450
Opinion of Ginsburg, J.
sustained medical monitoring claims.2 This Court, responsible for developing FELA law, finds little value in these decisions.
These courts have answered the question this Court passes by: What are the elements of a compensable medical monitoring claim? The Third Circuit, for example, has enumerated: A plaintiff can recover the costs of medical monitoring if (1) he establishes that he was significantly exposed to a proven hazardous substance through the negligent actions of the defendant; (2) as a proximate result of the exposure, the plaintiff suffers a significantly increased risk of contracting a serious latent disease; (3) by reason of the exposure a reasonable physician would prescribe a monitoring regime different from the one that would have been prescribed in the absence of the exposure; and (4) monitoring and testing procedures exist that make the early detection and treatment of the disease possible and beneficial. See Paoli I, 916 F. 2d, at 852; Paoli II, 35 F. 3d, at 788. Each factor must be shown by competent expert testimony. See Paoli I, 916 F. 2d, at 852.
A claim so defined comports with the terms of the FELA.
Under the FELA, a railroad "shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier . . . for such injury . . . resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier." 45 U. S. C. § 51. The "injury" sustained by an asbestos-exposed worker seeking to recover medical monitoring costs is the invasion of that employee's interest in being free from the economic burden of extraordi-2 The state court cases include: Elam v. Alcolac, Inc., 765 S. W. 2d 42, 208-209 (Mo. App. 1988); Askey v. Occidental Chemical Corp., 477 N. Y. S. 2d 242, 246-247 (App. Div. 1984). The Federal District Court cases include: Day v. National Lead of Ohio, 851 F. Supp. 869, 880-882 (SD Ohio 1994); Bocook v. Ashland Oil, Inc., 819 F. Supp. 530, 536 (SD W. Va. 1993); Stead v. F. E. Myers Co., Div. of McNeil Corp., 785 F. Supp. 56, 57 (Vt. 1990).
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