Occupational and environmental medicine in the United States: A proposal to abolish workers' compensation and reestablish the public health model

International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health

Volumn 12, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 154-168

  LaDou, Joseph ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

National health insurance; Occupational medicine; Policy; Public health model; Workers' compensation

Indexed keywords

EMPLOYER; ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH; FATALITY; HEALTH PRACTITIONER; HUMAN; MEDICAL CARE; MODEL; NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE; OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENT; OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE; OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY; POLICY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PUBLIC HEALTH; REVIEW; UNITED STATES; WORKMAN COMPENSATION;

EID: 33749173014     PISSN: 10773525     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1179/oeh.2006.12.2.154     Document Type: Review

References (156)

1. LaDou J. The rise and fall of occupational medicine in the United States. Am J Prev Med. 2002;22:285-95.
2. LaDou J. Occupational medicine: the case for reform. Am J Prev Med. 2005;28:396-402.
3. Schulte PA. Characterizing the burden of occupational injury and disease. J Occup Environ Med. 2005;47:607-22.
4. Smith GS, Wellman HM, Sorock GS, et al. Injuries at work in the US adult population: contributions to the total injury burden. Am J Public Health. 2005;95:1213-19.
5. Steenland K, Burnett C, Lalich N, et al. Dying for work: The magnitude of US mortality from selected causes of death associated with occupation. Am J Ind Med. 2003;43:461-82.
6. Leigh JP, Marcin JP, Miller TR. An estimate of the U.S. government's under-count of non-fatal occupational injuries. J Occup Environ Med. 2004;46:10-8.
7. Leigh JP, Robbins JA. Occupational disease and workers' compensation: coverage, costs, and consequences. Milbank Q. 2004;82:689-721.
8. Williams CT, Reno VP, Burton JF Jr. Workers' Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs, 2001. Washington, DC: National Academy of Social Insurance, 2003.
9. Demeter SL, Anderson GBJ, Smith GM. Disability Evaluation. American Medical Association, Chicago, IL: Mosby, 1996.
10. Schneider WR. The Law of Workmen's Compensation. St. Louis, MO: Thomas Law Book Company, 1922.
11. Williams CA. Insurance Arrangements under Workers' Compensation. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor, Bulletin No. 317, 1969.
12. Gunn JL. Factory work for doctors. Trans Stud Coll Physicians Phila. 1995;17:61-93.
13. Somers HM, Somers AR. Workmen's Compensation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1954.
14. Bureau of Medical Economics. Medical Relations under Workmen's Compensation. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, 1933.
15. Andrews JB. Industrial diseases and physicians. JAMA. 1911;56:1132-4.
16. American Medical Association. Compensation for occupational diseases [editorial]. JAMA. 1913;60:1463-4.
17. Schereschewshy JW. The necessity for the better study by the medical profession of diseases in their relation to occupation. The Cleveland Medical Journal. 1916;15:157-63.
18. Bale A. Assuming the risks: occupational disease in the years before workers' compensation. Am J Ind Med. 1988;13:499-513.
19. Howard C. Workers' compensation: federalism, and the heavy hand of history. Studies in American Political Development. 2002;16:28-47.
20. Gress S, Gildemeister S, Wasem J. The social transformation of American medicine: a comparative view from Germany. J Health Politics, Policy and Law. 2004;29:679-699.
21. Elling RH. Workers' health, safety, and compensation in historical and cross-national perspective: an overview. Ann NY Acad Sci. 1989;572:240-55.
22. Raffle PAB, Lee WR, McCallum RI, Murray R. Hunter's Diseases of Occupations. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company, 1987.
23. Harris ML. The physician's burden under workmen's compensation acts. JAMA. 1920;74:694-95.
24. Carroll JB. The workmen's compensation law and the physician. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 1914;170:11-2.
25. Moschcowitz AV. The relation of hernia to the workmen's compensation law. Medical Record. 1915;87:545-56.
26. Van Sickle FL. The medical profession and the new Workmen's Compensation Act of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Medical Journal. 1920;23:181-2.
27. Bale A. Medicine in the industrial battle: early workers' compensation. Soc Sci Med. 1989;28:1113-20.
