Since the formation of the Aerotoxic Association I have been contacted by countless aircrew and passengers, all of whom seek advice or an explanation for their mysterious symptoms. I am frequently asked how many people have contacted the Aerotoxic Association since 2007. On 19 April 2013 I wrote a personal letter to aviation minister Lord Attlee to make him aware that since the Association’s foundation I had received approximately 250 separate testimonies from aircrew and passengers whose health had been adversely affected by exposure to toxic oil fumes. The testimonies included four common themes: initial good health which becomes serious chronic mysterious ill health; a causal link between toxic oil fumes and symptoms consistent with exposure; state registered doctors still being unfamiliar with diagnosis and treatment and individuals wishing to be tested to prove exposure and recover their health. My letter was ignored.
As my administration skills are poor and I had no day-to-day assistance from 2007 until late 2013, it has been impossible to keep track of the actual number or the fate of international contacts, so I use the term ‘countless’, when asked ‘how many people?’ Richard Westgate made contact with the Association on 16 March 2012, and was one of the pilots whose evidence I included in my letter.
Richard was a senior first officer with BA and a pilot of sixteen years flying experience; he was slim, fit and a paragliding champion. In his email to me he asked: ‘Do you have any doctors you recommend for treatment as I am deteriorating badly and my doc hasn’t got a clue?’10 As with many others, I referred him to my good friend Dr Michel Mulder and his team of medical specialists for possible treatment in the Netherlands.
Although the Aerotoxic Association was Richard Westgate’s first contact with the issue, I never actually met Richard as he single-mindedly went straight to the Netherlands for urgent treatment from Dr Mulder. Later we exchanged emails and spoke extensively on Skype in 2012. Richard became passionate about alerting the medical community to this little known cause of ill health, and we were all deeply shocked when he suddenly died at the age of 43 on 12 December 2012.
I was able to meet Richard’s friends and family in Dorset at his moving humanist funeral on a snowy day in January 2013, and in May the Westgate family held a memorial-flying weekend, where I found out from his many friends that he had been in poor health for years. Like the rest of us, Richard had been grossly misdiagnosed and mistreated with antidepressants, but it was clear that the Westgate family (including his twin brother and fellow pilot Guy) wished to understand the cause of Richard’s death. Anyone who knew him would confirm that it would be difficult to find a less depressed fellow human being, and that treatment with antidepressants would never have worked.
Much time, expense and harm would be saved in the future if doctors listened more carefully to their patients and familiarized themselves with the published scientific findings about organophosphate poisoning, some of which date from the 1950s.
At the time of writing, a UK coroner’s court is conducting an investigation into his death, with a view to collecting evidence for the inquest, where the cause of his death should be determined. While Richard’s death was tragic, the coroner’s case will undoubtedly be significant for three reasons.
The first is that the court will make a declaration about the cause of the death, and the strength of the causal link between the neurological damage consistent with organophosphate poisoning, and the bleed-air system of supplying cabin air. This could be seen as either a direct cause or a ‘facilitator’ of his death.
Second, if this causal link is accepted, then the coroner may then rule on measures necessary to prevent future deaths from occurring.
Third, a ruling that the poisoning was either the cause of or the facilitator to Richard’s death will enable other actions to be taken against the industry by affected aircrew and passengers still living.
Frank Cannon, the lawyer acting for Richard’s family commented, ‘They can try explaining one [case] away, but not another and then another.’
(from Aerotoxic Syndrome Aviation’s Darkest Secret by John Hoyte) back to previous page
As my administration skills are poor and I had no day-to-day assistance from 2007 until late 2013, it has been impossible to keep track of the actual number or the fate of international contacts, so I use the term ‘countless’, when asked ‘how many people?’ Richard Westgate made contact with the Association on 16 March 2012, and was one of the pilots whose evidence I included in my letter.
Richard was a senior first officer with BA and a pilot of sixteen years flying experience; he was slim, fit and a paragliding champion. In his email to me he asked: ‘Do you have any doctors you recommend for treatment as I am deteriorating badly and my doc hasn’t got a clue?’10 As with many others, I referred him to my good friend Dr Michel Mulder and his team of medical specialists for possible treatment in the Netherlands.
Although the Aerotoxic Association was Richard Westgate’s first contact with the issue, I never actually met Richard as he single-mindedly went straight to the Netherlands for urgent treatment from Dr Mulder. Later we exchanged emails and spoke extensively on Skype in 2012. Richard became passionate about alerting the medical community to this little known cause of ill health, and we were all deeply shocked when he suddenly died at the age of 43 on 12 December 2012.
I was able to meet Richard’s friends and family in Dorset at his moving humanist funeral on a snowy day in January 2013, and in May the Westgate family held a memorial-flying weekend, where I found out from his many friends that he had been in poor health for years. Like the rest of us, Richard had been grossly misdiagnosed and mistreated with antidepressants, but it was clear that the Westgate family (including his twin brother and fellow pilot Guy) wished to understand the cause of Richard’s death. Anyone who knew him would confirm that it would be difficult to find a less depressed fellow human being, and that treatment with antidepressants would never have worked.
Much time, expense and harm would be saved in the future if doctors listened more carefully to their patients and familiarized themselves with the published scientific findings about organophosphate poisoning, some of which date from the 1950s.
At the time of writing, a UK coroner’s court is conducting an investigation into his death, with a view to collecting evidence for the inquest, where the cause of his death should be determined. While Richard’s death was tragic, the coroner’s case will undoubtedly be significant for three reasons.
The first is that the court will make a declaration about the cause of the death, and the strength of the causal link between the neurological damage consistent with organophosphate poisoning, and the bleed-air system of supplying cabin air. This could be seen as either a direct cause or a ‘facilitator’ of his death.
Second, if this causal link is accepted, then the coroner may then rule on measures necessary to prevent future deaths from occurring.
Third, a ruling that the poisoning was either the cause of or the facilitator to Richard’s death will enable other actions to be taken against the industry by affected aircrew and passengers still living.
Frank Cannon, the lawyer acting for Richard’s family commented, ‘They can try explaining one [case] away, but not another and then another.’
(from Aerotoxic Syndrome Aviation’s Darkest Secret by John Hoyte) back to previous page
