Fund for patients with asbestos induced diseases may run out

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7442.728-c

BMJ 2004;328:728 (27 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7442.728-c

News roundup

Fund for patients with asbestos induced diseases may run out

Canberra Bob Burton

Documents tabled at an inquiry into a compensation fund for people with diseases induced by asbestos have shown that only months after the fund was established by an asbestos manufacturer the fund�s chairman feared that it had a massive shortfall.

In February 2001 James Hardie Industries established a non-profit trust, the Medical Research and Compensation Foundation, with $A293m (�120m; $220m; €180m) of assets to cover the company�s liabilities for asbestos induced diseases. Eight months after the company established the foundation it moved its head office to the Netherlands.

At the first hearing of the inquiry initiated by the New South Wales government, documents tendered as evidence showed that the foundation�s actuarial adviser had calculated that liabilities had been underestimated by up to $A200m.

In 2000 Trowbridge Deloitte, the actuarial company that advised James Hardie and then the foundation, estimated that claims would peak in 2004. However, two . . . [Full text of this article]

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