D.C. Activity Centers Around MDL Doctors, Respirator Manufacturers

A Congressional committee has unanimously approved the issuance of subpoenas for doctors entangled in controversy over allegedly fraudulent diagnoses submitted by screening companies on behalf of thousands of silica plaintiffs.

By a 10-0 vote, the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee approved the subpoenas Nov. 2, allowing the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee to issue them to the physicians.

According to committee members, the subpoenas are necessary to determine what relationship the doctors had to screening companies that produced allegedly fraudulent diagnoses for silica claimants.

The cases, most of which were filed in Mississippi state court, eventually landed in U.S. …