City Drops Denial of Cancer Claim by Firefighter Who Lobbied for Presumption Law

Monday, December 4, 2017 | 0

The city of Columbus has withdrawn its denial of a workers’ compensation claim by a firefighter with terminal skin cancer, who was instrumental in persuading lawmakers to pass a law creating a presumption of causation, the Columbus Dispatch reported Friday.

Mark Rine
(YouTube image)

The newspaper said the city dropped its opposition to a claim filed by city firefighter Mark Rine after Rine’s attorney provided a letter from his physician stating that the skin cancer was caused by occupational exposure. 

Approval of the claim means that Rine’s wife, Heather, and the couple’s five children will receive death benefits if Rine eventually succumbs to the state 4 melanoma he now suffers.  

The 36-year-old Rine was a central figure of a Dispatch series titled “Unmasked” that examined a “cancer epidemic” among firefighters. Rine has traveled around the country to teach other firefighters how to avoid exposure to carcinogens and lobbied state lawmakers to pass legislation creating a presumption that cancer contracted by firefighters arises out of and in the course of employment. 

Ohio’s presumption law took effect in April and Rine filed his claim in August, the Dispatch reported.