Vandiver Brown to F. G. Lippert on Metropolitan Life and the Jarratt X-Rays (1940)

A one-page letter of November 15, 1940, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's attorney, to F. G. Lippert at J-M headquarters, on pre-employment X-rays at J-M's plant in Jarratt, Virginia. As Brown had expected, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company was "not very enthusiastic" about continuing to read them. Dr. Anthony Lanza of Metropolitan Life told Brown they would still help "in the interpretation of cases where claims for dust disease disability have been filed" and where J-M was in doubt about a film, and would suggest someone in Richmond, Virginia, for an arrangement like those at Marrero and other plants without a plant physician.

What it shows

Metropolitan Life's doctors had read the first Jarratt films in 1939 and 1940 (Brown's correspondence with W. J. McConnell). Brown added that at Jarratt, "where little or no harmful dust is created," he doubted J-M would ever need to call on Metropolitan. The letter shows the insurer's medical staff remaining available to J-M to read the films of workers who filed dust disease claims.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

A letter from V. Brown on 11/15/40, to F.G. Lippert, General Headquarters, expresses the concern that Metropolitan Life is not very enthusiastic about continuing to examine and interpret the pre-employment x-rays made at Jarratt. V. Brown says that Dr. Lanza has suggested someone in Richmond, VA with whom they can make an arrangement similar to the one at Marrero, where there is no plant physician.

Related documents

• Vandiver Brown and W. J. McConnell of Metropolitan Life on Jarratt, Virginia, X-Rays (1939)