Widow Carole Devoy sues for a record £1m damages

Jun 13 2009 by Katy Simpson, The Journal

A WIDOW suing for record £1m damages over her husband’s death from asbestosis has told how he cared for her through her battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

It was a poignant moment during their marriage vows when Carole Devoy and her late husband Alex promised to stick by each other in sickness and in health.

While the couple from West Rainton, Houghton-le-Spring, were engaged, Mrs Devoy, 65, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Her fiancé refused to consider cancelling the wedding, and devoted himself to taking care of her.

But Mr Devoy was tragically struck down himself at the age of 68, after being diagnosed with a lung tumour caused by exposure to asbestos in the Merchant Navy and in dockyards. He died less than six months later.

It was a double tragedy for Mrs Devoy, who not only faced the grief of losing her husband, but also the difficulties of life without her full-time carer, who cooked, cleaned, shopped and looked after Mrs Devoy since she was diagnosed with the disease 13 years ago.

Without him, Mrs Devoy found herself isolated and struggling to cope. Unable to make proper meals for herself, she only ate snack food and lost over three stone.

As her condition deteriorated, the grandmother-of-six had no choice but to pay for a carer to help her during the day, at the cost of over £2,000 a month.

But doctors say she will soon need round-the-clock care. In less than five years, Mrs Devoy, a former secretary, is expected to need a live-in carer, which will cost thousands of pounds more.

In a desperate bid to cover the costs, she launched a landmark law suit for compensation for the loss of her husband, not just as a spouse, but as a carer.

She is suing a shipbuilder –- for whom her husband worked as a fitter between 1955 and 1959 – and an engineering company, for whom he worked between 1960 and 1970.

The issue of liability for Mr Devoy’s illness and death is no longer contested, but the task now before the judge is to assess the compensation owed to his widow for her loss.

Mr Devoy developed the first symptoms of mesothelioma three years ago – a cancer of the lining of the lungs, notorious for its incurability, slowness to develop and for the agony suffered by its victims – and in December 2006 collapsed with a stroke, probably caused by his tumour spreading to the brain.