The stories of people injured by secondhand
smoke
Albert J. Benson, January, 1994
Laurie
Esther Schiller
Charles Green
Short Stories from S.A.F.E.
Al's Story: Secondhand Smoke at Work Caused Asthmatic Bronchitis
and Harrassment
This piece describes the circumstances of my respiratory injuries
and ensuing treatment by many of my co-workers who do not understand
the difficulties which people with respiratory disabilities have
with secondhand tobacco smoke.
I have been working for the same employer since 1981. In the fall
of 1985, I began to feel an unusual debilitation. I didn't realize
that I was on the threshold of a severe lung/bronchial problem.
After the Thanksgiving holiday, which I worked, I developed an
extreme "tightness" in my chest and a soreness in the
breastbone area of my chest.
I did not realize the implications of these symptoms, so I did
not go to a doctor, thinking that it would clear up by itself.
However, I did realize that secondhand smoke, which characterized
our workplace, was aggravating my condition.
Several of my co-workers and I went to the Human Resources Department
to request that our shop area be posted NO SMOKING in compliance
with the Los Angeles City Smoking Control Ordinance, which was
agreed to. An air operations work area outside our shop had previously
been posted, but several cigar and many cigarette smokers blatantly
ignored the NO SMOKING signs, as they did in our shop when it
also was posted.
My condition did not improve. After repeated exposures to secondhand
smoke, I finally went to our family doctor in January, 1986. My
chest still felt extremely tight, and painful, as if its interior
had been seared by a blow torch. By this time, I realized that
the soreness behind my breast bone was an inflammation in my bronchial
tubes. The doctor diagnosed my respiratory problems as being caused
by secondhand smoke. He gave me a note to this effect, stating
that I should not be exposed to secondhand smoke.
Some of the smokers at work continued to abuse me on a regular
or an irregular basis, depending on whether they could get by
with the violation. Over the weekend of July 12, l986, violations
of the company smoking policy and the L.A. City Smoking Ordinance
by one smoker affected me so severely that I developed a serious
case of pneumonia. My lungs filled up with mucous so that I "bubbled"
when I breathed. My doctor treated me with weekly shots of penicillin
for several months until the congestion cleared up.
My company's medical insurance plan informed me that they would
not pay for workplace injuries, and that I would have to file
for Workers' Compensation. I finally found an attorney who would
handle respiratory injuries caused by tobacco smoke. I also discovered
that a Workers' Comp claim can be very confrontational and alienating.
I worried about losing my job.
It was at this time that management asked for a meeting with me
regarding my injury and Workers' Comp claim. It was decided that
I would have to do my own "policing" since management
apparently considered this to be an impossible problem.
Many people cannot believe that anyone can be injured by tobacco
smoke. We are treated as if our problem is a sham.
Just before the date of my Workers' Comp medical exam, I was asked
to assist in cutting some coaxial video cables to length in a
long hallway. The cigar smoker who had been abusing me the most,
made it his business to stand midway in this same hallway to smoke
his cigar. Even though it made me very ill at the time, I did
not falter in my duties.
I developed pneumonia again and my lungs filled with mucous, which
made it obvious to the examining physician that I did indeed have
a hypersensitivity to secondhand tobacco smoke. Even though he
was a smoker, he wrote my injury up as "Asthmatic Bronchitis
caused by tobacco smoke." The hallway cigar smoking incident
was detailed in my Workers' Comp deposition.
It is interesting that for any other kind of workplace injury,
if the conditions which caused or contributed to the injury are
not immediately corrected, the employer would be in serious trouble
with the insurance company and/or the State of California.
It is obvious that people who smoke are not concerned about the
great harm that they are doing to their own bodies. Unfortunately,
many of them couldn't care less about other people who have to
breathe their secondhand smoke. If people who are aware of my
condition smoke in my vicinity, or smoke in an area where I must
pass, what am I to think of their intentions? Can it be considered
anything less than an intentional assault? And yet that is what
I and other people with this kind of disability have encountered
in our workplaces.
The information in this piece is entirely truthful. I have tried
to describe the conditions and situations surrounding my workplace
injury, with the hope that we will have laws to better protect
all of us, children and adults, from secondhand tobacco smoke.
Smokers should go outside to satisfy their tobacco smoke addiction.
They should not be allowed to expose other people to this dangerous
pollutant, no matter what the circumstances.