28. Rumwell ME. California State Journal of Medicine. 1915;13:384-6.
29. Selby CD. Medical service in the conservation of industrial man power. JAMA. 1918;71:333-6.
30. Walsh DC. Corporate Physicians: Between Medicine and Management. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987.
31. Nonet P. Administrative Justice. New York: Russell Sage, 1969.
32. Mock HE. Industrial medicine and surgery - a resume of its development and scope. J Ind Hyg. 1919;1:1-8.
33. Farnum CG. Modern industrial medicine. JAMA. 1918;71:336-7.
34. Stone DA. The Disabled State. Philadelphia, PA:Temple University Press, 1984.
35. Barth PS, Hunt HA. Workers' Compensation and Work-Related Illnesses. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1980.
36. Sayers RR, Bloomfield JJ. Industrial hygiene in the United States. Am J Public Health. 1936;26:1087-96.
37. Kerr LE. The health of workers. J Public Health Policy. 1981;2:3-7.
38. Reede AH. Adequacy of Workmen's Compensation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1947.
39. Newquist MN. Occupational medicine. Ind Med. 1946;15:479-80.
40. American Medical Association. Industrial health - postwar [editorial]. JAMA. 1945;128:666-7.
41. American Medical Association. Council on Industrial Health. JAMA. 1948;137:160-1.
42. American Medical Association. Council on Industrial Health. JAMA. 1948;138:670.
43. Committee on Education and Training - Industrial Medical Association. Graduate training in occupational medicine. Ind Med Surg. 1953;22:149-52.
44. McCord CP. Significance of the Cincinnati Sessions. Ind Med Surg. 1955;24:567-8.
45. Cheit EF. Injury and Recovery in the Course of Employment. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1961: 27.
46. Williams CT, Reno VP, Burton JF Jr. Workers' Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs, 2001. Washington, DC: National Academy of Social Insurance, 2003.
47. Breilh J, Branco Jefer C, Castleman BI, et al. Texaco and its consultants. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11:217-20.
48. Egilman DS. Corporate Corruption of Science: The Case of Chromium(VI). Int J Occup Environ Health. 2006;12:155-62.
49. Sass J. U.S. Department of Defense and White House working together to avoid cleanup and liability for perchlorate pollution. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2004;10:330-4.
50. Rothstein MA. A proposed revision of the ACOEM Code of Ethics. American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. J Occup Environ Med. 1997;39:616-22.
51. Teichman RF. ACOEM Code of Ethical Conduct. American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. J Occup Environ Med. 1997;39:614-5.
52. Egilman DS. Suppression bias at the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11:202-4.
53. Friedman L, Richter ED. Conflicts of interest and scientific integrity. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11:205-6.
54. Axelson O, Balbus JM, Cohen G, et al. Re: Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2003;9:386-89; author reply 389-90.
55. Krimsky S, Rothenberg LS. Conflict of interest policies in science and medical journals: editorial practices and author disclosures. Sci Eng Ethics. 2001;7:205-18.
56. Washburn J. University, Inc: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
57. Egilman DS, Rankin Bohme S. Over a barrel: corporate corruption of science and its effects on workers and the environment. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11:331-7. 〈www.ijoehcom〉.
58. Kennedy D. Science, law, and the IBM case [editorial]. Science. 2004;305:309.
59. Brodkin CA, Mohr S, Frumkin H. Intimidation of researchers by special-interest groups. N Engl J Med. 1997;30;337:1317.
60. Richter E, Soskolne CL, LaDou J: Efforts to stop repression bias by protecting whistleblowers. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2001;7:68-71.
61. Kuehn RR. Suppression of environmental science. Am J Law & Med. 2004;30:333-69.
62. Kern D, Frumkin H, Venables K, et al. The unexpected result of an investigation of an outbreak of occupational lung disease. Int J Occup Environ Health. 1998;4:19-40.
63. Ferber D. Environmental science. NIEHS toxicologist receives a "gag order." Science. 2002;297:915-6.
64. Ferber D. Beset by lawsuits, IBM blocks a study that used its data. Science. 2004;304:937-9.
65. Wadman M. Scientists cry foul as Elsevier axes paper on cancer mortality. Nature. 2004:429:687.
66. Castleman BI. Controversies at international organizations over asbestos industry influence. Int J Health Serv. 2001;31:193-202.
