Mesothelioma Litigation - Are You A Victim Of Asbestos Exposure And Don't Even Know It?

Mesothelioma is a unique and a rare form of cancer. It is commonly referred to as malignant mesothelioma. It usually develops from the mesothelium, which is a protective lining covering most of the internal body organs. These malignant cells believed to cause Mesothelioma are abundantly found in the sac and linings of the chest. This is referred to as the pleural mesothelioma because it occurs in the chest area. It may also occur in the abdomen also referred to as the peritoneum. This version of mesothelioma is much less common and is known as the peritoneal mesothelioma.

The latter cells may also affect the pericardium leading to the most rare form of mesothelioma known as the pericardial mesothelioma. In this case, the sac surrounding the heart is usually affected.

Mesothelioma cells are usually of two types namely epithelial and sarcomatoid. Both types of cells can be present in the body but this is usually not common. Sarcomatoid cells are rare and compute to only 15% of the cases usually reported. It usually occurs as a result of poor prognosis.

What causes mesothelioma has been a puzzle but this has been unlocked by technological innovations and continued research. Rarely does mesothelioma originate from benign and non-malignant cells.

Intake of asbestos through breathing has been the main cause of mesothelioma. A high percentage of people with malignant mesothelioma have been involved in jobs where they inhaled asbestos. Exposure to the dust and fiber originating from asbestos has been highly associated with the disease. This is common with workers over the age of 40 years who have had a long duration of exposure to the latter conditions.

Asbestos has been used as a common insulator although its use has been on the decline after these revelations. Men have been the mainly affected since they work in hard labor and this is synonymous with industrial and chemical remnants having asbestos. Many people in their household environments have also suffered from the exposure of asbestos within their localities. This is usually dangerous since most or these people affected have no knowledge of this happening.

Exposure to asbestos can also be through washing the clothes in most cases of a family member who has worked with asbestos. This puts the one at the risk of catching or developing mesothelioma. Inhaling the constituents of asbestos mentioned above leads to some of them reaching the air sacs hence penetrating into the pleural lining. Environmental exposure may lead to swallowing of the fibres. If swallowed, they reach the abdominal cavity contributing to peritoneal mesothelioma. These fibers and dust harm the mesothelial cells eventually causing mesothelioma.

Contrary to the belief that most people have that smoking may induce the latter disease, it has been noted that there is virtually no association between mesothelioma and smoking. However, smoking as a habit has the effect of increasing greatly the risk of other asbestos induced cancers. Zeolite, a chemical related to asbestos has also been seen to cause incidences of mesothelioma upon exposure to body cells. Lastly, exposure to specific types of radiation has also been known to cause mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a devastating cancer that could have been avoided in most cases. To learn more about the disease, its causes and your legal rights, please go to Mesothelioma Litigation Lawyers


Original article

How Can Mesothelioma Attorneys Help You?

When you find yourself at crossroads, having developed the mesothelioma disease and no one seems to take the blame for it and no one is willing to agree to settlements, you need to take the legal way. Mesothelioma Attorneys are truly experienced and devoted professionals who can offer you the entire legal backup that you need. Don't waste your precious time and money in the wrong direction, but take a stand today and hire the right person to represent you in front of the law.

A Mesothelioma Attorney will always help you gather the right documentation that you need to show up in court. He is also the person who will give you professional advice regarding which the shortest way is and the most affordable for your case in particular, to reach the settlement that you are entitled to. Such attorneys have succeeded in recovering millions of dollars already for their clients, saving them a lot of precious time and money. Moreover, they have a successful history in recovering money even from companies without trust funds.

Attorneys Mesothelioma can guarantee you:
• No upfront payments needed
• You get a free consultation - this way you will be able to see if it is indeed worth for you to start the legal proceedings with the respective attorney and take advantage of the full package services they offer. You will also receive plenty of useful information within this free consultation.
• The business is approved by the BBB (Better Business Bureau), which means that past clients fully trust it and no complaints have been issued against them.

The legal and medical fields are joining forces, and besides receiving the entire legal backup that you need you will also have access to medical support. The extremely helpful staff of nurses will provide you with all the mesothelioma diagnosis related information and specialty advice that you need. Mesothelioma is an extremely severe disease that requires the patient to be in a calm state of spirit, especially when going through legal proceedings to obtain a settlement. This is exactly why an Attorney Mesothelioma service will stand by you from all points of view.

Attorneys and the rest of the expert staff will stay in constant communication with you and your family all throughout the process. Your case is not going to be abandoned, and you will always be updated regarding the state of affairs of your particular case (such as when you should expect to obtain the settlement money).

If you want to know more about Mesothelioma Attorney, you can check at mesotheliomaattorneys.net


Original article

Mesothelioma Cancer Patients Do Have Treatment Options Available To Them

Mesothelioma Cancer is a very rare and extremely deadly form of cancer. In most cases the people that contracted it came in contact with a manmade substance called asbestos. This material was widely used in many products only a few short decades ago. It is still prevalent in many older buildings that were built during that period. When somebody happens to contract cancer, they usually do not know where to turn, or what their treatment options are. Below, you will find out about the few things that a person can do if they do come down with this horrendous disease.

Most if not all of us, have heard of a form of cancer treatment called "Chemotherapy". It is very widely used today with varying rates of success. It does cause certain side effects, which are hair loss, vomiting, weight loss, physical fatigue, and nausea. It can be administered in the form of a pill or an injection, and often causes the patient to get quite sick, before they recover from the cancer.

Palliative Therapies treatments work by draining the surplus fluids out of a patient's body by using suction and a needle. After it is completed, the doctor might recommend following up the treatment with a drug of some type, that will stop the fluids from accumulating in the future.

In certain instances a doctor could recommend surgery for an individual that has Mesothelioma Cancer. The main types of surgery performed under these circumstances are called Pneumonectomy and Pleurodesis, Thoracentesis and Extrapleural, Pleurectomy/Decortication, and Pneumonectomy. It depends on the form of Mesothelioma Cancer that you have, which will determine which surgery is performed.

Another widely used treatment for people that have this disease is called radiation therapy. It is often the preferred treatment, since it allows the physician to target only the effected cells, and not damage any of the healthy cells. Only one treatment can continue to destroy the infected cells for up to a one year period.

Above are the most widely used treatments designed to extend the lives of the patients that have come down with Mesothelioma Cancer. Presently, there are no known cures for the cancer, just like most other forms of this deadly disease. However, doctors and scientists are always working on better ways to treat the patients, as well as trying to find a cure for it all together.

Of course, for the people that already have it, any hopes of cures in the future just might come too late for them. What makes this form of cancer so disheartening for so many, is that in the majority of the cases it could have been prevented if the people who got it, only knew what to look out for.

