Fighting for asbestos victims and their families
- Asbestos News
- Philadelphia Asbestos Verdict $25.2 Million The jury in the case of Baccus v. Crane Co. recently awarded James Baccus’ Estate $25.2 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
- Navy Firefighter Awarded $2.6 Million for Asbestos Related Cancer David Fortier was diagnosed with mesothelioma in October of 2006, and died in June of 2008. He filed a lawsuit shortly after his diagnosis, but he did not live to see his case decided.
- Asbestos Plaintiff’s Body Subpoenaed, Taken from Graveyard Just Before Burial Harold St. John's body was never laid to rest when a court issued a subpoena for his body to collect tissue samples. Chrysler, one of the defendants in the lawsuit, maintains that the proceedings were necessary to obtain additional information about the way Mr. St. John died.
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Friable Asbestos in the Lung Prove Asbestos-Related Disease
Asbestos-related disease has been described in medical reports for more than seventy-five years, says author and M.D. Paul D. Blanc. In areas of heavy manufacture and use, asbestosis, progressive lung scarring from asbestos, was recognized early on.The first known death from friable asbestos lung scarring occurred in 1900. Over the next two decades, asbestos-related disease was regularly documented in reports and in 1924 the next fatal case was published (British Medical Journal).
Although the link between asbestos exposure and cancer (as opposed to lung scarring) was first reported somewhat later, this notice still dates back to 1935;50 years before any controls were introduced.
Friable Asbestos is Easily Broken
Because friable asbestos are easily broken into microscopically small pieces by ordinary hand action, asbestos can be inhaled into the lungs and can cause severe damage. Friable asbestos fibers are microscopic in size, with a width much smaller than a human hair. When asbestos is not friable, such as when it is embedded in ceiling tiles or completely encased in pipe coverings, it can’t be inhaled. Asbestos-containing materials are known as ACMs, which can release friable asbestos into the air when broken up by machines, cut, scraped, or sanded.
Proving Asbestos-Related Disease for Litigation
Seeger Weiss knows the strain pursuing litigation can be at a time of declining health. Our attorneys are here for you—to offer you not only helpful advice but also concrete information that can empower you. Contact us today.
To get compensation, we need to show a history of substantial exposure to friable asbestos and a lung condition that could be related to asbestos exposure and no other cause.
For example, a positive exposure history and interstitial lung disease on a chest X-ray and the absence of any other cause would be a diagnosis of asbestosis. However, the following situations would be harder prove asbestos-related disease:
- A long history of asbestos exposure, with a lung condition not associated with asbestos exposure, equals no diagnosis of asbestos-related disease.
- No history of asbestos exposure, with a condition that could otherwise be due to inhaled asbestos, equals no diagnosis of asbestos-related disease.
An example: A 45-year-old woman with no history of asbestos exposure develops malignant mesothelioma. This pulmonary condition is typically linked to asbestos exposure, but absent such exposure history the cause in her case remains unknown.
Given a documented history of asbestos exposure, there are three ways to diagnose asbestos-related disease:
- A chest X-ray or chest CT scan. Note that there are two types of CT scans--the regular resolution scan and the high-resolution scan. The latter is preferable for diagnosing asbestos-related lung disease.
- A lung biopsy. There are several types of lung biopsies; for asbestos-related disease it must be an open or surgical biopsy, which requires an operation under general anesthesia.
- An autopsy proving asbestos-related disease.
