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Opinion of Kennedy, J.
blood is such that no money compensation is adequate"). The passage in the Restatement deeming compensable "emotional disturbance resulting from the bodily harm or from the conduct which causes it," § 456(a), refers, as the official commentary makes clear, to this sort of instantaneous emotional trauma arising from the tortious act. See id., Comment e ("Thus one who is struck by a negligently driven automobile and suffers a broken leg may recover not only for his pain, grief, or worry resulting from the broken leg, but also for his fright at seeing the car about to hit him").
Other, less immediate fears also might qualify as pain and suffering, but only if they are the direct result of an injury. See id., § 456, Comment d (clarifying that recovery is "not limited to immediate emotional disturbance accompanying the bodily harm, or following at once from it, but includes also subsequent emotional disturbance brought about by the bodily harm itself").
Applying these standards to the instant case, I do not think the brooding, contemplative fear the respondents allege can be called a direct result of their asbestosis. Unlike shortness of breath or other discomfort asbestosis may cause, their fear does not arise from the presence of disease in their lungs. Instead, the respondents' fear is the product of learning from a doctor about their asbestosis, receiving information (perhaps at a much later time) about the conditions that correlate with this disease, and then contemplating how these possible conditions might affect their lives.
The majority nevertheless would permit recovery because "[t]here is an undisputed relationship between exposure to asbestos sufficient to cause asbestosis, and asbestos-related cancer." Ante, at 154. To state that some relationship exists without examining whether the relationship is enough to support recovery, however, ignores the central issue in this case. There is a fundamental premise in this case—conceded, as I understand it, by all parties—and it is this: There is no demonstrated causal link between asbestosis and can-
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