Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Mesothelioma Claims And Information Regarding Asbestos Illnesses

By Ray Cleeves


Taking a few minutes to learn about asbestos illnesses could help save your life or the life of a loved one. If you or a loved one is sick because of exposure to asbestos, or if you have lost a loved one to mesothelioma, you may be entitled to file one of many different types of mesothelioma claims.

It is common for asbestos related illness to take years to be diagnosed. Often there are no symptoms present for many years after the exposure. This can make proving the illness is related to asbestos difficult to do.

The 3 most common types of asbestos related diseases are asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer. Asbestosis is a chronic, but non-cancerous respiratory disease. It starts when the asbestos fibers are inhaled and wind up lodged in the lungs. Over time, they aggravate the tissue of the lungs and create scarring. This scarring diminishes the person's lung capacity and over time can cause cardiac failure once it is in its advanced stages.

Lung cancer is one of the largest causes of death due to asbestos related illnesses. Those that were involved in the mining, manufacturing or use of asbestos are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer than the rest of the general population. Asbestos workers that are cigarette smokers are as much as 90 times more likely to develop lung cancer than those that have not been exposed to asbestos or smoked during their lifetime.

Mesothelioma is another serious asbestos related illness. A rare form of cancer, it impacts the thin membrane that lines the lungs, chest and abdomen. Out of the 3,000 cases of mesothelioma reported each year, the majority of them are caused by asbestos exposure.

The family can make the choice to file what is called the wrongful death lawsuit. This is one of the types of mesothelioma claims that the victim might choose to file. This type of lawsuit is usually filed once the victim has passed on. While it can be filed when the victim is living, that is not common because it is usually not diagnosed until the final stages when the person is not expected to live past a year.

A personal injury lawsuit is another one of the common mesothelioma claims that may be filed. These types of lawsuits will allow the victim to file a law suit that will help them to cover medical expenses, replace their lost income, and they may also claim punitive damages and pain and suffering. These last two, pain and suffering and punitive damages are often hard to received monetary awards for so it is usually recommended that the victim hire an attorney with knowledge of asbestos and that has successfully handled mesothelioma claims in the past.

Asbestos illnesses are tragic and can be difficult on a family. The amount of awareness has increased and education on the dangers of asbestos are well known. For these reasons, in time there will be fewer new cases of illnesses due to asbestos. Since some illnesses can take up to 20 years to be realized, new illness related to asbestos exposure are likely to appear for several years to come.




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