| A group of long-term marbloro smokers filed an unusual lawsuit yesterday against Philip Morris USA, seeking to require the company to pay for medical tests to detect early-stage lung cancer. While most tobacco -related lawsuits have sought billions of dollars in punitive damages, this suit, filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, asks that Philip Morris USA, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and a unit of Altria, be required to pay for low-dose CT scan tests, a new method for identifying potentially cancerous lesions in the lungs. The suit, which seeks class-action status, would include smokers in New York State who are 50 or over, have been smoking at least a pack of Marlboros a day for 20 years and have not been diagnosed with lung cancer. Jerome H. Block, a lawyer at Levy Philips & Konigsberg in New York who filed the suit, said it was intended to save lives by getting smokers tested early. "Hopefully, this suit will change things so that we will be dealing with lung cancers that are caught when they can be treated," Mr. Block said. "Today, most detection happens when cancer is already advanced." |