GP dies months after noticing pain in shoulder
The sensation of pulling a muscle is one that’s not uncommon for many Australians. But for 63-year-old GP Pauline Vizzard, it was a sign of something worse to come.
News.com.au reports family, friends and patients of the normally energetic doctor were shocked when it was revealed the shoulder pain she experienced was not caused by a torn muscle, but an aggressive cancer manifesting in her ribcage.
Following her diagnosis Vizzard, who up until that point has been considered fit and healthy, was found to be riddled with disease in her organs and passed within a month.
And what makes matters worse, the cause of the cancer was found to be asbestos exposure from Vizzard’s time working at a hospital in the NSW Hunter Region.
“It was a surprise on everyone’s behalf,” her son Ben Harrison, 34, told News.com.au.
“You sort of associate asbestos cancers with people who may work in industry for all their life, and to have someone who is so removed from what you’d normally expect to be a high-risk industry... there’s no cure for mesothelioma at all, it’s fatal 100 per cent of the time.”
After fighting the disease Vizzard passed in April 2015.
One patient wrote on a tribute page: “I’m finding it extremely hard to believe this every morning when I wake. Pauline was my doctor close to 30 years. I will miss her dreadfully.”
Another said: “Not only a great doctor and an integral part of the Singleton community but an aunty who I have always loved and admired. Sadly missed but so fortunate to have known her.”
Around 600 people still die of asbestos-related incidents around Australia each year, with a rise in DIY home renovations believed to be one of the driving forces.
The Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency’s 2016-17 report recorded an increase in occupational exposure to 70 per cent from 64 per cent the previous year."
David Jones, Hunter Region executive partner from Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, which managed Dr Vizzard’s case, said: “As the case demonstrates, mesothelioma has a long latency period after exposure, meaning that workers exposed to asbestos a generation ago might still contract the disease.
“Asbestos in situ can still be found in many older public buildings and homes, and as the fabric of these infrastructures containing asbestos products deteriorates, the dangers of exposure to asbestos fibres is on the increase. Many are part of the ageing public infrastructure.”
To find your nearest testing lab, call 1800 621 666. If you think you may have been exposed, register details on the National Asbestos Exposure Register.