Assembly OKs bill to help firefighters with cancer

Erin Neff

Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Firefighter Bill Harnedy put a name and face to Assembly Bill 451.

But the 39-year-old North Las Vegas man realizes the bill won't help him in his fight against an insurance company or the ultimate battle -- the one for his life.

Harnedy is expected to succumb to a rare form of kidney cancer linked to his work as a fireman. But he won small solace Wednesday when AB451 passed the Assembly clarifying an existing state law that certain cancers are occupational diseases for professional firefighters.

"I probably won't make it to my 40th birthday," Harnedy said last Friday as he testified in the state capital on behalf of the bill. "I'm doing this for my friends and family and my brothers and sisters in the fire service."

Harnedy's doctor said his cancer was due to inhaling carcinogens found in burnt material; it's a hazard for firefighters that has been linked in several studies. But despite the doctor's diagnosis, he was denied coverage in 2001 by CDS, the insurance company most municipalities use for worker's compensation.

Since his October 2001 diagnosis, when he was given seven months to live, Harnedy has undergone immunotherapy, removal of his right kidney, experimental chemotherapy, radiation and surgery in Mexico and is currently awaiting the go-ahead from UCLA Medical Center for another operation.

Harnedy traveled to Carson City last Friday, despite his weakened condition and the stares he received. Harnedy has lost all of his hair from the chemotherapy, he has dropped a considerable amount of weight and was exhausted by testifying for 20 minutes.

Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-North Las Vegas, a friend and fellow firefighter, said he asked Harnedy to make the tough trip to personalize something that affects dozens of firefighters.

Rusty McAllister, a lobbyist for the Professional Firefighters of Nevada, testified that despite current state law outlining which cancers can be classified as occupational diseases, numerous claims are being denied by insurers.

Oceguera testified that when Harnedy first brought him a copy of the statute and asked if his cancer was covered, the assemblyman told his friend he would be.

But when his claim was denied, CDS enclosed a copy of the statute for justification.

CDS also contacted Harnedy's doctor to encourage him to change the diagnosis on the claim from one of renal carcinoma to an unspecified lung illness. The doctor did amend the claim in hopes of getting Harnedy coverage under the state's heart and lung laws for occupational diseases.

"We need to clarify the existing law to limit the denials of legitimate claims," Oceguera said.

But what appeared to be a minor bill to close a loophole led to staunch opposition in committee from representatives of municipalities who stated that their exposure to worker's comp claims would increase by millions of dollars.

Then on the floor Wednesday, Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, offered an amendment to include volunteer firefighters -- which comprise most of the fire service in rural counties.

"They deserve the same treatment," Hettrick said. But Oceguera, a North Las Vegas Fire Department captain, opposed the amendment, saying that professional firefighters undergo annual physical exams that help with early detection of cancer.

He also said most professional departments have health and wellness programs and have policies prohibiting the use of tobacco products by firefighters. And, Oceguera said, his department handles 14,000 calls a year, compared with the 200 rural, volunteer departments handle.

"They have a decreased risk of exposure," Oceguera said. Although more than a dozen lawmakers rose to support the amendment, it still failed.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said she was distressed by the testimony in committee and urged her colleagues to support the bill.

"Firefighters are dying and insurers go shopping around for opinions," Buckley said. "It's just hard to fathom that such a system exists."

She also encouraged Hettrick to come next session with a bill that includes volunteer firefighters under the clarified cancer listings for occupational diseases.

Assemblyman Ron Knecht, R-Carson City, said he wanted volunteers added, "otherwise, it's a great bill."

Commerce Committee Chairman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, then rose to say that the workers compensation system "has turned into a system of cat and mouse in which claimants have to fight a war of attrition."

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, called the system whereby claims are denied "abhorrent."

"Can you imagine what would have happened in New York City if, after the collapse of the World Trade Center, that city had broken its covenant with its public safety employees and said we're not going to cover you," Perkins, a deputy police chief in Henderson, said.

The bill ultimately passed with just Hettrick and Knecht in opposition, and it will now go to the Senate.

"I feel that I hung in there," Harnedy said after the Assembly vote. "I know I'm a terminal cancer patient. I know my time is short.

"But I've hung in there and I hope we can get this done for my brothers and sisters in the fire service, so they never have to go through what I have." com