Former Firefighter Sues Polk County To Obtain Cancer Benefit

POLK COUNTY, FL — A former firefighter is suing Polk County for being denied a $25,000 payment promised by the state.

Christina Pierson, a nonsmoker, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2018. She recently told FOX 13 that Polk County owes her the money.

"I was shocked I was denied," she told the TV station. "For them to turn around and say, ‘Huh, sorry. You’re on your own.’ It’s pitiful."

In 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law granting benefits to firefighters who develop cancer, making Florida the 47th state to recognize the disease as an occupational injury.

“Today, Florida firefighters and their families can rest a little easier knowing that their elected leaders on both sides of the aisle have their backs if occupational cancer strikes,” former General President Harold Schaitberger said at the time.

The law provides full coverage for cancer, including disability and death benefits and recognizes 21 cancers as linked to firefighting — including the kind Pierson is battling. Firefighters who develop cancer will qualify for coverage if they meet certain criteria, including not smoking, a minimum length of service and no other employment in cancerous work settings.

The cancer coverage will be provided, not through a workers’ compensation claim as in many other states, but instead through an employer-provided group health plan. The coverage includes a one-time, lump-sum payment of $25,000 to firefighters upon a cancer diagnosis.

Pierson however was reportedly denied the cancer benefit because she was diagnosed a few months before the law went into effect and because her diagnosis was "personal in nature."

"I got sick doing a job for them and they feel it’s okay to just walk away accepting zero responsibility. It just, it disgusts me,” Pierson told ABC 6 Action News.

A study by the University of Miami concluded that firefighters are at an increased risk for various cancers, including prostate, testicular, colorectal, melanoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

To conduct the study, researchers linked 109,000 Florida firefighter employment records with 3.3 million registry data from the Florida Cancer Data System, which was recorded from 1981 to 2014.

Researchers identified 3,760 male and 169 female firefighters who had been diagnosed with cancer.