That was of course, not coming in contact with asbestos in anyway. If you or a loved one happens to have come down with Mesothelioma Cancer, there is still hope, and you should seek immediate treatment from the most highly qualified specialist you can find.

Get all the information you could possibly ever need about Mesothelioma and the deadly Mesothelioma Cancer online at Mesothelioma.us right now.


Original article

Lung Cancer and Lymphoma - DNA Analysis and Molecular Genetics

DNA analysis (i.e., molecular genetics) can be used in evaluating lung cancer, and can reliably separate lung tumors into their morphologic categories of squamous, large cell, small cell, and adenocarcinoma. Gene expression profiling (GEP) may have even more utility in the assessment of patients with non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) and similar histology.

Several investigators have attempted to subclassify these tumors by correlating GEP patterns with clinicopathologic variables.

A series that included 41 lung adenocarcinomas identified three prognostically separate subgroups. The genes involved in this classification included thyroid transcription factor, hepsin, cathepsin L, vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C), and the intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1).

In another report of 139 lung adenocarcinomas defined four distinct subclasses. Tumors expressing neuroendocrine-type genes had a significantly less favorable survival than those lacking such characteristics. The genes that defined the neuroendocrine cluster adenocarcinomas included dopa decarboxylase, achaete-scute homolog 1, and the serine protease kallikrein 11.

Others used GEP to predict outcome from surgery in 67 patients with resected stage I adenocarcinoma. A specific group of genes distinguished high-risk from lower risk groups, with significantly different survival. Among the 50 genes comprising the risk index were erbB2, VEGF, S100P, cytokeratin 7 and 18, and fas-associated death domain protein.

In another series of 125 patients from Taiwan with surgically resected NSCLC, 16 genes were identified that correlated with increased or decreased survival. Further RT-PCR validation assay confirmed the microarray findings and showed that survival was significantly associated with five of the 16 genes (DUSP6, MMD, STAT1, ERBB3, and LCK). The five-gene signature was further validated in microarray data from patients of Western population and was an independent predictor of recurrence and overall survival for patients with surgical resection of NSCLC without any adjuvant therapy. This GEP profile is being used to select high risk patients for adjuvant chemotherapy in prospective clinical trials.

Lymphoma - Gene expression profiling (GEP) by means of DNA microarrays is an evolving approach to classification, diagnosis, and prognostication of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL).

As an example, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a clinically heterogeneous disease in which approximately 40 percent of patients with advanced stage disease respond well to combination chemotherapy and are long-term survivors. Using GEP, DLBCL has been subclassified into three distinct molecular subgroups, germinal center B-cell-like (GCB), activated B-cell-like (ABC), and other (type 3), that appear to be derived from different stages of B-cell differentiation, utilize different oncogenic mechanisms, and differ clinically in their ability to be cured by multiagent chemotherapy.

Patients whose tumors express genes characteristic of germinal center B cells (GCB) have a significantly better outcome from chemotherapy than those whose gene expression is more typical of activated B cells (ABC). In one series for example, a clustering algorithm applied to 58 patients with DLBCL receiving cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (CHOP) chemotherapy separated patients into two groups with very different five-year overall survival rates (70 versus 12 percent).

Although most of the early studies used fresh frozen tissue sections, similar results have been reported with GEP performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded material. No formal head-to-head comparisons of GEP from fresh versus archived materials have yet been performed.

GEP has also been used to develop a more precise molecular diagnosis of primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, a clinically unfavorable entity that cannot be reliably distinguished from other types of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. These tumors do poorly with CHOP chemotherapy alone and may need more aggressive therapy than used for standard DLBCL.

Finally, GEP has the potential to reveal new therapeutic molecular targets. As an example, the ABC subtype of DLBCL is characterized by constitutive activation of the nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) signaling pathway; interference with this pathway selectively kills these lymphoma cells. The ubiquitin-proteasomal pathway and the NF-kappaB axis are intimately involved in the control of apoptosis. Inhibitors of this pathway (eg, proteasome inhibitors) can induce apoptosis in human leukemia cells that ectopically express the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. One such agent, the synthetic dipeptide boronic acid bortezomib, is a potent promoter of apoptosis in several human tumor cell types.

Summary - The rapidly evolving field of DNA microarray analysis and gene expression profiling has wide-ranging implications for the molecular classification of tumors, refinement of prognostic estimates, and prediction of response to therapy. Despite its exciting potential and significant recent advances, this field remains relatively new, and it is premature to conclude that microarray data can be used as a sole means of classifying cancers or predicting outcomes of treatment.

Among the specific challenges that must be met are the need for larger studies with appropriate validation, standardization of methods and establishment of guidelines for the conduct and reporting of studies, and the formation of repositories and registries where research institutions may deposit data for comparison with independent works involving the same malignant disorder. Finally, DNA microarray-based tests must demonstrate utility in prospectively designed clinical trials before this technology is considered a routine part of clinical evaluation. These studies may eventually establish a new treatment paradigm in personalized cancer therapy in the future.

Dr. Richard Graydon, http://www.medauthor.com/, trained as an Oncologist, holding both M.D. and PhD degrees, andspecializes in molecular genetics and cancer research. His education and experience have provided him analytical and clinical skills for keen insight into diagnosis, treatment, and care of cancer patients. See http://www.medauthor.com/ for further information


Original article

Mesothelioma Cancer Is An Extremely Rare and Fatal Form Of This Horrifying Disease

Today, there are many well known types of cancer, such as breast, lung, throat and a few others. There is another form of this deadly disease that not too many people know about, which is called Mesothelioma Cancer. It is just as deadly if not more so, than the most recognized types of this health condition.

Mesothelioma Cancer attacks the protective lining that covers many of our body's organs. Most of the time the people that come down with it came in contact with a substance called asbestos. It was widely used many decades ago in numerous kinds of products, and one of the main ones was in the construction industry, as an insulator and fire inhibitor.

This form of cancer often attacks the internal chest wall or the outer lining of the lungs. As terrible as this sounds, most people that come down with this disease did not need to, if they were better informed and educated on how harmful it actually is. You can catch Mesothelioma Cancer simply by breathing in dust or particles that contain asbestos.

It is very prevalent in old buildings, even to this day. If anybody that you know who either lives in your same building, or works where you do, happens to contact Mesothelioma Cancer, you need to be extra "special" careful, and take immediate action to safeguard yourself and your family.

This is a tell tale warning sign that they have come in contact with this deadly material. It is advised that you instantaneously have both your work and home thoroughly examined for this matter. If the people that you work for do not feel it is necessary to have their premises inspected, you can contact the local building inspector or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) yourself. They will keep your name confidential, so you do not need to be worried about your job.

In addition, you need to try and figure out if there were any other places that your acquaintance frequented, that you also go to a great deal, and try to determine if that was the source of the problem. In the vast majority of the cases, a person does not get Mesothelioma Cancer without coming in contact with asbestos.

