Mesothelioma is a disease that affects around 3,000 people annually and is proven to occur due to asbestos exposure. Personal injury lawyers take on new cases of victims who’ve been diagnosed, as well as spouses and children who’ve recently lost their loved ones due to this devastating condition. The goal of a mesothelioma lawsuit is to attempt to recover compensation for medical expenses and pain and suffering. Mesothelioma lawsuits claim that the employers are legally and financially responsible for the injury because they exposed workers to dangerous conditions and disregarded their safety. In some cases, the manufacturers of asbestos and asbestos products can be held liable for the development of mesothelioma.
The Effects of Mesothelioma
As a potentially deadly form of cancer, mesothelioma affects the lungs, stomach, abdomen, and even the heart. Unfortunately the long latency period means that most sufferers are not diagnosed early enough to stop the spread of the cancer, resulting in fatal spread of cancer cells. Even when symptoms of mesothelioma begin to surface, they are sometimes mistaken for other health problems like pneumonia, further delaying treatment. It is not uncommon for mesothelioma patients to hire an attorney to sue an employer that they worked for 40 or more years prior to receiving a diagnosis.
Litigating Mesothelioma Cases
These cases often go to court because the link between asbestos use and the development of mesothelioma is so apparent. Unlike many other types of cancers that may grow based on a variety of environmental and health factors, mesothelioma is very much linked to toxic exposure to asbestos. In fact, studies have shown that even very small amounts of asbestos fibers can cause mesothelioma to develop decades after exposure.
Mesothelioma lawyers work hard to prove that companies who exposed workers to asbestos did so with knowledge of its toxicity. The easy availability and low price of the material made it very popular, even years beyond the date it was banned in the United States.
Mesothelioma Compensation
Mesothelioma victims and their families may be able to collect a settlement from their former employer with the right tools and resources. An experienced mesothelioma lawyer can work to establish a direct link between the employee’s specific job duties, level of asbestos exposure, and development of the cancer.
With the right legal team, you can strategically build a case with the goal of securing a compensation amount based on your total related medical expenses (and estimated future medical bills), physical and mental distress, lost income, psychological/emotional support and counseling, and death and burial expenses.