Mesothelioma Patients in Scotland to get compensation

Breaking News: Sufferers of mesothelioma in Scotland moved a large step towards a legal injustice being righted, with the publication yesterday of a Bill ensuring their full compensation is paid while they are still alive, instead of having to leave it to bereaved relatives.

The Scottish Executive has backed a Bill which was proposed by Des McNulty, Labour MSP for Clydebank, representing constituents who used to work in the area's shipyards, where the diseases linked to working with asbestos are having their worst impact.

The Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) Bill only applies to mesothelioma, an asbestos cancer of the lungs which can be contracted from a single particle of asbestos lodging in the lung, and which can take up to 50 years to kill the sufferer.

About 1900 people a year currently die of mesothelioma in Britain, but numbers are expected to soar over the next 10 years.

The Scottish law closes a legal loophole which meant compensation could be paid to a living sufferer, but at a lower rate than would be paid to the surviving family after death. The legal anomaly has left victims facing the dilemma of choosing between maximising their families' benefit, but at personal cost in the final months of their lives.

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