This is why, if you are close to the person, work with them, or live in the same building or area as they do, you need to take every preventative measure possible to protect yourself and your loved ones. Simply breathing in this substance a single time is enough to start a chain reaction, which could eventually lead to death.

Asbestos and Mesothelioma Cancer are certainly something to be feared and highly respected. Today, there are many construction companies working around the clock trying to remove it from as many structures as possible, as quickly as possible. But, even with all of the time and effort being spent on this critical project, people are still dying at alarming rates because of this once thought to be extremely safe and one of a kind manmade material.

Get all the information you could possibly ever need about Mesothelioma and the deadly Mesothelioma Cancer online at Mesothelioma.us right now.


Original article

Mesothelioma - All About It

Mesothelioma also commonly referred to as malignant mesothelioma, is an odd type of cancer which grows in the protective lining which shells most of the body's inner organs, the mesothelium. The cancer is as a result of exposure to asbestos.

The cancer usually develops on the pleura (i.e. the exterior lining of the lungs as well as interior chest barrier). Nonetheless, the cancer can also grow in the peritoneum (the coating of the abdominal cavity), the tunica vaginalis (a bag which environs the testis) or the pericardium (i.e. the pouch which surrounds the heart).

A majority of individuals who acquire mesothelioma have at one point in their lives worked on professions where they breathed in asbestos as well as glass specks, or were exposed to asbestos dust along with fiber by other means. It has also been shown that cleaning the garments of family members who worked with asbestos can put the person doing the laundry at risk of suffering from mesothelioma. While it is true that smoking can enhance one's chances of suffering from other types of asbestos-stimulated cancers, there is no medical proof to show that there is a link between mesothelioma and smoking. Individuals who have been subjected to asbestos have already accumulated harm for asbestos-related illnesses which include mesothelioma. Payments from asbestos funds or litigation are a critical matter in law practices concerning mesothelioma.

The signs that someone is suffering from malignant mesothelioma consist of shortness of breath as a result of pleural effusion (i.e. the fluid in-between the lung and chest barrier) or chest barrier pain, on top of general signs, for example, weight loss. The diagnosis can be identified with chest x-rays coupled with CT scan, and is verified with a biopsy (tissue test) on top of microscopic analysis. A thoracoscopy (this is where a tube with a camera is inserted into the chest) can be utilized to get biopsies. It enables the insertion of substances, for instance, talc to destroy the pleural space (known as pleurodesis), that deters more fluid from gathering and surging on the lung. In spite of therapy with chemotherapy, radiation and at times surgery, the mesothelioma has a bleak prognosis. Studies regarding screening examinations for the early prognosis of mesothelioma are still going on.

Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of mesothelioma might not show until twenty or fifty years after the initial exposure to asbestos. Shortness of breath, coughing and aches in the chest, as a result of gathering of fluid in the pleural space, are some of the most common signs of pleural mesothelioma.

Signs of peritoneal mesothelioma are weight loss, intestinal swelling along with aches as a result of ascites (this refers to accumulation of fluid in the intestinal cavity). Other signs of peritoneal mesothelioma might include bowel blockade, anemia, blood clotting irregularities as well as fever. In case the cancer has spread further than the mesothelium to other areas of the body, signs might be aches, issues with ingesting, or swelling of neck or face.

These signs might be triggered by mesothelioma or by other disorders that are less grave.

Mesothelioma which touches on the pleura can create the following signs and symptoms:

- Chest barrier aches.
- Coughing, wheezing and hoarseness.
- Exhaustion or anemia.
- Difficulties in breathing.
- Pleural effusion (i.e. fluids which environs the lung).
- Traces of blood in the sputum coughed out.

In acute cases, the individual might have numerous tumor heaps. The person might also develop a pneumothorax (collapsing of the lung). Over time, the illness can metastasize or spread to other areas of the body.

Tumors which affect the intestinal cavity frequently do not trigger signs till they are at a later stage. The signs and symptoms might include:

- Intestinal aches.
- Weight loss.
- Issues with bowel movements.
- A load in the abdomen.
- Uncharacteristic accumulation of fluid in the belly.

In acute cases of illness, the following signs and symptoms might show:

- Acute ascites.
- Low blood sugar level.
- Pleural effusion.
- Clotting of the blood in the veins which may in turn trigger thrombophlebitis.
- Disseminated intravascular coagulation. In a layman's term, this refers to a condition resulting in acute bleeding in numerous body organs.
- Jaundice. This refers to the yellowing of the eyes as well as the skin.
- Clotting of the blood in the arteries of the lungs.

Unlike other types of cancers, mesothelioma does not normally invade the brain, adrenal glands or the bone. Pleural tumors are normally located on one side of the lungs.

What causes mesothelioma?

The main cause of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos. In the U.S., asbestos is the main cause of malignant mesothelioma and is regarded as "incontrovertibly" related to the growth of mesothelioma.


Original article

Why Mesothelioma Cancer Is So Different Than Almost Every Other Type of Cancer

Virtually everybody reading this article will have heard of cancer previously. When you go to see your doctor, pretty much the last thing you want to hear, is that you have cancer. Most of us, associate it with a death sentence. Mesothelioma cancer is also a very deadly form of cancer, but in one very important sense, it is really different than almost all other types of cancer.

when a person is diagnosed with prostate cancer, in most instances, they will ask their physician how they got it. The doctor will usually reply, there are many reasons people get it, but we cannot tell you exactly how or why, you happened to come down with it. In fact, this is true with most forms of cancer today.

There is evidence starting to circulate that eating too many processed forms of foods and maintaining a western style of diet contributes to it. But, until further research is done to confirm this suspicion, it is still only a good guess.

if you were to ask almost any smoker if they knew they were risking dying prematurely and catching cancer, they would almost all tell you "yes". Then if you were to ask them why they do it, most of them would tell you that they are addicted to tobacco. At some point in their life, they made the conscious decision to start smoking.

so, if you get cancer today, you either choose to do some kind of activity that increased the possibility of you getting it. Or, the doctors pretty much have no clue why you got it, and another member of your family did not.

That is precisely where and how mesothelioma cancer is different from almost every other form of this terrifying disease. You see, the people that got it, did not get it for no reason at all. The doctors know exactly why most people contracted it. The patients that have died from it, did not choose to do something that increased their risk of coming down cancer.

The people that contracted mesothelioma cancer, as sad as this is to say, simply lacked knowledge. All that had to be done to save most of their lives was to attend a half hour training seminar on the subject, and their entire life could have been different.

most of the people that get it either work, or live in buildings constructed in the 40's or 50's. Back then there was a substance called "asbestos", which was very widely used as a construction material during this period. Simply breathing a few tiny particles of it in the air, is enough to start the disease incubating.