Albert J. Benson
January, 1994
Laurie's Story: Assaulted on the Job
My name is LAURIE. I am 40 years old, have been an executive
secretary for 20 years, and I have three small children. I
AM A SECONDHAND SMOKE VICTIM. The exposure to secondhand smoke
over many years in the workplace has destroyed my health.
I have never smoked; my family does not smoke. In San Jose I worked
for eight years in a small office with six chain smokers. The
office air looked like the smokey haze of a pool hall. I protested
frequently saying it was ruining my health, but I was ridiculed
as being a non-smoker.
I moved to Southern California and worked four years in a large
corporate office where everyone around me smoked. My respiratory
health deteriorated and multiple medications started. For the
last five years I have been on repeating courses of steroids and
antibiotics.
CURRENT STATUS
My respiratory illness progressed to where earlier this year I
was hospitalized as a pulmonary patient five weeks before my baby's
due date. I was forced to have a C-section a month early while
I could still breathe, but putting my baby at risk. Very recently
I was hospitalized for ten days after being exposed to secondhand
smoke and fireworks smoke at an outdoor concert. After hospitalization,
my doctors sent me to Scripps Clinic in La Jolla for further medical
evaluation.
I have been diagnosed with extremely irritated, hyper-reactive
respiratory system, adult onset asthma, and vocal cord dysfunction.
I asked two doctors, "What are the symptoms of a secondhand
smoke victim?" They both said it is what I have.
I am barely able to speak as my larynx and vocal cords spasm and
close. If I come into any contact with smoke, my throat closes
and bronchials tighten, and I cannot breathe. It feels like drowning.
It is frustrating and frightening.
I was recently told by my OB that I need surgery, but she "will
not risk my life to give me anesthesia." Two other doctors
concur - I need surgery - but only when I can breathe.
MY RESPIRATORY ILLNESS, PRECIPITATED BY SECONDHAND SMOKE, HAS
AFFECTED ALL AREAS OF MY LIFE.
1. I have no social life. Going out is like walking through a
field of land mines.
2. I have economic stress with medical bills and I am losing my
job. I have been
on disability three times this year.
3. I am facing other health risks - delaying necessary surgery.
4. As the result of five years of multiple courses of steroids,
I am 90 pounds overweight. Every time I get to where I am starting
to take weight off, I have a breathing problem, and I'm back on
steroids and more weight gain. I don't recognize myself in the
mirror. I have size 10 to 22 clothes in the closet and nothing
fits.
5. My home life is stressed. My husband is frustrated with my
illness. I can barely lift and carry my baby because of my chest
pain. And more tragically, my two sons, ages 4 and 6, think I
am dying. My 4-year- old separates out the "Mommy toys"
because "they are dying." My 6-year-old goes to bed
saying, "Mommy, please don't die. We will miss you too much."
I just wish I could stand before you with my bag of medications
in hand. THIS IS SO PREVENTABLE IF PEOPLE WILL ONLY
LISTEN. Even though I had letters from my doctor stating I
needed a smokefree working environment, nobody listened.
Esther's Story: A Little Bit of Secondhand Smoke Can Go a Long
Way
I used to be a teacher until I was injured by secondhand smoke.
It drifted into my classroom from an employee lounge so distant
that I did not understand what was happening to me until it was
too late. In April, 1992, I received a Workers' Compensation settlement
of $29,999, but it is a sad victory since my lung damage is too
severe for me to teach anymore or hold a full time job.
The smoke came from a small employee lounge that was set up in
September, 1987. The smoke traveled down a long hall and up a
flight of stairs propelled by air currents in the building. Other
teachers smelled the smoke; they complained of headaches and eye
irritation.
I, however, was more vulnerable because I have asthma. It became
difficult for me to breathe and project my voice. I would become
so hoarse that by the end of the day, I could not produce sounds.
My medicine did not help me. I did not believe what was happening
to me. In my doctor's office and at home I did not have symptoms.
As the months went by, it took enormous effort for me to walk
to and from my car, to carry materials up and down the stairs.
By the end of 1988, I had become so weak I could hardly stand
on my feet in my classroom. I leaned against walls and filing
cabinets trying to teach. My resistance to illness was so low
that I contracted one respiratory infection after another, each
one lasting longer and leaving me increasingly weaker.
In addition, there were the bronchial spasms. Imagine a charley
horse in your calf, the kind that wakes you in the middle of the
night. I would take a deep breath in my classroom and my bronchial
tubes would spasm, like a charleyhorse. It was incredible and
frightening.
