Two Kentucky House members have pre-filed a bill that would increase the number of doctors eligible to diagnose black lung as cases of the crippling disease stand at a modern high in Eastern Kentucky.
The proposal from Reps. Angie Hatton, a Democrat from Whitesburg, and Republican Robert Goforth, of East Bernstadt, would un-do changes that lawmakers approved earlier this year in a measure called House Bill 2.
Those changes reduced the number of doctors considered qualified to read X-rays and diagnose black lung for purposes of awarding workers’ compensation benefits.
“At a time when we’re seeing a spike in black lung, especially in Eastern Kentucky, many legislators unfortunately decided to make it much tougher for miners in these cases to qualify for the workers’ comp benefits they deserve,” Hatton said in a news release.
A study published in June found that more than 20 percent of long-time underground coal miners have black lung in Central Appalachia, which includes Eastern Kentucky.
That was the highest level seen in a quarter of a century, according to the study by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Black lung is caused by breathing dust churned up during coal mining. It impairs a person’s ability to breathe and often causes premature death.
Former miners with black lung talk of feeling as if they are smothering.
“Black lung is one of the most horrific diseases that individuals can contract through occupational safety hazards,” Goforth said in a news release.
The disease has caused or contributed to the deaths of more than 76,000 miners since the late 1960s, according to federal figures.
The prevalence of the disease among long-time miners once topped 30 percent, but went down significantly after Congress approved rules in 1969 to limit miners’ exposure to breathable dust.
By the late 1990s, the prevalence of the disease among long-time miners had dropped to about 5 percent, but several studies have shown that cases of the disease began reboundingaround 2000, especially in Eastern Kentucky and nearby areas.
The potential reasons for that include miners working longer shifts and therefore having more exposure to dust; mining of thinner coal seams, which requires cutting through more rock and so churns out more silica; inadequate dust-control rules; and failure by coal companies to comply with the rules.
In July, a federal grand jury charged that eight employees at Armstrong Coal Company mines in two Western Kentucky counties, most of them supervisors, conspired to cheat on tests for dust in the mines.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration adopted new rules in 2014 aimed a better protecting miners, including lower limits on respirable dust and tougher dust-sampling requirements.
The spike in black-lung cases seen in recent years would have come from dust exposure before the new limits.
The Kentucky legislature approved a measure earlier this year requiring that doctors be certified to read lung X-rays by NIOSH and be board-certified pulmonary specialists in order to diagnose black lung in miners seeking comp benefits.
Before that, radiologists certified to read X-rays qualified to do the diagnoses.
The changes applied not only to diagnosing black lung but other occupational lung diseases.
Tyler White, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said in a commentary in the Herald-Leader that the changes would give businesses a better handle on their potential workers’ comp liabilities while also providing better protection for workers.
The new rule “improved the qualifications and level of care being provided to coal miners concerned about their health” because pulmonologists are best-qualified to diagnose black lung, White said.
But Hatton and Goforth said certified radiologists are qualified to make diagnoses required in black-lung comp cases.
“The only reason to remove radiologists was to save money at the expense of our miners,” Goforth said in a news release. “That’s just wrong.”
A report by the Ohio Valley ReSource and National Public Radio said HB 2 left only a handful of doctors in Kentucky who met the standard, and several of them had worked for the coal industry.
The proposal by Hatton and Goforth would remove the requirement that doctors reading X-rays in comp cases be board-certified pulmonologists.