If you live or work in an older building, it is highly recommended that you do everything you can to learn about asbestos. You especially need to know how to recognize it, and when you do, stay as far away from it as possible. In most cases, mesothelioma cancer can be totally be prevented by never coming in contact with asbestos.

Get all the information you could possibly ever need about Mesothelioma and the deadly Mesothelioma Cancer online at Mesothelioma.us right now.


Original article

Mesothelioma Litigation - Miracle Treatments For Mesothelioma Sufferers

The treatment of mesothelioma is done using various options all of which aim at the removing or suppressing of the malignant mesotheloima cells. Modern improvements have occurred in the treatment of the disease. These have mainly been in prognosis into newer chemotherapies coupled by multimodality treatments. It is important to note that treatment of the malignant cells at an early stage is essential since this enhances better prognosis. However, cure for this cancer is usually rare. The malignant cells have certain clinical behaviors which affects the malignancy. These factors range from the continuous mesothelial surface which favors local metastasis through exfoliated cells, invasion of other cells hence the random growth within the underlying tissues and the period between exposure to asbestos and disease development. There are three important factors to be considered in the disease prognosis which include:the age of the patient, health status,and the histological subtype. The epithelioid responds better to treatment and has a higher survival rate as opposed to the sarcomatoid histology.

The treatment options present include:

Surgery

This is mainly used where mesothelial cancerous cells are present. They may lead to the formation of growth which are surgically removed through excision. It is not effective if used alone but can be combined with other procedures for example chemotherapy in order to improve the median survival rate. The most common procedure in operation is pleurectomy which involves the removal of the chest's lining. Extrapleural pneumonectomy is the lesser common where the lungs, chest lining, pericardium and the hemi-diaphragm are removed.

Radiation

It is given before the operation as a consolidative treatment. This is often to patients who can withstand radical surgery and have localized disease. Radiation therapy is conducted hand to hand with chemotherapy and when done after surgery may lead to an extended life expectancy in different patients of up to 5 years. It is commonly applied to the chest drain insertion area to restrict track tumor growth along the chest wall. This is a curative approach an dis now commonly used in treatment.

Immunotherapy

This treatment option has yielded mixed results in the cure of mesothelioma. Some of the cells are susceptible to in vitro lysis of LAK cells but patients under this treatment have had massive side effects. Therapy through the use of interferon alpha are more encouraging since it has led to 50% tumor mass reduction in 20% of the patients with few side effects.

Heated Intraoperative Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy

Here, the surgeon removes much of the tumor and then a chemotherapy agent is directly applied. This agent is heated at temperatures of 40 and 80 0c in the abdomen and is perfused for between 1 and 2 hours then drained. Heating increases the drug penetration into tissues and also destroys the malignant cells more than the normal cells. This procedure allows one to administer high drug concentrations into the affected surfaces.

Multimodality Therapy

This technique was developed on the need to reduce the bulk of the tumor and hence improve survival of the patient. Both extrapleural pneumonectomy and pleurectomy are used and the indications of their use are unique. Size of the tumor influences the choice of operation. In the former, the underlying lung is spared and is performed on patients within the early stage. Here the intention are to remove the whole tumor as opposed to extrapleural pneumonectomy which is more extensive. It is performed on patients whose tumors are more developed and can not tolerate pneumonectomy.

Mesothelioma is an unfortunate and deadly disease. It most likely could have been prevented or at least avoided. For more information about the cancer, treatment options and litigation, please go to Mesothelioma Litigation Lawyers


Original article

Metastatic Lung Cancer Affects Other Body Parts

Lung cancer is strongly related to smoking. Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals, of which 43 are carcinogenic (cancer-causing). These carcinogenic compounds include carbon monoxide, tar, nicotine, arsenic, formaldehyde, etc. Other causes of the disease include radon gas, asbestos, particulate matter, and viruses. Nicotine is highly addictive, thus it can be difficult for smokers to quit their unhealthy habit, even after they are diagnosed with the disease. It becomes even worse because once a smoker has the disease, his or her remaining lifetime will be significantly short, because the survival rate of this cancer is lower than that of other cancers. The cancerous cells can also spread at a faster rate to other parts of body. And even if they don't, a sufferer will still experience breathing problems.

In most cases, metastatic lung cancer affects the liver, brains, adrenal glands and bones. To determine the extent of the cancer spread can be determined using an assessment technique known as lung cancer staging. Staging varies for the two types of the cancer, namely the Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (SCLC) and the Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC).

The SCLC staging can be classified as either limited stage or extensive stage. In the limited stage, the tumor is found in one lung or only in the lymph nodes of that lung. In the extensive stage, the tumor has spread into both lungs or other organs in the body. When the cancer has reached the latter stage, chemotherapy is usually the preferred treatment. However, the NSCLC is the most widely used staging scheme. It is divided into four stages, with stage 1 being the mildest form, and stage 4 being the most severe form. NSCLCs can also be categorized into 3 subgroups, namely adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma. Adenocarcinoma is the most common type, accounting for 40% of all NSCLC cases. It is also the most common type of lung cancer found in non-smokers ("never-smokers").

Whether the lung cancer affects other body parts or not would depend on the cancer cell metastasis. To determine whether it has metastatized or not, doctors would use diagnostic techniques such as conventional chest radiography, computerized tomography (CT) scanning, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. Based on the test results, your doctor can determine the best treatment for you. Treatment options include radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted drug therapy. However, metastatic lung cancer is very difficult to treat, because the cells have spread into various parts of the body. To treat this disease, each and every cell needs to be removed, and this is not an easy thing to do.

Like other types of cancer, there is a possibility that lung cancer affects other body parts too. To find out more about this disease, please visit our website.


Original article

The Lasting Effects the Military Can Have on Our Troops

The Media has painted a vivid picture about the horrors of War and the emotional, mental, and physical toll it takes on our troops. Our troops have suffered fatal injuries, they have lost limbs and their lives, ever those who make it out without a scratch may suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Unfortunately the War for our soldiers doesn't always end when they are finished "serving their time."

The possibility of being killed, seriously injured, or mentally scarred is no secret to those who are looking to join one of America's Military branches. However, there was a hidden killer that unknowingly lurked in the shadows of soldiers, especially those in the Navy from the 1930s through the 1970s. That killer was Mesothelioma, an incurable cancer caused by Asbestos.

Anyone who had served in the Navy during the 1930s through the 1970s may have most likely been exposed to asbestos. To get a greater idea about how rampart asbestos was used in the Military, those who worked and lived on ships may have been exposed to asbestos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Asbestos had been used in the boiler, engine, navigation, and fire rooms of ships, along with products containing asbestos such as boilers, insulations, valves, generators, and turbines. Generally the argument for the high use of asbestos on Navy ships was due to the heat resistance and fireproofing ability of asbestos. Asbestos was also used on U.S. Air Force military aircrafts.