The worst of this entire experience was the disbelief that I encountered
when I suggested to the school administrator and the people who
were smoking that it was the tobacco smoke that was making me
ill.
By April of 1989,. I could no longer force myself to get out of
bed and go to work. In May, a lung specialist provided a diagnosis:
severe, progressive and irreversible chronic obstructive airway
disease in addition to asthma. According to my physicians, the
condition had probably been developing for years. (My parents
had both smoked when I was a child with asthma.) The secondhand
smoke had aggravated the existing respiratory problems.
What is interesting to me is that prior to the exposure to the
secondhand smoke in my classroom, I was physically strong enough
to teach. Now I am not. I also had a second career as a professional
singer and had made several cassette recordings. My career as
a singer is also over.
After the article about my settlement appeared in the Los Angeles
Times, I received phone calls from all over California from people
who had also been injured by secondhand smoke. Their stories were
so similar to mine.
According to a staff member at the American Lung Association in
Los Angeles, fully 20% of the population are at risk of developing
lung disease from secondhand smoke, and not even recognize it
is happening until it is too late. It is possible to develop asthma,
chronic bronchitis and emphysema from secondhand smoke. In addition,
approximately 10% of the population suffer as I do from respiratory
disabilities. We are a nonvisible population group, and we are
entitled to protection from secondhand smoke.
In fact, now with the new Americans with Disabilities Act, it
is clear to me that secondhand smoke deprives persons with respiratory
disabilities from access to the workplace and public accommodations.
And that is a denial of civil rights.
I became a teacher because there were not many careers available
to people with asthma when I was growing up. Smoking was an accepted
practice in all workplaces except, I thought, public school classrooms.
It is the ultimate irony that even in a public school classroom
I was not safe.
Now I am worried about my children who also have asthma and allergies.
My son has just had to quit two jobs in succession because exposure
to tobacco smoke made him ill. How long will innocent people continue
to be hurt?
Esther Schiller
Charles's Story: Management Almost Killed Me with Secondhand
Smoke
My name is Charles Green, I'm 39 years old, and I used to be an
athletic person. Now I'm receiving a small monthly Social Security
Disability payment because I have lung disease which is so severe
that I cannot perform my usual occupation which was just sitting
at a desk, talking on the phone, and working with a computer.
Also, I have recently developed epilepsy. It appears that I will
never work again.
The individuals in charge of the company where I worked from January,
1990 to December, 1991, were all people who smoked. I was recruited
to work as a claims adjuster by a friend I knew from another job.
He was a smoker and he knew I had asthma. The job interview took
place in a restaurant, and I didn't see the office until my first
day on the job.
I was looking forward to working in an air conditioned building
with my own desk. After 18 years of working outdoors for automobile
dealerships as a service advisor, on my feet, getting rained on,
being cold, being hot, it sounded like a good deal.
But my first day on the job, I noticed that there was a lot of
cigarette smoke in the air. The company was located in a converted
warehouse and the area where I sat, called the "bull pen",
was a space about 50 by 50 feet with no windows. There were spaces
for 8 to 15 employees in little cubicles. Most of the employees
in the bull pen were people who smoked. Other employees, who also
smoked, would wander in from time to time just to hang out. The
claims supervisor was a chain smoker. The owner of the company
smoked and so did the company attorney.
When I first started working for the company, I was using several
medications to control my asthma. But as the weeks went by, I
noticed I was needing more and more medicine. I told my friend,
who was my immediate supervisor, that I was having trouble breathing,
and his answer was "Live with it." I asked if the air
conditioner could be turned on, and he answered, "It doesn't
work." At that time I didn't understand that secondhand smoke
could be so dangerous for people with asthma. I only started to
have asthma when I was about 30 years old and I didn't know much
about it. My father had been a chain smoker.
I discovered later that the warehouse had been remodeled by my
employer without the knowledge of the owner of the building, and
that the ventilation system had not been adjusted for the new
offices that had been installed. Also, the ventilation system
was very old and didn't work most of the time. In the bull pen,
the vents did not exhaust the air out or bring outside air in.
Because I kept complaining about the ventilation and the smoke,
I was put on probation, even though my job performance was excellent.
I started needing to go to the doctor more frequently; he was
treating me with shots of adrenalin and cortisone. Frequently
the pain of the treatment was unbearable. I was missing a lot
of time from work. In March, 1990, I had to be taken directly
from work to the hospital because of a severe asthma attack. In
fact, during my two years working for this company I had to be
taken to the hospital or emergency room 12 or 13 times because
I couldn't breathe.
