Dr. Sidney J. Shipman to Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro on Robert Fitzmaurice's Asbestosis Claim Against Johns-Manville (1956)

A four-page medical report from Dr. Sidney J. Shipman of San Francisco to the law firm Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro on Robert Fitzmaurice, who had a compensation claim against Johns-Manville Products Corporation and whom Shipman examined at the firm's request on March 2, 1956. After his history, examination, tests and a review of chest X-rays going back to 1948, Shipman concludes that Fitzmaurice's X-ray showed lung fibrosis consistent with asbestosis, that "the patient's history of exposure to asbestos dust is certainly sufficient to account for his present physical condition," and that any further work with asbestos "or any other dusty trade" was ruled out. He judged the disability partial and possibly progressive.

What it shows

According to J-M's description, Shipman was a medical expert retained for the defense and Fitzmaurice had worked at J-M's Redwood City, California, plant. Even so, the doctor examining him for the defense attributed his lung disease to asbestos dust at work.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Correspondence between Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro (attorneys) and J-M retained defense medical expert on 3/13/56 regarding Robert Fitzmaurice v. J-M Products, workers' compensation asbestosis claim. Worked at J-M Redwood City plant from 1942 through 1955. Settled; mentions three other cases already settled.