The side-effects of such rampart asbestos usage has lead to former military members accounting for up to 30 percent of malignant mesothelioma cases in the United States. One very important thing to remember, those who may have been exposed in the late 1960s and early 1970s to asbestos, may still fall inside the typical 30-40 year latency period of mesothelioma and have no symptoms of the disease, but still might develop the incurable cancer.

Fortunately for those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma can seek out benefits from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, which can help assist veterans who can provide proof that they developed mesothelioma as a direct result of asbestos exposure while in the military. In the event that someone is diagnosed with mesothelioma it is important to contact a lawyer who can help assist you with any legal issues that may arise when providing proof that military asbestos exposure was the direct result of their mesothelioma.

MesotheliomaCounsel can help provide victims of mesothelioma with more information and help.


Original article

What Is Pleural Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the mesothelium, a membranous lining that surrounds the internal organs. The mesothelium that encloses the lungs is called the pleura; so pleural mesothelioma is the term used to refer to this cancer when it affects the lining of the lungs. The pleura is actually the most common location for this cancer to take hold. This is because the contaminants that cause the disease (usually asbestos fibers) enter the body through the airway and lodge in the lungs. However, it is important to note that pleural mesothelioma is not lung cancer.

Symptoms

Painful breathing, shortness of breath, constant, painful coughing, and chest pain are all common symptoms of the disease. Unexplained weight loss, fever, trouble swallowing, lower back pain, and a hoarse voice are additional issues that may occur with this cancer. Malignant mesothelioma can be present in the body for many decades before causing symptoms. When health problems do start to become evident, they may be mistaken for other illnesses. These are two reasons that this cancer is usually far advanced before it is detected.

Diagnosis

Since mesothelioma is most often caused by asbestos, a patient's history of exposure will be reviewed early on to determine the likelihood that the symptoms are being caused by this form of cancer. After a physical examination, several tests may be done to find out if mesothelioma is present. Chest X-rays, a CAT scan, and a PET scan are a few examples. An MRI and/or a pulmonary angiography are sometimes used for further confirmation of a diagnosis.

If abnormal results are detected that might indicate mesothelioma, a biopsy will need to be performed. This may be done using a fluid sample from the pleural lining or with a sample of the pleura itself. The larger the sample taken, the more accurate the results of the biopsy tend to be. Gene pattern analysis and other advanced tests may be performed on the tissue sample to determine exactly what type of cancer is present.

Treatment

The recommended approach for treating mesothelioma depends on how far the cancer has spread and the patient's overall health. Radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery may be the best option for some situations. A few individuals are even candidates for lung transplantation. In other cases, treatment focuses on relieving symptoms such as pleural effusion (fluid buildup around the lungs). There are many clinical trials underway to find more effective treatments for each stage of mesothelioma. These include advanced options such as immunotherapy and gene therapy.

Lawsuits

Many patients who are diagnosed with this cancer file a lawsuit with the assistance of a personal injury lawyer. The goal is to obtain mesothelioma compensation that will cover medical bills and compensate the victim for the pain and suffering caused by the disease. Family members may also choose to file a wrongful death suit following the death of an ill loved one who has died from mesothelioma. Because this disease is commonly diagnosed in elderly patients after the cancer has started spreading, the long-term survival rates are generally very poor.

Consult with a medical expert to learn more about malignant mesothelioma, including pleural mesothelioma and its symptoms.


Original article

Find Out More About Mesothelioma Cancer And How To Prevent It

There are many well known forms of cancer, such as lung, breast, and liver. One type that not too many people have heard of, is called Mesothelioma Cancer. Just like almost all other kinds of this horrifying disease, this variety is also almost always fatal. But, unlike the other types of cancer, this one could have been prevented in virtually every patient that has ever caught it, if they only knew a little bit more about the subject.

That is really sad, isn't it? All of these people died, and it was only after it was too late, that they came to understand how they could have saved their lives. If you are reading this, please be sure to pass along the information in it to anybody that you know who might be in a high risk category.

In almost every instance, Mesothelioma Cancer is caused by coming in contact with a substance called "Asbestos". At the time, asbestos was taught of a fantastic man-made invention. It was used in a very wide variety of products, including toys for children.

The reason it was so prevalent in so many manufactured items, was that it was cheap to produce, an outstanding fire retarder, and a first-rate insulator. It was used for a few decades until the scientist noticed that many people that came in contact with it, also came down with Mesothelioma Cancer.

After a little bit of more research into the matter, they were able to conclude that it was the asbestos that was actually causing the cancer. Today, asbestos is no longer being manufactured, and it use is outlawed in most civilized countries. However, there have been reports that it is still being made in some underdeveloped nations.

Most of the products it was used to make no longer exist, that is all except one. It was used as a construction material in buildings that were put up during this time frame. If you happen to live or work in a structure that was built a few decades ago, unless it has been renovated and all of the asbestos removed, there is a very strong chance that it is still in the building.

Asbestos is such a deadly material, that even breathing in a few breaths of air that has its particles in it, could be enough to bring on Mesothelioma Cancer. It is especially dangerous for either maintenance or construction workers, that work in areas that they do not know that it's present.

Under any and all circumstances, it should not be removed or handled by anybody that is not a specialist in the field. The people that work with it have to wear special clothing that protects their entire bodies from ever coming in contact with it, in addition to protective masks and eyewear.

Mesothelioma Cancer is a disease that in most instances can be prevented, as long as you do not come in contact with it, or breathe the air that contains asbestos particles. If you know somebody that this article pertains to, please pass along this very valuable information, because it just might be able to save their life someday.

Get all the information you could possibly ever need about Mesothelioma and the deadly Mesothelioma Cancer online at Mesothelioma.us right now.


Original article

Innovative Treatments to Successfully Target Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) is the most common type of mesothelioma with past asbestos exposure representing the major risk factor. While the search for new therapies that target the genes and processes driving MPM has been slow, two new approaches, which are immediately available to you, are showing significant improvements over standard treatment in clinical trials.

Before we discuss these enhanced treatment options, we must first briefly explore two key aspects of MPM progression: Angiogenesis and Epigenetic Regulation.

Angiogenesis:

You've likely heard of Angiogenesis. It is the physiological process that tumors use to recruit new blood vessels in order to sustain their continual growth. They do this by manipulating the over-expression of genes that initiate and direct the growth of new, leaky blood vessels from existing ones. This new supply of blood not only allows the tumor to grow, but also provides a mechanism for the tumor cells to metastasize (travel through the body).

The process of angiogenesis is governed by its own unique combination of genes, separate from those involved in the normal formation of new blood vessels (a process known as vasculogenesis). This, it turns out, provides us with an opportunity for successful treatment through the targeting of these unique gene combinations.

