes on to say the suspicion that asbestos could cause cancer of the lung was considered a probable relationship by 1942 and was generally accepted by 1949, with epidemiological studies in the mid-1950s leaving little room for doubt. The index of suspicion relating asbestos exposure to the rare tumors called mesotheliomas was high by 1953. And by 1960, the full extent of the relationship was being revealed.
“This medical literature was widely known, commented on, easily accessible and available to the defendants in this case,” the complaint alleges. “This medical information was in such quantity and of such a nature as to constitute clear knowledge that asbestos was a hazardous product to those exposed to it.”
Spurling accuses the defendants of negligence, intentional tort, misrepresentation and negligence of premises owners. The complaint also includes details about how Metropolitan Life worked to hide the dangers of asbestos from as far back as the 1930s.
She seeks joint and several compensatory damages, punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees, pre- and post-judgment interests and other relief.
Spurling is being represented by Michael P. Robb and Travis A. Prince of Bailey & Glasser. The case has been assigned to the state Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation Mass Litigation Panel assigned to Circuit Judge Ronald E. Wilson.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 03-C-9600 (Kanawha 24-C-26)