Document bBk6BBgpLO9nKj76KEYneGDZ0

C, . A I IVTNC.SIOM ROBERT l.. MUELLER ROFtERI t DAVUS RICHARD W. GI NNING DF.NMS S. O BRIEN 1.Ak ! I.liWAKI)' MliM'l "I1' ' >i ! !' : ! ' . M'K IN( .1 ii 1.1). 11.1.IV >1- ' j i.u riu March 2, 1982 FOR M1 UI S i IVIM.M OM . MliLl.RK. ] > k A K I AM' I > V- ! . 1.ESI.IE \ . DRAW* 192f>- 1H7 1 REDACTED REDACTED Mr. Steven Borgstrom The Workmen1s Condensation Service Company 55 West 22nd Street, Suite 109 Lombard, Illinois 60148 Dear Steve: In re: ; - Sherwin Williams Claim No. A-0342 D/A 5/15/81 I.C. NO. 81 OD 00609 RECEIVED WAR 08 1982 CorP.,RisfcMgmt I have gone over the material which you have sent me, including the original records of Sherwin Williams kept over the years on I am still not clear on exactly what job entailed, I am sure that will become more clear when we visit the plant site. I am particularly curious about the dust collecting systems, and how stringent were the requirements that , and others, wear their dust respirators. I find Dr. Noah Dixon's letter to McWilliams, McWilliams and Scharf, dated November 25, 1981 interesting. Dr. Dixon first saw back in 1972. The history given by the patient at that time was dust exposure in his occupation, and that he had had breathing problems for five years. He was admitted to a hospital in August in 1972 by Dixon. Dr. Dixon saw again in 1974, in 1975, then in October, 1979 admitted him to a hospital again with severe respiratory distress. He does not identify the hospital either for the 1972 or 1979 admissions. In that regard, Steve, I note that you have already written St. John's Hospital, Springfield, for the admission of November 1980. One of us should either expand upon that request to include all hospitalizations there for , or do that by subpoena. In that regard I would also like to acquire a copy of the complete file of Dr. Dixon. I think that we should put together all of the medical which we can acquire on , as far back as we can trace it, and submit all of that to a pulmonary specialist for study and evaluation. I am sure this is what you had in mind in your file memo of 1/26/82, at paragraph 11. (6), referring to consulting with your pulmonary expert. Collection of the medical date would include the original x-rays, pulmonary function tracings, etc. What Dixon ends up saying is that had a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, progressive in nature, but was in otherwise good general health. He remarks that the lung disease is work aggravated, and of course that is by history only. He does remark that was a non-smoker. Again that is by history, and I would be curious to know if he were in fact a reformed smoker. The fact that he quit 8 or 10 years ago doesn't cure the problem. In your contact with the Hillsboro Plant thus far, have you learned of other, and similar respiratory problems amongst the employees. I wonder what we might expect by way of witness testimony from co-workers as to their work conditions. I certainly agree with you that we should have the work area monitored by a specialist. I, for one, need to be a little more knowledgable about the propensities of zinc oxide. 0007-SWP-005801083 REDACTED REDACTED -2- With this letter I am sending you a copy of an Industrial Commission Decision handed down May 8, 1981. As you are well aware the Commission is now requiring us to cite its prior decisions in our briefs before oral argument. We subscribe to two separate services which provide these opinions. This one came in recently. I seem not to have found mention of the last day on which . worked for Sherwin Williams, Steve. It looks to me like maybe he worked right up until the date of his death. We need to coordinate our efforts to put all of this medical together and I believe you indicate you have a pulmonary specialist to whom to send it for study and opinion. That should be our first priority. Very truly yours, LIVINGSTONE, MUELLER, GUNNING AND DAVLIN 0007-SWP-005801084 CONFIDENTIAL