Coal Miners’ Families Sue Johns Hopkins Over Disability Determinations

After shutting down its "black lung" program more than a year ago, Johns Hopkins Hospital is under fire for claims it didn’t follow federal guidelines in determining hundreds of coal miners were not qualified for disability benefits. The estates of Michael Steven Day Sr. and Junior McCoy Barr filed a class-action lawsuit against Johns Hopkins University, its hospital and Dr. Paul Wheeler in Baltimore City Circuit Court on Friday, claiming doctors skirted the law to deny benefits to miners. The alleged improprieties by Johns Hopkins Imaging doctors was uncovered in a 2013 report by the Center for Public Integrity finding that Wheeler deviated from the International Labour Organization’s standards for determining if coal miners suffered from coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, or CWP.