Stone Worker, 56, Recovers After Double Lung Transplant for Quartz-Linked Silicosis
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 16
Stone Worker, 56, Recovers After Double Lung Transplant for Quartz-Linked Silicosis
1 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 16
Summary
Enrique Gonzalez, a 56-year-old San Fernando Valley stone worker, is recovering at home after a double lung transplant this summer restored his ability to walk without a cane or wheelchair.
Years of cutting engineered quartz countertops left Gonzalez with silicosis, an incurable disease that had worsened so sharply he was intubated before donor lungs became available.
California's silicosis toll has surged to 631 cases from 31 in 2019, including 151 this year and 40 in roughly the past month alone, according to a new study.
Researchers said 65 workers have needed lung transplants and 31 have died in about eight years, with many cases likely still undiagnosed and about half reported in Los Angeles County.
Gonzalez, unable to work for 2 years, is expected to give a deposition next month in a lawsuit targeting companies his family says are responsible for the hazardous material.
Beyond the devastating lung transplants, what hidden liabilities are countertop manufacturers facing as workers demand justice for the true cost of artificial quartz?
With artificial quartz causing irreversible lung damage, will your next kitchen remodel unknowingly fund a deadly and growing occupational health crisis?