Lawsuit filed by Marlboro Smokers for Lung Cancer Screenings

January 20th, 2006

Marlboro cigarettes

This past Thursday a group of heavy cigarette smokers filed a lawsuit against Philip Morris USA for reimbursement of medical tests to screen for lung cancer.

This class-action lawsuit was filed by smokers of Marlboro cigarettes that either used to be a heavy smoker or are still smoking a pack or more a day for the past 20 years. The request of the lawsuit is for Philip Morris USA to pay for a low-dose CT scan to see if they have developed any early stages of lung cancer.

Previous similar lawsuits for medical monitoring reimbursement were ruled in favor of the tobacco companies. If the plaintiffs win this lawsuit it would cost Philip Morris USA $500 each CT scan, which could add up to tens of thousands of dollars each year.

The good part about monitoring lung cancer is that if detected early on, it still can be cured. Lung cancer is the top killer for cancer. The low-dose CT scan also puts a slight risk of getting cancer too. It is somewhat debatable how much the CT scan will do in the early detection of cancer. The CT scans will find more lumps that are non-cancerous tumors and it may be more dangerous to operate on a person to remove the benign tumors.