A health-conscious pensioner died from asbestos-re

A health-conscious pensioner died from asbestos-related cancer 45 years after she finished working as a fire warden in the war, an inquest heard today.

(Weds)

Retired yoga instructor Sima Schiff, 77, avoided alcohol throughout her life and was vegetarian.

But exposure to deadly asbestos dust in the charred shells of buildings bombed in the blitz caught up with her late in life.

Widower Mrs Schiff continued her yoga exercises right up until her death and it was while stretching that she felt a small pain in her chest which she thought was a cracked rib.

But what she had felt turned out to be an incurable tumour, known as a mesothelioma, and she died on May 16 this year.

A top pathologist told Westminster Coroner’s Court that increasing numbers of women have died from the condition in recent years.

Some victims have even been struck down by mesothelioma after they washed clothing worn by their husbands which had been saturated with asbestos dust during days at work on construction sites.

And because the condition which is invariably discovered too late for effective treatment could have been triggered just by asbestos in the air Mrs Schiff’s death was put down to natural causes.

The court heard that Mrs Schiff had been born and brought up in east London and that she married in 1950 and had two daughters.

While she lived predominantly at an address in Earsby Street, Hammersmith, west London, after her husband died Mrs Schiff remained active and travelled regularly to Bournemouth where she owned a second home.

Coroner Doctor Paul Knapman told the court: ‘In August 1997 Mrs Schiff thought she had cracked a rib while over stretching and went to her GP’s surgery.

‘Her GP referred her to Charing Cross Hospital where a CT scan was ordered to investigate and a right pleural effusion was discovered and there was a likelihood that this had been caused by a mesothelioma.

‘There were difficulties and hospital staff tried to regulate the pain she was suffering.

‘The question then arises as to where Mrs Schiff might have been exposed to asbestos.

‘During the war years Mrs Schiff had been a fire warden and in the late 1960s it is a possibility she could have had exposure to powdered glass.

‘

Forensic pathologist Doctor Iain West told the court that Mrs Schiff died from a ‘type of cancer that developed in her right chest cavity.

‘There are countries where mesothelioma arises without exposure to asbestos but in this country the overwhelming cause is from asbestos often as long as 30-40 years before death.

‘

And Doctor West added that although in men almost 100 percent of cases were directly linked to asbestos, often following the handling of insulation materials, in women only a little over 50 percent of mesotheliomas could be tied to a particular asbestos source.

‘But it’s getting less unusual especially among women.

‘Sometimes they lived in an area where there was a lot of asbestos in the air or they had washed their husband’s clothes that were saturated with asbestos,’ Dr West said.

VERDICT: DEATH DUE TO NATURAL CAUSES
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