Nanette Rosa faces what most parents would consider a nightmare. Both of her daughters have cancer. Now, a personal injury lawsuit has been filed against the federal goverment on Rosa's behalf.
For 60 years, the United States has been using the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico, as a bombing range, dropping live bombs and missiles in weapons tests. These tests have not gone without serious health repercussions to the island's inhabitants, however.
Nanette's older daughter, Coral, has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancer of the stomach and intestines. She was diagnosed as a toddler and much of her stomach and intestines have been replaced by plastic. The younger daughter, Inna, was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a type of bone cancer.
And they are not the only people on the island suffering from cancer.
"You cannot walk down the street on this island without counting every house and knowing two or three people on the street that have cancer, or have had cancer, or have died from cancer," says the Rosa's personal injury attorney.
Although San Diego personal injury attorneys rarely see cases of this magnitude, the concept of toxic torts is not rare and many San Diego personal injury attorneys find themselves familiar with the anatomy of such a case. The key element in a toxic tort case is causation. Without proof that the toxin caused the illness, there is no case.
That will be the Rosa's challenge, although seemingly not a huge burden for them to prove. With a large portion of the island's population suffering from some form of cancer, one can only assume that the causal link would not be too difficult for a medical professional to determine.
Hopefully, the inhabitants of the island of Vieques will be vindicated.
