Asbestos and Mesothelioma
Families dealing with asbestos-related illnesses need advocates who are knowledgeable, diligent, and compassionate. Those who are suffering the devastating losses, whether it be long-term injury or even the loss of a loved one, already know how difficult it can be to get the help you need. Because the injuries only become obvious so much later, it seems difficult if not impossible to know where to start.
Why Is Asbestos a Problem?
Asbestos is a mineral fiber found in rock and soil, and it was frequently used in many manufactured products in the past because it was light, cheap, and common. By the time everyone realized how dangerous it was, many people had been exposed and were suffering the consequences.
These are just some of the ways people may be exposed to asbestos:
- insulation materials for hot water pipes and water boilers;
- asbestos millboard, used as a lining for anything requiring heat and fire protection, like walls, furnaces, or fire screens;
- roofing shingles and other kinds of roof coatings;
- floor tiles;
- and of course older paints, especially textured ceiling paints, joint compounds, silver paint, and patching compounds.
Because so many of these materials were used in homebuilding, many asbestos victims were just people who worked, lived, or studied in places where the buildings were made of dangerous materials or where the structures weren’t properly maintained. Asbestos was used in literally thousands of products, so it could be in almost any structure built in 1980s or before.
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Common Asbestos Injuries
Some of the bad effects of asbestos exposure include:
Asbestosis, which refers to long term lung inflammation caused by breathing in asbestos fibers. Common symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, and wheezing. Exposure may also lead to other permanent conditions such as pulmonary heart disease, lung cancer, or mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is an aggressive kind of cancer caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. It affects major organs such as the lungs and heart and usually occurs in individuals who worked extensively with products that contained asbestos. One of the reasons it may be difficult to prove the source of harm is because the conditions related to mesothelioma often occur many years later, sometimes 10 years later but sometimes as late as 50 years later.
You and Your Family Deserve Compensation
Victims of asbestos exposure were injured through no fault of their own and they deserve help dealing with the consequences. You may be dealing with medical bills, lost wages, and many other kinds of related expenses. Worse, asbestos exposure can take years off your life if you develop a condition such as mesothelioma. Your family depends on you for both financial and emotional reasons, and they deserve compensation for the care you can no longer provide.
One of the hardest things when it comes to these kinds of cases is that individuals with mesothelioma find it difficult to have the energy to fight with an old employer or manufacturer.
Your mesothelioma attorney will take over that fight for you so you can take care of your own needs. At Legal Passkey, we can help you find a California personal injury attorney who will fight for the justice you deserve.
