Although fiendishly complex in detail, disease is a fairly simple matter for the courts to deal with. Examining the judgements from the past 50 years shows that causation is heavily influenced by evidence of:
- Temporality – exposure occurs before manifestation.
- Consistency – good researchers all find the same thing.
- Specificity – the effect is preferably only caused by that exposure.
- Biological gradient – the more exposure, the more likely the effect.
Other causation factors are occasionally persuasive but require uncommon insight or include much more uncertainty.
Diagnosis, mitigation and prognosis however are judged by medical experts according to medical philosophy and not according to the tenets of the common law. This is becoming more problematic as subjective health complaints enter the fray; this situation is ripe for review.
Armed with a list of what the court will look to, it is relatively easy to keep track of: Lung disease, cardiovascular disease, mental health, neurological disease, dermatitis, cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, autoimmune disease, allergies, pain disorders, infection… and the links between them.
Known environmental / preventable causes are not so numerous as to tax a methodical approach to spotting changes in potency or new ways of being exposed.
Research and innovation on all the major disease processes must be monitored.