Some are questioning the findings of this radiologist, who solely reads x-rays for asbestos lawsuits:

According to the transcript of a deposition in 2004 , Dr. Harron graduated from New York Medical College in 1957, completed an internship at the United States Marine Hospital in New York in 1958, was a radiology resident in New Orleans and then moved to West Virginia in 1961, where he practiced as a radiologist for more than 30 years.

Beginning in the mid-1990’s, he stopped treating patients and began reading X-rays and identifying possible cases of dust-related diseases. In 1994 his medical reports supported fewer than 2,000 claims to one of the oldest trusts set up to compensate asbestos victims, the Manville trust. In the next year that number grew to more than 6,000; he averaged about 6,400 reports each year thereafter.

“The dog died and the kids left home,” Dr. Harron said in the 2004 deposition. “My responsibilities were over, so I kind of gave up real medical work.”

He devoted himself nearly full-time to reading X-ray films. Sometimes, Dr. Harron said, he would conduct a physical examination. Usually he also received a medical history, completed by an employee of a screening company, that would include a statement that the person was exposed to asbestos. Dr. Harron said he relied mostly on the X-ray review, not on the history.

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