Black Lung

Black Lung is caused by inhaling coal dust for long periods of time.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for Black Lung.  Miners diagnosed with the disease can prevent further injury by removing themselves from dust exposure immediately. 

 

 

Symptoms of Black Lung include:

• Shortness of breath
• Thickening and scarring of the lungs
• Heart failure
• Emphysema
• Enlargement of the heart on the right side

The Federal Black Lung Program (Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation) administers claims filed under the Black Lung Benefits Act. The Act offers compensation to coal miners who are disabled from pneumoconiosis, a disease contracted from coal mining, and to families of coal miners who passed away from the illness.

Recent passage of the Health Care Reform Bill has made the process for receiving Black Lung benefits easier for miners and or their widows.

If you have suffered pneumoconiosis from your job, you may be eligible for benefits under the Black Lung Program. Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia Coal miners and other workers who have worked in the coal mines 15 years or more and contracted lung diseases in the work place are urged to seek medical evaluation as well as legal representation as soon as possible. 

Contact Billy Johnson, Johnson Law Firm for a free consultation. You may be entitled to worker's compensation and possibly also to compensation from other sources.

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• In the last decade, over 10,000 miners have died of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, or what is commonly called black lung disease.
• Since 1995, the prevalence of black lung cases has more than doubled.
  
• Many current underground miners (some as young as in their 30s) are developing severe and advanced cases.
  
• An increased risk of pneumoconiosis has also been associated with work in certain mining jobs, in smaller mines, in several geographic areas, and among contract miners.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported these findings in July 2007 in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report article titled Advanced Pneumoconiosis Among Working Underground Coal Miners - Eastern Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia.

If you have accumulated 15 years or more working in or around coal mines, surface or underground, you are urged to seek legal advice regarding Black Lung benefits and the recent passage of the Health Care Reform Bill.

Contact the Johnson Law Firm today for a free Black Lung consultation.

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Johnson Law Firm * 126 Roberts Circle *  Pikeville, Kentucky 41502