67. Castleman BI, Lemen RA. The manipulation of international scientific organizations. Int J Occup Environ Health. 1998;4:53-5.
68. Castleman BI, Ziem GE. American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists: low threshold of credibility. Am J Ind Med. 1994;26:133-43.
69. Tomatis L. The IARC monographs program: changing attitudes towards public health. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2002;8:144-52.
70. Sass JB. Industry efforts to weaken EPA health assessment of 1,3-butadiene. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11:378-83.
71. Castleman BI. Legacy of corporate influence on threshold limit values and European response. Am J Ind Med. 2006;47:1-3.
72. Holmblad EC. The industrial physician. Ind Med. 1946;15:42.
73. McCord CP. At last! specialty certification. Ind Med Surg. 1955; 24:285-6.
74. Industrial Medical Association. Specialty certification. Ind Med Surg. 1954;23:520.
75. Ducatman AM, Vanderploeg JM, Johnson M, et al. Residency training in preventive medicine: challenges and opportunities. Am J Prev Med. 2005;28:403-12
76. Azaroff LS, Levenstein C, Wegman DH. Occupational injury and illness surveillance: conceptual filters that explain under-reporting. Am J Public Health 2002. 92:1421-7.
77. Azaroff LS, Lax MB, Levenstein C, Wegman DH. Wounding the messenger: the new economy makes occupational health indicators too good to be true. Int J Health Serv. 2004;34:271-303.
78. Barth PS. Some reflections on the National Commission and its legacy. Workers' Compensation Policy Review. 2004;4:21-7.
79. Burton JF Jr, Spieler EA. Workers' compensation in older workers. In: Gregory PP, Hunt HA (eds). Ensuring Health and Income Security for an Aging Workforce. Kalamazoo, MI: W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2001.
80. Boden LI. Workers' compensation in the United States: high costs, low benefits [review]. Annu Rev Public Health. 1995;16:189-218.
81. Boden LI, Biddle EA, Spieler EA. Social and economic impacts of workplace illness and injury: current and future directions for research [review]. Am J Ind Med. 2001;40:398-402.
82. Boden LI, Galizzi M. Economic consequences of workplace injuries and illnesses: lost earnings and benefit adequacy. Am J Ind Med. 1999;36:487-503.
83. Johnson WG, Baldwin ML, Burton JF Jr. Why is the treatment of work-related injuries so costly? New evidence from California. Inquiry. 1996;33:53-65.
84. Lax MB, Manetti FA, Klein RA. Medical evaluation of work related illness: a comparison of evaluations by a treating occupational medicine specialist and independent medical examiners. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2004;10:1-12.
85. McCluskey M, The illusion of efficiency in workers' compensation "reform." Rutgers Law Review. 1998;50:657-941.
86. Pransky G, Snyder T, Dembe A, et al. Under-reporting of workrelated disorder in the workplace: a case study and review of the literature. Ergonomics. 1999;42:171-82.
87. Pransky GS, Benjamin KL, Savageau JA. Early retirement due to occupational injury: who is at risk? Am J Ind Med. 2005;47:285-95.
88. Spitzer S. A systemic approach to occupational and environmental health. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11: 444-54.
89. Strunin L, Boden LI. The workers' compensation system: worker friend or foe? Am J Ind Med. 2004;45:338-45.
90. Draper E. The Company Doctor: Risk, Responsibility, and Corporate Professionalism. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2003.
91. Bale A. The American compensation phenomenon. Int J Health Serv. 1990;20:253-75.
92. Burger EJ Jr. Restructuring workers' compensation to prevent occupational disease. Ann NY Acad Sci. 1989;572:282-3; discussion 291-4.
93. Burton JF Jr. National health care reform and workers' compensation. Workers' Compensation Monitor. 1993;6:6-10.
94. Speiler EZ, Burton JF, Jr. Compensation for disabled workers: workers' compensation. In: Thomason JF, Burton JF Jr, Hyatt DE (eds). New Approaches to Disability in the Workplace. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Press, 1998: 205-44.
95. Wooding J, Levenstein C. The Point of Production: Work Environment in Advanced Industrial Societies. New York: The Guildford Press, 1999.
96. Davis K. Universal coverage in the United States: lessons learned from experience of the 20th century. J Urban Health. 2001;78:46-58.
97. Quadagno J. Why the United States has no national health insurance; stakeholder mobilization against the welfare state, 1945-1996. J Health Soc Behav. 2004;45 suppl: 25-44.
98. Ballen DT. The sleeper issue in health care reform: the threat to workers' compensation. Cornell Law Rev. 1994;79:1291-302.