One of the most specific and critical regulators of angiogenesis is the family of vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs), which regulate endothelial proliferation (the formation of new blood vessels), blood vessel permeability, and survival.In MPM,over-expression of VEGF is common and correlates with lower remission rates and reduced overall patient survival. Clearly, effectively targeting VEGFs would result in limiting the blood supply to tumors thus successfully prohibiting their growth. And that's just what we are seeing in current clinical trials. (More on that in a bit.)

Epigenetic Regulation:

A significant development in MPM treatment involves studies that focus on manipulating the processes of gene regulation, commonly referred to as epigenetic regulation. In MPM, tumor suppressor genes (the genes that, when functioning properly, naturally prohibit the growth of tumor cells) are silenced due to three key forms of epigenetic regulation:

1. Removal of acetyl groups by histone deacetylases (HDACs);

2. Inhibition of histone acetyltransferases (HATs), which add acetyl groups; and

3. Addition of methyl groups by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs).

In MPM, the over-expression of HDACs coupled with the inhibition of HATs is considered a key process that leads to disease progression. The over-expression of DNMTs occurs in most cancers.

The benefit of targeting epigenetic processes is that they are reversible. Unlike a mutated gene which cannot be reactivated, it is possible to reactivate tumor suppressor genes that have been silenced by epigenetic processes. Thus, effective treatment must include some process whereby tumor suppressor genes are supported to maintain their function and reactivated in cases where they have already been silenced.

To this end, there are numerous clinical trials currently exploring the use of unique combinations of drugs to inhibit the silencing of tumor suppressor genes and to stop the flow of blood to tumors. Current clinical trials using HDAC and VEGF inhibitors are showing significant benefits in patient survival. For example, Vorinostat, an inhibitor of HDACs, has recently been shown to be beneficial for advanced mesothelioma patients whose cancer has progressed after standard chemotherapy.

The continued development and incorporation of these new drugs as part of standard treatment will undoubtedly be realized over the next few years. In the meantime there are some very simple and effective natural measures that you can take immediately that will directly and powerfully influence the growth of cancer.

While clinical trials provide the basis for current molecular-targeted therapies, plant phytochemicals (also known as: Nutraceuticals) provide an exciting option as an additional means of gene regulation.

Science has identified the following nutraceuticals as having a significant effect in slowing the mechanisms involved in MPM progression. Thus it is imperative, as part of your treatment protocol, that you ensure these substances are a part of your daily diet in the appropriate combinations.

The following section is a list of nutraceuticals that have been shown to directly affect epigenetic regulation and angiogenisis in various cancers.

In order to inhibit DNMTs to maintain tumor suppressor gene function, we must consume the following foods:

Apigenin (Parsley, Thyme), Curcumin (Tumeric, Ginger, Mustard), EGCG (Green Tea, Nutmeg)

Genistein (Soy), Resveratrol (Red Wine, Grape Skins), Sulforaphane (Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbages)

In order to inhibit HDACs to maintain tumor suppressor gene function, we must consume these foods:

Allyl Mercaptan(Garlic), Curcumin (Tumeric, Ginger, Mustard), Genistein (Soy) Sulforaphane (Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbages)

In order to activate HATs to reactivate tumor suppressors, we must regularly consume these foods:

Curcumin (Tumeric, Ginger, Mustard), EGCG (Green Tea, Nutmeg), Genistein (Soy)

In order to inhibit VEGFs to prevent further angiogenesis, we must ensure that these substances are a part of our daily diet:

Curcumin (Tumeric, Ginger, Mustard), EGCG (Green Tea, Nutmeg), 6-Gingerol (Ginger)

In Conclusion:

There are many molecular pathways and genes involved in MPM. Above we have explored just a few. However, including a daily diet of the nutraceuticals listed above will go a long way to improve your statistical chances for remission and disease prevention, as these nutraceuticals are revealing themselves to be significant in the treatment and prevention of many forms of cancer.

Given the success of current clinical trials being conducted using molecular-targeted therapies this is also an important avenue to consider as an adjunct to standard treatment. Many clinical trials can be accessed from your home town through your current treatment specialist after a brief registration and testing process.

It is essential that you talk to your doctor before considering any changes to your diet as these nutraceuticals, while typically enhancing of any standard therapy, can interfere with prescription drugs.

If you would like more information on the use of nutraceuticals to enhance your life-expectancy or to have a personalized nutraceutical diet prepared for you, we welcome you to contact us @ contact@ctoam.com. We are also happy to arrange to consult with your treatment team to share the most current information on enhanced treatment options and clinical trial access with them.

Patient Resources:

The Mesothelioma Center - The web based resource also provides free support services for patients and families world-wide. For additional information please visit www.asbestos.com or call (800) 615-2270.

About the Author:

Alex Rolland is a cancer researcher, educator, and CEO of Cancer Treatment Options and Management ( http://www.ctoam.com/ ). CTOAM is a personalized cancer research company that specializes in using the most current peer-reviewed scientific research on cancer diagnostics, enhanced treatments, nutraceuticals, and clinical trials to educate patients on the treatments and diets that will provide the best statistical chances for longstanding recovery.


Original article

The History of Asbestos

Asbestos derives its meaning from the Ancient Greeks, meaning "inextinguishable," because of its harmful biological effects. A person who is exposed to asbestos may contract a disease known as asbestosis. This respiratory disease scars the tissue in the lungs. The lungs are prevented from freely exchanging gases, as well as, expanding and contracting properly.

Additionally, Lung Cancer or Mesothelioma can develop. Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma are highly aggressive diseases that are usually the result of exposure to asbestos that has occurred over a long period of time. Treatment options are expanding but there is currently no cure.

Discovery of the Harmful Effects of Asbestos

Asbestos was first diagnosed in 1924 when a young woman died in her twenties after being exposed. Eventually, studies performed on English workers showed that asbestos presented a real risk and exposure could cause sickness and even death.

Unfortunately, the United States did not act on this information immediately. Workers continued to be exposed to this harmful substance and it would be years before the extent of the damage was know. This harmful substance particularly affected workers in specialized occupation including Naval Veterans, fire-fighters, shipyard workers, brake mechanics, steam fitters and construction workers.

People who have worked in these occupations may be particularly vulnerable to contract asbestosis or another asbestos-related disease because they were often in close contact with it.

Failed Prevention of Injury

When asbestos was started to be used in homes and workplaces throughout the United States, it was presumed safe by the general public. The manufacturers, however, knew that this was not true. Going back to the early 1900's, a series of corporate lies and half-truths kept the public from knowing that exposure to asbestos could many times lead to an early and painful death. During this time when asbestos use was prominent and the companies knew what a health risk it could pose, they started to do various studies of the health of their workers to see if asbestosis (the precursor to Mesothelioma, where inhaled asbestos fibers cause scarring and damage to the lungs) was present. These studies brought back shocking results: that up to 29% of workers had asbestosis, which would lead to Mesothelioma or other debilitating lung problems.

