Benzene Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against Chevron
Published: June 30th, 2009 • Comments: 3
A Texas family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Chevron, charging that their father and husband, Luther Wesley Miller, died of complications due to Benzene exposure while working at Texaco.
The benzene lawsuit, filed in Jefferson County District Court in Texas on June 19, indicates that Miller died of multiple myeloma on Feb. 7, 2008. The complaint alleges that Chevron knew benzene was a carcinogen and could cause other health problems, but did not properly warn workers or take necessary safety precautions regarding workers’ exposure to the chemical.
Multiple myeloma is a form of cancer that attacks the plasma cells. Symptoms can include bone pain, kidney dysfunction, renal failure, anemia, weakness, confusion, fatigue, loss of bowel or bladder control, and can lead to other infections, such as pneumonia.
Miller’s benzene death was described as “painful and terrible” according to the complaint filed by his wife and children. Multiple myeloma is incurable and most patients have a prognosis of about three years, though treatments can extend the life of a patient by up to 55 months under ideal conditions.
Benzene is an industrial chemical that is used as a solvent in the production of drugs, synthetics and dyes. It has also been used as a gasoline additive, although limits have been placed on its use in fuel due to benzene’s negative health effects.
In addition to multiple myeloma, benzene exposure has been linked to the development of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL), Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), Myelofibrosis and Myeloid Metaplasia, Aplastic Anemia and Thrombocytopenic Purpura.
Comment by mike on 30 June 2009:
Are they going to show that this case is within the statistical average for the population at the plant?
Comment by David on 21 July 2009:
I would hope that you can update the prognosis information on myeloma. I was diagnosed in 2001, and after undergoing a stem cell transplant, have lived a fairly normal life for the last 92 months and the doc tells me that he sees no reason for this to change in the near future.
Incidentally, as a child, up to about age 18, I was an avid stamp collector. At that time, the only way to detect watermarks on stamps was to immerse them in benzene, which I did repeatedly for a number of years. Obviously, I don’t do that any more, but have always wondered as to how much this contributed to my developing multiple myeloma at age 62.
Comment by Wynord on 5 August 2009:
I worked for ExxonMobil for 27 years. I was diagnois with multiple myeloma on April 2006. I resigned from Exxonmobil on June 2008 after our daily work load became more stressful due to abusive supervisors. During my 27 years with ExxonMobil U.S.A. I was exposed with others to chromate, safety solvent, glycol units that later was known to be highly load with benezene, and NORM producing equipment.