After spending months as a property insurance claims adjuster in the New Orleans hurricane zone, Tim Bell began coughing and wheezing.
 
His time in the region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina was punctuated by often-horrific sights and smells: Slugde. Mold. Dead animals.
 
Now, after extensive testing, Bell said doctors have diagnosed him with congestive heart failure.
 
According to medical records, doctors believe his condition resulted from exposure to a microorganism, raw sewage or perhaps mold from the post-Katrina Louisiana environment.
 
Bell filed a workers compensation claim through his company and St. Paul Travelers Insurance.
 
"They denied the claim, saying there's no way you can actually prove that that's actually where you picked it up," Bell said.
 
The irony isn't lost on Bell, who recommended insurance settlements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to devastated property owners.
 
As a claims adjuster, he knows what's at stake. "It's hard to believe that I'm the only one who became ill out in the field," he said.
 
For now, Bell is continuing to file claims, hoping that—like the property owners he helped—he'll eventually be reimbursed for what he lost: his health.
 
News 8 contacted the Centers for Disease Control and the New Orleans Health Department to learn if there have been other health claims like Bell's, but we were unable to identify any that had been reported or confirmed by authorities.
 
St. Paul Travelers Insurance declined comment on this workers compensation case citing patient confidentiality.
 
 

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