Injury Liability of Manufacturers

Asbestos became very popular due to its ability to insulate buildings and products. The courts have recognized that the asbestos manufacturers are responsible, requiring them to provide compensation to the victims and their families.

Rudolph Migliore, more commonly known as Rudy, is a well-known attorney with over 33 years of experience. Rudy has made Suffolk County, New York his home since 1963. He served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 1968 to 1974. A quintessential family man, Rudy strongly conveys this trait in his legal practice.


Original article

Asbestos Exposure Symptoms

Asbestos in general are minerals having silica in them. They are naturally occurring and have thin fibrous crystals. These minerals have been getting its importance felt in industries due to various parameters---it is resistant to heat, can be used to extinguished fire as it has flame retardant properties, and it can also be used as insulator. But using this mineral has also caused severe problems. It is a threat to human health on prolonged exposure. Asbestosis, lung cancer and cancer in mesothelial cells are some of the deadly diseases prolonged exposure to asbestos can cause. But the tricky part is that asbestos exposure symptoms developed are generally imitations of other diseases, thereby making it difficult for proper diagnosis of asbestos infection.

It is a long drawn out process for the asbestos exposure symptoms to develop. Another challenging aspect of the symptoms is that the symptoms vary from person to person. The variation is due to the span of time for which an individual is exposed to asbestos and is also dependent on the type and nature of asbestos exposed to.

Development of asbestos exposure symptoms is a slow process. There are different symptoms generated for long and short term contact to the mineral. The symptoms that are likely to develop due to proximity to high levels of asbestos can lead to the development of the cancer in lungs and abdomen (mesothelial lining) and asbestosis. The asbestos exposure symptoms for these major health effects are detected over years. The indications are generally in their latent state and surface only after years. Some of the general symptoms developed are chest getting stiff accompanied by pain, chronic cough that sometimes has blood, crackling sound in the lungs while inhaling air, clubbing of fingers and toes, bluing or discoloration of lips and fingers called cyanosis, loss of appetite and weights getting reduced.

Asbestosis comes with symptoms that include breath shortness, pain in the chest, chronic cough, and problems related to proper breathing, and an individual also faces problem with physical exertion. Mesothelioma affects chest and abdomen lining, the mesothelium, thereby causing stiffness in chest, chest pain, constant cough, fatigue and there is a remarkable weight loss. Mesothelioma can actually lead to peritoneal or pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure symptoms in case of peritoneal mesothelioma are abdominal cavity getting swollen, smooth flow of bowel getting obstructed, night sweats and fever that get accompanied by others like weight loss, nauseating tendency and anemia.

Short term exposure can happen to people who work in industry or who inhaled some asbestos while their house got renovated. The symptoms that are developed are pain in one's chest and also in the abdomen, and certain irritating sensation in one's skin and mucous membrane. These get added up with breath problems.

The pericardial lining of the heart can also be affected by mesothelioma. It comes with the palpitation, chronic cough and fatigue. Asbestos exposure symptoms that accompany lung cancer are dryness of cough, infections in the lungs, blood getting mixed with sputum.

The asbestos exposure symptoms if reported early to the doctors, then proper diagnosis and treatment can help cure all the ill effects produced due to the proximity to the naturally occurring minerals named asbestos

You've talked with your doctor and they have told you that you have asbestosis. He may be the most gifted doctor on the planet, but he might as well be speaking Greek. I'm here to give you information about your surgery. The information and stories on this website will help your prepare for your decortication, know what to expect while in the hospital, and help you get ready to recover as quickly as possible once you have returned home. Visit lungdertication.org for more free helpful information.


Original article

Why Construction Workers Need to Be Very Concerned About Mesothelioma Cancer

If you, a family member, or a friend is a construction or maintenance worker, the form of cancer called Mesothelioma, should be of special concern to you. This especially applies to you if you work primarily in old buildings, or in the north eastern part of the United States.

However, this warning is not limited to construction workers in the US only. Anybody that is employed in this field that ever steps foot in an old building, needs to be very aware of the dangers involved in this activity.

The reason old buildings are such a common cause of Mesothelioma Cancer, is that there is a substance called asbestos that was widely used in the construction process decades ago. At the time, it was sought of as a kind of an out of this world manmade product, because it had so many fantastic characteristics.

It was an exceptional insulator and a very powerful fire retardant. In addition, at the time is was an extremely inexpensive building material to use, so it was put in almost every building that was built until the scientist discovered how deadly it was.

What makes this such a big issue today, is that nobody really knows how many buildings it is in, where they are located, or where it is situated within the buildings. It is possible for asbestos not to cause any health problems at all in a particular building if it's completely covered by concrete, or it does not have access to air.

But, once the air is able to reach it, the dust in the area can contain its particles that a person could breath, which could eventually lead to death. Now that you know all of that, it is very easy to determine that both construction workers, and maintenance people need to educate themselves on this very fatal material.

They need to be able to recognize it immediately, and warn their co-workers about it. When it is discovered, there have been very specialized and strict procedures that must be followed if it is to be handled safely.

The employees that will eventually remove it from a building will wear protective clothing and masks to ensure none of the substances gets on them. In addition, the building is entirely sealed, so that during the removal of it, none of the asbestos can leak into the air, where it could cause a person to come down with Mesothelioma Cancer.

This is such a deadly material, that even housewife's that only washed their husband's clothes, have developed this cancer, and died from it. Even inhaling a very few particles of it, can lead to catching this horrifying health condition.

If you are either a construction worker, or are employed to do regular maintenance in old buildings, you really need to go out of your way and learn everything that there is to know about asbestos. A person that comes down with Mesothelioma Cancer, is in very serious danger of losing their life. This is not something to be taken lightly, because if you do, it will be too late for you when you do come in contact with it.

Get all the information you could possibly ever need about Mesothelioma and the deadly Mesothelioma Cancer online at Mesothelioma.us right now.


Original article

Things To Know More On Mesothelioma and Increase the Awareness

There are many people who are not aware of mesothelioma. However, this disease accounts for more than 10% of deaths every year. This is actually a rare form of cancer that occurs in the lining of the lungs due to exposure to asbestos. This is the reason for which it is often known as asbestos cancer, as well. Prolonged exposure to the fibers of asbestos attacks the cells that are lining the sacs of the chest and the abdomen. Apart from the lungs, some other important parts of the body are also affected. However, the symptoms of this cancer are prevalent after a long period of time when it becomes very difficult to treat the symptoms. In most cases, it has been found that people who were associated with asbestos firms were generally attacked with mesothelioma cancer.

