By FireRescue1 Staff
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A court ruled in favor of two firefighters battling skin cancer whose health insurance benefits were denied.
Firefighters Delmis Spivey and Wilfred Larson were denied benefits because the city and department stated they could not prove their cancer was work-related.
One medical professional testified that the firefighters’ melanoma was most likely caused by their career. However, dermatologists testified that their melanoma was likely caused by ultraviolet light exposure.
In 2015, a judge ruled in Larson’s favor, while a judge ruled against Spivey. The Supreme Court’s Feb. 9 ruling upheld Larson’s verdict, and overturned Spivey’s.
“I thought [the verdict] was great. The fact that skin cancer is a presumptive disease for firefighters, there’s kind of this promise made to us … When it was denied, it was a hard deal,” firefighter Spivey told the Bellevue Reporter.