99. Dembe AE, Himmelstein JS, Stevens BA, Beachler MP. Improving workers' compensation health care. Health Aff (Millwood). 1997;16:253-7.
100. Brown ER. Health USA: a national proposal for the United States. JAMA. 1992;267:552-8.
101. Baker LC, Krueger AB. Medical costs in workers' compensation insurance. J Health Econ. 1995;14:531-49.
102. Himmelstein J, Rest K. Working on reform. How workers' compensation medical care is affected by health care reform. Public Health Rep. 1996;111:12-24.
103. Tarrico A. Cost shifting: the final straw in federalization of health care. Physician Executive. 1990;16:28-30.
104. Ashford NA. Crisis in the Workplace, Occupational Disease and Injury, a Report to the Ford Foundation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1976: 506.
105. Samuels S. Occupational medicine and its moral discontents. J Occup Environ Med. 2003;45:1226-33.
106. Carter RM. The estimation of disabilities. Ind Med. 1939;8:52-4.
107. Allen WS. Control of disability costs. J Occup Med. 1960;2:144.
108. International Labour Organization. Economic Security for a Better World. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO, 2004.
109. Guidotti TL. Evidence-based medical dispute resolution in workers' compensation. Occup Med. 1998;13:289-302.
110. Murphy PL, Sorock GS, Courtney TK, et al. Injury and illness in the American workplace: a comparison of data sources. Am J Ind Med. 1996;30:130-41.
111. Glazner JE, Borgerding J, Lowery JT, et al. Construction injury rates may exceed national estimates: evidence from the construction of Denver International Airport. Am J Ind Med. 1998;34:105-12.
112. Leigh JP, Markowitz SB, Fahs M, Shin C, Landrigan PJ. Occupational injury and illness in the United States. Estimates of costs, morbidity, and mortality. Arch Int Med. 1997;157:1557-68.
113. Stanbury M, Reilly MJ, Rosenman KD. Work-related amputations in Michigan, 1997. Am J Ind Med. 2003;44:359-67.
114. Sorock GS, Smith GS, Reeve GR, et al. Three perspectives on work-related injury surveillance systems. Am J Ind Med. 1997;32:116-28.
115. Rutstein DD, Mullan RJ, Frazier TM, Halperin WE, Melius JM, Sestito JP. Sentinel health events (occupational): a basis for physician recognition and public health surveillance. Am J Public Health. 1983;73:1054-62.
116. Baker EL. Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks (SENSOR): the concept. Am J Public Health. 1989;79 suppl: 18-20.
117. Maizlish N, Rudolph L, Dervin K, Sankaranarayan M. Surveillance and prevention of work-related carpal tunnel syndrome: an application of the Sentinel Events Notification System for Occupational Risks. Am J Ind Med. 1995;27:715-29.
118. Boyle D, Parker D, Larson C, Pessoa-Brandao L. Nature, incidence, and cause of work-related amputations in Minnesota. Am J Ind Med. 2000;37:542-50.
119. Davis DL, Gottlieb MB, Stampnitzky JR. Reduced ratio of male to female births in several industrial countries: a sentinel health indicator? JAMA. 1998;279:1018-23.
120. Geidenberger CA, Nestel G, Socie EM. Cost-effectiveness of hospital discharge records for reaching selected endpoints in the surveillance of silicosis. Am J Ind Med. 1998;34:484-92.
121. Goe SK, Henneberger PK, Reilly MJ, et al. A descriptive study of work aggravated asthma. Occup Environ Med. 2004;61:512-7.
122. Henneberger PK, Derk SJ, Davis L, et al. Work-related reactive airways dysfunction syndrome cases from surveillance in selected US states. J Occup Environ Med. 2003;45:360-8.
123. Jajosky RA, Harrison R, Reinisch F, et al. Surveillance of workrelated asthma in selected U.S. states using surveillance guidelines for state health departments - California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, 1993-1995. MMWR CDC Surveill Summ. 1999;48:1-20.
124. Calvert GM, Plate DK, Das R, et al. Acute occupational pesticide-related illness in the US, 1998-1999: surveillance findings from the SENSOR-pesticides program. Am J Ind Med. 2004;45:14-23.
125. Sudakin DL, Horowitz Z, Giffin S. Regional variation in the incidence of symptomatic pesticide exposures: applications of geographic information systems. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 2002;40:767-73.
126. Lalich NR, Schuster LL. An application of the sentinel health event (occupational) concept to death certificates. Am J Public Health. 1987;77:1310-4.
127. Wagener DK, Buffler PA. Geographic distribution of deaths due to sentinel health event (occupational) causes. Am J Ind Med. 1989;16:355-72.
128. Zeitz P, Orr MF, Kaye WE. Public health consequences of mercury spills: Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance system, 1993-1998. Environ Health Perspect. 2002;110:129-32.
