Sick Cold War Era Nuclear Weapons Workers File Suit to Restore Needed Medical Services

DENVER, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- A class action suit was filed in US District Court on behalf of seriously ill former uranium miners and nuclear weapons workers throughout the country who are having their doctor's orders ignored and their medical benefits reduced by the US Department of Labor. The plaintiffs became ill after working on the country's nuclear weapons arsenal and now most are dying from their work related exposure to toxic materials.

"It's unconscionable for these injured Cold War veterans, who have already qualified for this congressionally mandated care, to be treated in this reckless and arbitrary manner. These workers and families are not seeking monetary damages, they just want the health care restored that their doctors have ordered as being necessary for their conditions" said Greg Piche, the attorney representing the workers. The suit is asking a judge to stop the Department of Labor, who oversees the program, from disregarding the medical directives.

"Recently we've seen the Labor Department arbitrarily reduce the amount of care ordered by our patients' doctors. At the same time the Department has made patients and their families wait for up to 7 months to have their care approved. For many of these seriously ill and elderly patients, care delayed is in fact care denied, with life threatening consequences" said Greg Austin, President of Professional Case Management, the in-home nursing agency that provides skilled nursing care to these former nuclear workers.

In 2000, Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) with the purpose of establishing a program to provide for "timely, uniform, and adequate compensation of covered employees," including medical benefits for nuclear weapons workers and uranium miners, millers and haulers who developed serious and often terminal illnesses as a result of their employment in the US nuclear weapons industry.

To date, the government has acknowledged that over 21,000 uranium and nuclear weapons workers throughout the country have been injured as a result of their exposure to radiation or other toxic substances as they produced the weapon's grade uranium and related materials required for the US nuclear arsenal.

  FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
  Greg Piche, Partner
  Holland & Hart, Attorneys at Law
  303.295.8014
  email: gpiche@hollandhart.com