The Vice President of the company, the only nonsmoker, kept urging
that the company adopt a no-smoking policy. For a short time,
people were supposed to smoke only in the kitchen, which was next
to the bull pen, but no one enforced it. In September, 1990, the
company officially adopted a policy that said the break rooms,
the rest rooms, the conference rooms, the bull pen and the claims
supervisor's office were all smoking areas.
A campaign of harassment began against me. My medicines began
to disappear off my desk, people would walk by my desk or sit
in a chair by my desk and deliberately blow smoke in my direction,
ignoring my strongly worded requests that they leave. One man
fell on the floor pretending to have an asthma attack; he thought
it was a really funny joke.
I was trying desperately to find another job, but California was
in the middle of a serious recession in 1990-91. I was beginning
to have terrible side effects from all the medicine I was taking,
and the stress and anger I felt because of the harassment was
causing other health problems.
In May, 1991, I saw a new physician who said that at the very
least the smoke was making the asthma worse, and that it could
kill me. He wrote a note requesting a smokefree workplace for
me. He even called the claims supervisor.
The claims supervisor was furious. He said he would not tolerate
a doctor telling him how to run his department. He sat down in
the chair next to me, blew smoke in my face, and told me to keep
working. When I reached for my inhalers, he took them off my desk.
I was having so much trouble breathing that I asked for an ambulance.
People were just standing around and watching.
A friend helped me to his car and took me to the hospital. When
I regained consciousness, my wife and my pastor were there and
the doctors were saying that I had almost died.
In the meantime, the City of Long Beach, where our company was
located, was in process of passing a smokefree workplace ordinance.
There was a lot of information about it in the local newspaper.
Another claims adjuster, who was a non smoker, sent away for information
about secondhand smoke and after we read it, we both put no smoking
signs on our desks.
It came out later in the depositions that management was saying
behind my back, "It's all in his head" and calling me
a crybaby. But other nonsmokers had also been complaining about
the smoke. Management was saying that the nonsmokers were trying
to harass them and make them change their life style.
Because I was injured and disabled by secondhand smoke, I was
awarded a workers' compensation settlement of $60,000 and an additional
$40,528 for medical bills, but there were other medical bills
my wife and I had to pay ourselves. The owners of the building
where I was injured settled out-of-court for $32,000 and part
of that was needed to pay my attorney who had filed suit for me
for wrongful termination and negligence - premises liability.
The company that had employed me declared bankruptcy and went
out of business several months after they fired me.
I realize that people who smoke are addicted. But I don't understand
an addiction that causes you to try to kill an employee. I try
not to be angry, because my body is too fragile now to handle
being angry. But it's very hard to forgive these people.
A Note From S.A.F.E.: We met Charles in April, 1995 and this is
only a brief synopsis of his story. If you would like further
information about Charles, or other stories of people injured
by secondhand smoke, please contact us at S.A.F.E.
Smokefree Air For Everyone.
S.A.F.E. Smokefree Air For Everyone is a network of individuals
who have been injured or disabled by secondhand smoke. Our mission
is to provide peer support, information, and referrals to individuals
in crisis because of secondhand smoke. We are volunteers and our
work is sustained by contributions.
Short Stories from S.A.F.E.
Contact: Esther Schiller, S.A.F.E.
Smokefree Air For Everyone
KA was a flight attendant. Has had a portion of her sinuses removed
because of pre-cancerous polyps. Workers' comp claim is being
refused by the airline.
TB worked in a county court house for eighteen years. Filed a
grievance due to secondhand smoke related asthma. County adopted
smokefree policy but does not enforce it. TB cannot return to
work because she is sensitive to smoke coming from private offices.
DH worked in an office of a medical insurance company. Many people
smoked. Filed a workers' comp claim and got another job.
EE worked in the purchasing department of a large grocery chain.
Many employees smoked. Large sores formed inside his nose which
distorted his face. When he complained about the smoke, he was
told the company would be pleased if he quit. He developed multiple
chemical sensitivity and chronic fatigue. Workers' comp case in
process.
HC had headaches and nausea. Many people smoked in the office.
He kidded them about it hoping things would change. Discovered
mismanagement which he reported to home office. Mismanagement
involved many people who smoked. Office now has a smokefree policy.
HC is still working there. Many of the people who smoked are not.
LB, extremely skilled typesetter. Has never been able to stay
in a job because of problems with secondhand smoke. Has no retirement.