129. Ruckart PZ, Wattigney WA, Kaye WE. Risk factors for acute chemical releases with public health consequences: Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance in the U.S., 1996-2001. Environ Health. 2004;3:10.
130. Kaye WE, Orr MF, Wattigney WA. Surveillance of hazardous substance emergency events: identifying areas for public health prevention. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2005;208:37-44.
131. Horton DK, Berkowitz Z, Kaye WE. Morbidity and mortality from hazardous materials events in the personal services industry, 1993-2001: a follow-up report from the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) system. Am J Ind Med. 2005;47:419-27.
132. Ernst KP, Wattigney WA, Kaye WE. Releases from improper chemical mixing, Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance system, 1996-2001. J Occup Environ Med. 2005;47:287-93.
133. Berkowitz Z, Barnhart HX, Kaye WE. Factors associated with severity of injury resulting from acute releases of hazardous substances in the manufacturing industry. J Occup Environ Med. 2003;45:734-42.
134. Hall HI, Price-Green PA, Dhara VR, Kaye WE. Health effects related to releases of hazardous substances on the Superfund priority list. Chemosphere. 1995;31:2455-61.
135. Burgess JL, Kovalchick DF, Harter L, et al. Hazardous materials events: an industrial comparison. J Occup Environ Med. 2000;42:546-53.
136. Barth PS. The effort to rehabilitate workers' compensation. Am J Public Health. 1976;66:553-7.
137. Aarts L, de Jong P. European experience with disability policy. In: Mashaw J, Reno V, Burkhauser R, Berkowitz M (eds). Disability, Work and Cash Benefits. W.P. Kalamazoo, MI: Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1996:129-66.
138. Ison, TG. Compensation Systems for Injury and Disease: The Policy Choices. Toronto, ON, Canada: Butterworths, 1994.
139. Ison TG. Recognition of occupational disease in workers' compensation. Conference on the Recognition and Prevention of Occupational Disease. Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. Toronto, ON, Canada; Osgoode Hall Law School, March 3-4, 2005.
140. Palmer G. New Zealand's accident compensation scheme: twenty years on. University of Toronto Law Journal. 1994;44:275-351.
141. Lencsis PM. Workers Compensation. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1998.
142. Gorman D. The Accident Insurance Act - a desirable reform or market madness. NZ Med J. 2000;113:62-3.
143. Davis P, Lay-Yee R, Fitzjohn J, et al. Compensation for medical injury in New Zealand: does "'no-fault" increase the level of claims making and reduce social and clinical selectivity? J Health Polit Policy Law. 2002;27:833-54.
144. Dew K. Accident insurance, sickness, and science: New Zealand's no-fault system. Int J Health Serv. 2002;32:163-78.
145. Tanaka C, Karjalainen A, Hoshuyama T, Takahashi K. Comparison of workers' compensation for occupational diseases in Finland and Japan. In press.
146. Aarts L, de Jong P. Convergence: a comparison of European and United States disability policy. In: Thomason T, Burton JF Jr, Hyatt DE (eds). New Approaches to Disability in the Workplace. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Press, 1998: 299-338.
147. Nikolaj S, Boon B. Health care management in workers' compensation. Occup Med. 1998;13:357-79.
148. Pozzebon S, Thomason T. Medical benefit costs in Canadian workers' compensation programs: a comparative perspective [review]. Benefits Q. 1993;9:32-41.
149. Plumb JM, Cowell JW. An overview of workers' compensation [review]. Occup Med. 1998;13:241-72.
150. Granneman TW, Victor RA. The Clinton Health Security Act: Implications for Workers' Compensation Costs. Cambridge, MA: Workers' Compensation Research Institute, 1993.
151. Ashford NA, Caldart CC. Technology, Law, and the Working Environment. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1996.
152. Institute of Medicine. Safe Work in the 21st-century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000.
153. Barbanel C, Guidotti TL, Auerbach K, Occupation medicine the case for reform. Am J Prev Med. 2006;30:186.
154. Frumkin H. Don't lament, reinvent! The future of occupational medicine. Am J Ind Med. 2002;42:526-8.
155. Mitchell CS, Moline J, Avery AN, et al. In response to the 2002, vol. 22, no. 4 article entitled "The rise and fall of occupational medicine in the United States." Am J Prev Med. 2002;23:307-9.
156. Schlesinger M. On government's role in the crossing of chasms. J Health Politics, Policy and Law. 2004;29:1-10.