Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Survey Of Asbestosis And Mesothelioma Cases

By Ray Cleeves

Asbestos was a widely used building material in the final years of the nineteenth and the early years of the twentieth century. Unfortunately people at the time did not realize the health risks posed by asbestos, particularly to industry workers who came into regular contact with the material. In the 1920s the disease of asbestosis was first identified, and the link with asbestos was firmly established. It is now known that other diseases including mesothelioma, various cancers and pleural plaques are also linked to asbestos.

Those workers who have come into contact with asbestos dust, and have subsequently become ill, have often been able to take legal action against their employer. These diseases can take many years to develop, and this long latency period means that asbestosis and mesothelioma claims can be expected to continue, even though all work with asbestos is now strictly controlled by safety regulations.

In 1924, an English worker, by the name of Nellie Kershaw, was the first person reported in medical literature to have suffered and died from the disease asbestosis. Kershaw, and her relatives, were denied any compensation, because her employer denied the link between the disease and her employment.

Nonetheless the Kershaw case was extremely influential. Following the inquest into her death, a British government inquiry was established, which definitively recognized asbestosis as a new disease, which was linked to the inhalation of asbestos dust. Asbestos industry regulations in the UK were established as early as 1932.

Since then many asbestosis and mesothelioma claim for compensation have been made in many countries around the world. At the moment in the United States the largest ever tort case is in progress. This is a class action with more than 600,000 claimants and over 6,000 defendants.

Asbestosis can take ten to twenty years to develop, mesothelioma can take twenty to fifty. These long latency times present a number of problems in legal cases. Firstly the patient may have worked for more than one company, and it is not possible to identify which exposure to asbestos fibers was responsible for the illness. This can lead to a dispute about which company is responsible for paying any compensation.

It can also be a problem in that many countries there is a time limit for seeking compensation for a personal injury. The disease will usually not have manifested itself in the patient for many years after the person was exposed to asbestos. Some countries, including Australia, have introduced legislation so that the limitations apply from when the disease was discovered, rather than from when the exposure occurred.

A very large number of people are already dying from asbestos related diseases. In the UK the trades union estimate 5000 deaths per year. In the US the estimate is 10,000 per year, which means one death in 125 men over the age of 50 is caused by asbestos. It is further expected that the death toll will continue to rise in the next decade, and in the courts asbestos and mesothelioma claims will also increase. Many of the companies which have large exposure to liability in asbestos cases have been obliged to file for bankruptcy.

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