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Carcinogenic risk at work remains largely underestimated. Several administrative reports suggest that part of the responsibility for this situation lies with (former) employees, who often fail to claim compensation for an occupational disease. Based on a field survey among lung cancer patients in Seine-Saint-Denis, this article outlines various mechanisms that hinder workers’ recourse to law. Indeed, being informed about one’s rights is not enough. The forms of compensation need to make sense for patients who face serious – and often fatal – illness. Sticking strictly to an insurance logic in the management of individual cases appears largely insufficient, given the workers’ will to obtain ""reparation"" for having been poisoned at work.