Respiratory therapist Marcy Freeman doesn't need a research study to confirm for her a return to the dark days of coal mining. She finds evidence in a stack of more than 150 funeral programs, all for former patients at her pulmonary rehabilitation clinic in Norton, Virginia.
"Each one of these represents a life that's gone because of black lung," Freeman explained as she flipped through the programs, recognizing names and images.
"These are husbands. These are brothers. … These men were just hardworking men, and the only thing they did was go to work and provide for their families. And it cost them everything. … This is the aftermath of black lung."
This aftermath is more dire than even black lung clinicians and researchers expected, according to new data published Wednesday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.