NR, public relations practitioner. Office in a high rise commercial
office building. New hire complained about smoke coming in through
air conditioning system. NR agreed there was a problem but could
do nothing. Had to lay off employee who then filed a workers'
comp claim.
EC worked in the Post Office. Co-worker smoked and was very aggressive
and insistent about her right to smoke. Smoked in posted no-smoking
areas. Managers would not enforce no smoking policy. EC developed
heart disease. Had to take early retirement. Filed workers' comp
claim which is pending.
KC, an attorney practicing law in L.A. Secondhand smoke in courthouse
halls made her so ill she could not stand. Was sick for a long
time. Now in private practice in Santa Barbara.
CF gave up smoking years ago. Was working as a journalist. An
open door allowed smoke from editor's office into hers. She got
sick, missed many days of work. Asked to keep connecting door
closed. Request refused. Brought a note from her doctor and was
fired. Took legal action and won but company filed for bankruptcy.
BS, drummer in his 30's. Has wife and two young children. Does
casuals in smoke-filled bars and nightclubs. Drumming is like
an aerobic exercise, he says, which makes it doubly unhealthful
in a smoke filled nightclub.
PR, waitress in smoke-filled restaurant. Owner refused to abide
by the new Smokefree Restaurant Ordinance in city of L.A. PR reported
code violations to Environmental Health Department. Was fired.
Legal action in process.
AS worked for large private university in business office. Was
getting sick because of secondhand smoke. Began a quiet campaign
for a smokefree policy. Co-workers who smoked began to harass
her. She feared the loss of her reputation and her job. Requested
and got a transfer to another department. A year later the university
adopted a smoke-free policy.
CSC was a flight attendant. Developed lung cancer a year after
giving birth to her first child at the age of 39. Died. Workers'
comp case pending.
OO had a miscarriage. Worked in an office where one of the managers
was a chain smoker. Wanted to start a family, but afraid to try
again.
CD, security guard for large defense company. Parents had been
smokers. Extremely sensitive to secondhand smoke. Campaigns publicly
for a smoke free company policy and one is adopted for offices.
But fellow security guards still smoke in guard booths and time
clock area. When she complains her car is vandalized. She develops
stress related illness but doesn't want to lose her job.
GS graduates college and accepts his first full-time job in a
private mental hospital. GS has had asthma since birth. His tasks
include supervising patients in the lounge area, lighting their
cigarettes. He has never been exposed to secondhand smoke on a
daily basis. Within a month his asthma is so severe, he fears
he will die. Workers' comp case settled for over $6,500. Has become
extremely sensitive to secondhand smoke.
AA, nurse works for VA on night shift in ward for alcoholics.
At night when they are sleeping they don't smoke. She is transferred
to day shift and becomes extremely ill because of the secondhand
smoke. When she complains, supervisor who is a smoker laughs at
her and gives her a poor evaluation. She is too ill to continue
to work in that environment. Legal action pending.
DJ, another flight attendant. Has worked for airlines for many
years while smoking was permitted. Now she has developed asthma
and is extremely susceptible to colds. Every time she flies, she
gets sick. She is out on disability.
DK took a job with a tobacco store. Was assured he would not be
exposed to smoke but that was not the case. Picture 10-15 cigar
smokers all puffing away in a 10 x 12 room. He is out on disability.
DS works in a gambling casino. Likes her job and the money but
fears the smoke. Feels that she should not have to risk serious
illness and death because of other people's addiction.
SS has lived in a Simi Valley second floor apt. for one year.
A couple moved into the first floor apt. The man is retired and
sits and smokes all day. When his wife returns from work, she
lights up. On weekends, their friends come by and smoke. The second
floor is filled with smoke.
IS complained about the smoke in the car dealership waiting room.
She was waiting to get her car fixed. She is 70 and on a respirator
because of lung disease. She was told to wait outside. She had
to leave and when she tried to secure an appointment on another
day, they refused to serve her.
Elizabeth Voigt was a bartender in a smokefree bar at the San
Francisco airport. Had a history of heart disease. Airport became
smokefree except for all of the bars. EV was exposed to secondhand
smoke and became very ill. Has just had a heart transplant. Workers
comp claim in process.
Rosita Garcia worked as a waitress in a bar in the San Francisco
Airport for eleven years. Never smoked. Father smoked, but never
inside the home. Rosita did not frequent smokey places in her
off hours. She complained about the smoke in the bar, that the
ventilation system was inadequate. Diagnosed with lung cancer.
Employer denies liability.
June, 1994
Updated 01/09/2007