A lawyer for several workers on the Deepwater Horizon rig made an explosive charge against its owner today--it tried to make workers deny they were hurt.
Survivors floated for hours in life boats in the Gulf of Mexico following the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon, and were greeted by company officials onshore asking them to sign statements that they had no "first hand or personal knowledge" of the incident, attorneys said.
"These men are told they have to sign these statements or they can't go home," said Tony Buzbee, a Houston-based attorney for 10 Transocean workers. "I think it's pretty callous, but I'm not surprised by it."
The statements have no legal force, but can be used as leverage to deny claims for medical care. They can also be used to attack workers' credibility in court. At least one worker trying to get counseling was told he had to sign a form like this.
Consider the circumstances under which this happened, if this is true. You're awake for 30 hours or more, and have spent 10 hours waiting to be rescued. At that point, you just want to get home to your family. Under those conditions, you're willing to do anything, say anything, sign anything.
Reading this, I have to say I'm almost speechless.