‘If it wasn’t for the testing, I’d be dead,’ Firefighters struggle with workers’ comp

By Jennifer Emert

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — For two decades, North Carolina firefighters have been denied occupational cancer benefits. Essentially, they have to die before their families get financial help with medical bills. That changed with a pilot cancer benefits program that began in 2022, but still some claims are denied.

Attorneys looking into the issue think a recent World Health Organization finding should encourage firefighters to keep fighting for benefits.

Ben Brickhouse forced to retired after cancer diagnoses That’s what former Asheville engineer Ben Brickhouse did recently. He’s battled two types of cancer in the last two years.

“Whenever my wife is looking for me, she looks here first,” the former engineer explained in his basement.

Restoring the 1956 GMC Brickhouse rescued from a South Carolina peach farm has become a needed distraction.

“I can come down here for hours and tinker on the truck, modify things and change things, I don’t have to think about everything else that’s going on,” Brickhouse said.

Recently, the medically retired Asheville firefighter’s concerns are endless.

“It’s five days a week as far as the radiation is concerned, and the chemotherapy is every three weeks,” Brickhouse said.

In 2020, a routine physical revealed skyrocketing prostate-specific antigen, or PSA levels.

“I had, basically, in several months, a five-year rate increase almost,” Brickhouse said. “If it wasn’t for the testing I was diligent about, I’d be dead today.”

When levels didn’t improve following a prostatectomy, cancer was found again.

“The machine that diagnosed me the second time around with the lymphatic cancer, there’s only 15 in the county right now and one happens to be in Cary at Duke University,” Brickhouse said.

But lifesaving treatment comes at a cost.

“The medical bills that go above and beyond my insurance were part of a factor,” Brickhouse said.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars above, Brickhouse said.

NC Firefighter Cancer Benefit Program North Carolina passed a pilot Firefighter Cancer Benefit Program in 2021 for active firefighters diagnosed after Jan. 1, 2022.

As of Aug, 31, 2022, some 73 have applied, expensing $1,011,265 in a lump sum and medical reimbursements for 39 North Carolina firefighters.

Still, 23 were denied, the majority diagnosed before 2022.

Brickhouse also doesn’t qualify. He filed a workers’ compensation claim with Asheville, and it was also denied.

“Initially, it’s kind of like a gut punch, because it’s like here I’m the one that’s sick, how can you deny this?” Brickhouse questioned.

“An employer can deny something, and they have the right to deny it based on our workers’ comp law,” said attorney Leah Broker, of Leah Broker Law.

Two decades ago, the North Carolina Industrial Commission found a doctor “failed to prove firefighters are more likely to contract non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from workplace exposure versus the general population.” The case was Beaver v. City of Salisbury.

“With occupational disease, your job does not have to be the sole cause, OK. The statute is very clear. So, if you have cancer, what you need is your doctor or medical professional to say that it was a contributing factor,” Broker said.

She believes the World Health Organization’s recent finding that firefighting is a cancer-causing job could impact new claims.

“They don’t have to be denied claims, or if they’re denied, we can go and have a hearing and have the causation proved, and we think the science is on our side and the medical evidence is on our side,” Broker said.

NC workers’ comp claims The North Carolina Industrial Commission oversees workers’ comp claims. A check of records found in 24 years not a single claim has been granted, only death benefits. Claims are tough to track since they aren’t categorized by occupation or public because they include medical data.

In five years, Asheville’s Risk Management office had three claims — Brickhouse’s and two others — under investigation. Compare that to Raleigh, that’s had none, despite several line-of-duty cancer deaths involving firefighters.

Time can be a factor.

“You have two years from the day you’re diagnosed with that disease, but there’s also a provision, or two years from when you were told by a medical professional that that disease was caused by your occupation,” Broker explained.

Broker and colleagues in Charlotte and Raleigh think new challenges to workers’ comp in North Carolina are needed.

“The law is there. The benefits are available. They don’t have to be denied claims, or, if they’re denied, we can go and have a hearing and have the causation proved,” Broker said.

Educating firefighters Brickhouse appealed and reached an undisclosed settlement with Asheville. But without encouragement from another firefighter, he never would have filed.

“Education and getting the word out is the most important thing,” Brickhouse said.

Along with encouraging firefighters to stay vigilant about their health.

“I had no symptoms, I didn’t know it was there other than the blood test,” Brickhouse said.

He encouraged firefighters battling cancer to ask their departments about Form 18 and a claim.

“These are a tough group of men and women, and they aren’t whiny babies, and they don’t want to complain, and they don’t want to go see a lawyer, and they don’t want to rock the boat or cause a problem,” Broker said.

You can find a copy of NC’s Form 18 HERE: ic.nc.gov/forms/form18.pdf

There’s more on the state’s current NC Firefighter Cancer Benefits Program on North Carolina’s Office of Fire Marshal’s website.

You can also learn more the in our documentary Deadlier than Fire HERE: youtube.com/watch?v=G61ys82uN_Q&t=9s

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