Physician’s Mesothelioma Blamed on Protective Asbestos Gloves
Michael Rosen is a physician and scientist who was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma in May of 2018. Though his career as a pathologist has not placed him in proximity to asbestos, during his undergraduate and graduate school years he consistently wore protective gloves that were made of the carcinogenic material. He filed a personal injury lawsuit against the glove manufacturer, Fisher Scientific Company. Though Fisher tried to have the case dismissed, a New York Asbestos Litigation judge allowed the case to proceed.
Mesothelioma Victim Describes Years of Asbestos Glove Use
In his deposition and in testimony provided by expert witnesses, Dr. Rosen attributes his mesothelioma to his ten years of using Fisher’s asbestos gloves and burner pads. From 1968 through 1978, he wore them as an undergraduate at Fairleigh Dickinson University during 5-hour long chemistry lab classes that were held three to four days a week, as well as during lab classes held over the three summers that he studied chemistry at Columbia University. He continued wearing the gloves as a Ph.D. candidate and when he worked at Metpath as a bench tech for a summer.
Dr. Rosen described the asbestos in the gloves that he wore, the labels on the gloves, the markings on the boxes that the gloves came in and the dust that rose from them and from his hands after wearing them. Expert witnesses also described the levels of dust that he was exposed to as sufficient to lead to malignant mesotelioma. Fisher Scientific argued that there was no proof that the gloves that he’d worn were theirs and that the amount of dust that the gloves would have emitted was not enough to lead to his illness. They filed a motion for summary judgment, asking for the case to be dismissed.
Judge Decides Mesothelioma Lawsuit Should be Decided by a Jury
After listening to both sides in the mesothelioma lawsuit, Judge Manuel Mendez decided that there was sufficient contradictory evidence and testimony to warrant a jury hearing both sides and making the decision about whether Fisher’s gloves were responsible for Dr. Rosen’s illness. He denied the motion for summary judgment and the case will move on to trial.
This ruling is important because it recognizes that repeated exposure to asbestos-containing laboratory equipment, even in academic and medical settings, can form the basis of a valid mesothelioma claim. By allowing the case to proceed despite the defendant’s arguments about product identification and exposure levels, the court affirmed that these issues are questions for a jury, not grounds for dismissal. For scientists, students, and medical professionals who unknowingly worked with asbestos-containing safety equipment, this decision reinforces that manufacturers may still be held accountable decades later.
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