Toulouse: exposure to asbestos recognized as the cause of death of a CHU employee
A childcare assistant from the Toulouse University Hospital, who died in November 2021, fought to have her cancer recognized as an occupational disease. An expert’s report proved him right.
Marie-Christine Anglade spent the last months of her life fighting. In 2018, he was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma. The long weeks that transmitted his death, in November 2021, the childcare assistant of the CHU Toulouse Purpan fought to have his pathology recognized as an occupational disease. She was convinced that her lung cancer was linked to her passive exposure to asbestos in the department where she worked. It is now her husband, Pascal Anglade, who is continuing the process, supported by the hospital’s majority union, the CGT.
He says: “We had been warned that there was a strong presence of asbestos in the service of the CHU Purpan where she worked. This is the crèche of the staff, André Bardier. When we asked for an interview with the management, the answer was clear: we were told that his cancer had been brought on by his years of smoking. A heresy, we knew, she had stopped more than 15 years ago.
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The inhabitant of Tournefeuille has some reservations about the conclusions of the doctor of the health establishment. “My wife is presented as being in good condition and having a tumor in the left lung, when we knew she was in the right…”, he slips.
“I may file a complaint”
According to him, his wife would have inhaled this toxic substance during the various works carried out in the building where his wife worked. Convinced of the cause of death, Pascal Anglade asked the hospital to seize the departmental medical council, an independent body consulted when it comes to making decisions on occupational diseases. A medical expert was appointed to analyze the file and decide on the cause of death. The conclusions of this pneumophtisiologist are formal: the patient’s previous state of health is not responsible for her death. He attributes the cancer to passive exposure to asbestos.
This Tuesday, his report was examined by the departmental medical council. “The board validated the expert’s conclusions. The members validated a 99% disability rate for my wife,” says Pascal Anglade.
Contacted, the Toulouse University Hospital claims not to have received the opinion of the departmental medical council. Management indicates however that “if the opinions of the expert and the council converge, the CHU will recognize the occupational disease, the institution having the will to manage this situation in a peaceful context, of accompaniment and listening”. Good news for Pascal Anglade, who believes that his wife’s honor is restored.
On January 9, he must again meet with the management of the Toulouse Purpan University Hospital. The Orange executive reserves the right to file a complaint in order to obtain “real case law”. “It’s the only way to get there. This is the first time that passive exposure to asbestos has been recognized as a cause of death. This file must serve all professions, ”he observes.