State
officials say the number of people in Maine living with HIV/AIDS
has never been higher, reflecting a nationwide trend. State Bureau
of Health
statistics show more than 500 people diagnosed with AIDS in Maine
and 700 with HIV.
Occupational
disease is the insurance industry's bugaboo. The dark revelation
that more than 100,000 Americans are dying each year from this cause
has frightened insurance executives. They are apprehensive about the
increasing awareness of the contribution of the work environment to
the development of many diseases. Substances that we regarded as
safe are now known to cause cancer. Heart disease once thought to be
strictly non-work-related, is now being linked to stresses at work.
If workers' compensation insurers had to pay for any large
percentage of the appalling toll of occupational disease, their
margins of profit would be seriously affected.
Two prisoners
at the Bolduc Correctional Facility n Maine are planning to
file a lawsuit against the state for not providing hepatitis C
treatment at the facility, the Daily
News reports. In order to be treated for hepatitis C, the two inmates
would have to be transferred to the
Maine State Prison in Warren,
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