Proposal for Medical Monitoring in Willowbrook, IL and Vicinity

Monitoring in a legal context is a “theory of liability in which persons with no ascertainable injuries or symptoms seek to recover the costs of screening for health problems caused by exposure to hazardous substances.

The alleged ‘injury’ in medical monitoring lawsuits is most often characterized as an increased risk of disease, and the alleged damages are the costs of ‘monitoring’ for disease. Instead of monetary damages, some plaintiffs ask for so-called ‘equitable’ relief in the form of a court-funded and court-established medical monitoring program.” Therefore, there are both Medical Monitoring Funds and Medical Monitoring Programs that can result from litigation in the form of toxic mass tort. 

Click here for an example of a successful Medical Monitoring program.

We are of the opinion that the Willowbrook-area residents could be in a position to demand that the local polluters who have exposed them to long-term airborne ethylene oxide proceed with litigation to ensure that they cover the cost of ongoing health monitoring. In particular, breast cancer would be a disease state that could qualify for either a medical monitoring fund or program. 

Medical Monitoring Claims Must Meet Certain Assumptions and Principles: 

According to JEROME R. DOAK, and his paper “What is Medical Monitoring And when is a Motion to Dismiss Advisable” (Click here): 

Tort liability for medical monitoring arises when a person is (1) involuntarily exposed to a hazardous substance, (2) due to a defendant’s negligence, thereby (3) creating an increased risk of the person’s developing some (4) future disease, for which there is (5) a cost-effective and medically efficacious screening test that will (6) assist in the early detection and (7) effective treatment of the targeted disease. 

We are of the opinion that the chronic air pollution Willowbrook area residents have been exposed to does, or will, meet the above assumptions to merit a Medical Monitoring claim.