W. B. Reitze to J. W. Cook on the Redwood City Clinic for the Pittsburg Plant (1974)

A one-page memo of March 14, 1974, from W. B. Reitze at J-M headquarters in Denver to J. W. Cook, manager of the Pittsburg, California, plant, copied to E. L. Randolph and N. J. Gray. Reitze confirms that Cook may engage the Redwood City Clinic for medical services at Pittsburg, though the clinic would go "above and beyond what our official medical policy requires" at higher prices. "I concur with your thinking that because of the history of our medical program at Pittsburg and the possible litigation that can result, we would be wise to furnish the very best medical care that is possible."

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

Reitze writes to Cook (Pittsburg plant manager) and refers to the poor medical history at the Pittsburg plant as justification for extra expenditures to secure Dr. Donald Smith's services as plant physician.

Editor's note: J-M's description says the extra spending was to secure Dr. Donald Smith as plant physician. Reitze's memo names only the Redwood City Clinic and no doctor.