ST: Aunt died of lung cancer from secondhand smoke

Good advice:

JACK UP CIG PRICES
"Higher cigarette prices may not convince all smokers to quit but they will deter younger people from picking up smoking."

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Nov 6, 2007
Aunt died of lung cancer from secondhand smoke
MY AUNT, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer - her husband was a heavy smoker - and I applaud the Singapore Cancer Society and the National Cancer Centre for organising the inaugural Lung Cancer Awareness month.
I hope that more smokers will finally take seriously the health risks they expose themselves (and their loved ones) to, with each cigarette that they light.
On the other hand, friends and families of smokers must also understand that nicotine dependency is not only physical but also deeply psychological. Hence, breaking the addiction is immensely difficult for most smokers.
Yet, on their end, smokers must stop deluding themselves or give excuses to continue to smoke. They must not be afraid to stop. More needs to be done and I believe two measures must be emphasised, one non-punitive and the other punitive.
First, smoking-cessation clinics must be made as accessible as possible to smokers. The Health Promotion Board website presently lists fewer than 30 locations that provide such services.
General practitioners should also strive to persuade their patients who smoke to sign up with cessation clinics.
Even though such clinics generally charge a nominal fee, the services should ideally be made free-of-charge.
Second, there is still room for cigarette prices to increase. For example, a pack of cigarettes in Norway costs US$11 (S$16).
While the price increase may not convince all smokers to quit, it will definitely deter younger people from picking up smoking.
There is no other way to see it: smoking is a terrible addiction that enslaves people. Those who believe that smoking is pleasurable and relaxes them are really no different from crystal meth users who claim that the drug makes them alert and happy.
In a different time and a different place where tobacco companies do not wield so much economic clout and where the fatal health effects of smoking are known, few governments would have allowed the sale of cigarettes.
Harvey Neo Choong Tiong
http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_174032.html

US judge allows 3 lawsuits over DVT to proceed

Home > Free > Story Oct 19, 2007
US judge allows 3 lawsuits over DVT to proceed

Passengers claim cramped seating on SIA, US Airways and Delta gave them blood clots SAN FRANCISCO - A JUDGE in the United States has ruled that three airline passengers who say cramped seating gave them blood clots can continue their lawsuits against the international carriers on which they flew - one of which is Singapore Airlines. US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker had previously tossed out 37 similar lawsuits, citing an international treaty protecting airlines from having to pay damages for injuries passengers suffer during routine travel.
But Judge Walker said the three remaining lawsuits claiming deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, could proceed because they allege injuries that could have been prevented if the airlines - SIA, US Airways and Delta - had let passengers complaining of pain switch to open seats with more leg room.
DVT is a relatively common and potentially fatal blood clot caused by prolonged immobility.
Lawyers believe airlines are taking insufficient precautions to prevent DVT, according to legal website law.com, which reported on Judge Walker's decision.
In the SIA case, a passenger named Ms Marsha Dabulis developed a clot which required surgery, said law.com.
After she asked for a transfer from her seat, which had a metal bar obstructing her foot room, SIA flight attendants offered only a seat that did not recline, according to law.com.
'The idea that SIA somehow discharged its duty by offering Dabulis a seat that was even more restrictive than her original seat is hardly beyond dispute,' the judge wrote.
SIA declined to comment yesterday.
'As a matter of policy, we do not comment on matters which are before the courts,' said a spokesman.
The second case allowed to proceed by the judge involved a passenger who developed a clot after being confined to his seat during a two-hour delay without flight attendants offering water or any time to get up and stretch.
Judge Walker wrote that dismissing the case 'would give airlines carte blanche to force passengers to remain seated without reason'.
He also refused to dismiss a case in which a woman died after collapsing on a flight, saying that a jury should decide whether the airline acted quickly enough to allow medical professionals onto the plane.
Judge Walker's ruling had the lawyers for the plaintiffs cheering.
'It is a wonderful victory for us,' said Ms Brenda Posada, a California lawyer representing Ms Dabulis.
The Warsaw Convention governing international air travel says airlines are liable for passenger injury only if it is due to an accident, rather than in the normal course of travel.
The US Supreme Court, Judge Walker wrote, defines an accident for the purposes of the Warsaw Convention as 'an unexpected or unusual event or happening that is external to the passenger'.
Therefore, he said, while the simple development of a DVT clot is not an accident, a DVT clot which develops after a passenger complains of pain from a cramped seat and is denied the opportunity to move to a less-cramped space is, said law.com.
An appeals court has ordered Judge Walker to separately reconsider whether the airlines are providing enough seating space or would raise fares if forced to remove seats to make cabins roomier.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_168317.html