Two Different Types:

A person exposed to asbestos might suffer from any of the two different types of mesothelioma. These include epithelial and the sacramatoid. In many cases, both the types of malignant cells can be present, though this is a rare case. At the same time, the occurrence of the second form of the mesothelioma cancer-sacramatoid is quite rare compared to that of the epithelial. This type of cancer is generally prevalent after the age of 40 years when the person attacked is no longer associated with asbestos. This cancer is also prevalent more in men than women. However, it is the prolonged exposure that gave rise to the symptoms of the cancer after such a long time.

Symptoms and Treatment:

The symptoms associated with mesothelioma are prevalent at a later stage, when there are hardly any chances of survival. A person affected with this cancer can complain of shortness of breath, accompanied by chest pain. Irrespective of that fact that the pleura are associated with it, there is no pleuritic pain in mesothelioma cancer. Some of the different treatments that can be provided during this stage include surgery, chemotherapy or radiology. The treatment to be provided largely depends on the condition and the symptoms of the patient.

Consult A Lawyer:

You might not be aware of the fact that when anyone close to you is attacked by mesothelioma cancer, he can always seek for compensation. He can consult a mesothelioma lawyer. The lawyer would help him to seek for compensation from the asbestos firm where the person was associated long back. On the contrary, even if, the person is currently working in the asbestos firm, he runs from the high risk of this cancer in future. In such a case, he can again file compensation from the authority that is responsible for it. The lawyers would surely help you get justice.

Therefore, if you or any of your family members are associated with asbestos exposure, it is high time to consult a doctor, and conduct a thorough diagnosis, so that the symptoms of mesothelioma can be detected at an early stage, and the person affected can thus be saved with proper treatment.


Original article

Lawsuits Involving Mesothelioma

Receiving a diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma can be quite devastating, since there is essentially no cure for this disease. While treatment of the disease in its earlier stages can help prolong life for more than five years, the prognosis tends to be much shorter. Since the costs of treatment can be quite high, it is a good idea to explore any legal options one might have to help offset medical expenses and lost income.

Mesothelioma is typically caused by a long term exposure to asbestos, and this usually occurs in the work place. Since 1977, it has been public record that some corporations have known of the hazards of asbestos, but suppressed the information. In other cases, the corporation simply did not know of a hazard, but should have.

The first lawsuit involving the effects of asbestos exposure occurred in 1929. While there are no extensive records involving this case, it was the first to put a focus on the dangers of asbestos. In 1970, the Clean Air Act was introduced and the Environmental Protection Agency declared for the first time that asbestos was a pollutant, yet did not enforce a ban. In 1982, facing 16,000 lawsuits, the Johns Manville Corporation filed for bankruptcy. Documents in court indicated that company officers at Manville had knowledge of the hazards associated with asbestos exposure, but suppressed this information from their employees. At the time, this was the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. Following Manville's bankruptcy, many other manufacturers soon followed suit due to the growing number of lawsuits.

As recently as 2010, a Los Angeles woman collected a settlement over $200 million due to negligence regarding asbestos. Several other high profile cases have resulted in significant awards in the last several years.

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, then it is a good idea to hire an attorney who has experience in dealing with mesothelioma lawsuits. In many cases, legal precedent and case law will favor the plaintiff. However, it is often that these cases may be drawn it over a period of years. The purpose of these lawsuits is to improve the financial condition of the patient and his/her family, particularly if they are the primary breadwinner of the household.

Malignant mesothelioma cases tend to have a higher success rate than non-malignant conditions such as asbestosis. While this is a positive, it is still necessary that the litigant have all documents in order prior to filing the lawsuit.

The first step is to be sure that all medical records are in order. The defense will go out of its way to show that your illness was not caused by any actions of their client. They will scour your medical records and insurance claims to cast any doubt that asbestos exposure caused your illness by suggesting it may have been your own actions in some way. The reason they do this is because mesothelioma is caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure, and many plaintiffs walk away from the lawsuit with a favorable ruling and compensation.

With this in mind, it is imperative that your diagnosis of mesothelioma was from a qualified physician such as an oncologist or cancer specialist. The diagnosis should include chest X-rays, CT scan and a biopsy. The medical records should show beyond a reasonable doubt that your diagnosis is mesothelioma, and you had no prior knowledge of the condition prior to the diagnosis.

Since time is of the essence due to the poor prognosis of many patients diagnosed with mesothelioma, the next step is to immediately hire a qualified attorney. Once you have found such an attorney, they will need all your medical documentation to file a formal complaint with the court. This complaint will then be delivered to each defendant named in the complaint.

Typically, the attorney for the defendant will file an immediate motion to have the complaint dismissed. However, an attorney experienced in such cases will leave little room in the complaint to allow the court to dismiss the case. To help be sure that this is the case with your complaint, your attorney may ask you for specific information regarding your job, your job title, the specific asbestos product that may have been handled in your work place, contact information for co-workers, and signed releases that will allow your attorney to review your medical records.

After the defendants receive the complaint, the will respond, or otherwise risk a default judgment. Once they respond, the discovery phase of the lawsuit begins, and both sides will gather, organize and analyze evidence by reviewing records, interviewing witnesses, etc. Knowledgeable experts may be hired to offer testimony and sworn depositions may be conducted. All evidence and witnesses are then available to the plaintiff and defendant. At some point, you, the patient, may be interrogated by the defense attorneys. This may come during the discovery phase, and again during the trial.

No matter the outcome, and no matter the potential for a favorable judgment, anyone diagnosed with this awful disease should seek legal counsel. As mentioned, the treatment costs are high, and if the prognosis is unfavorable, it may help the family deal with the fateful outcome in a better light. Mesothelioma is a dreadful disease where the primary cause has been asbestos exposure in the work place. Therefore, any patient diagnosed with this disease should seek compensation for themselves to help offset the high costs of treatment and loss of income.

Scott Connolly provides information regarding the causes, symptoms and treatment of the disease as well as information regarding the legal issues surrounding asbestos. For more information, visit here


Original article

New Cancer Study Brings More Bad News for Asbestos Victims

The American Cancer Society recently released a new study recognizes a widening gap in the cancer death rate between those who are college educated and those with only a high school degree. This study represents what some would consider additional bad news for those who have been exposed to asbestos and may be fighting a disease like mesothelioma.

It is well documented that victims of asbestos exposure tend to be "blue collar" workers in shipyards, factories or other manufacturing jobs which generally do not require higher education such as a college degree. This trend is seemingly supported by the findings in this new study which concludes that while the overall cancer rates seem to be declining, the improvements are only for certain groups and for those with lower education they are actually getting worse.

New figures

The new figures estimate there will be 1.6 million new cancer cases in the United States this year (2011), and 571,950 deaths. Among some of the more notable individual statistics included:

• There mortality rate was almost triple for men with at last 16 years of schooling than those with 12 years of school

• The mortality rate for women was roughly double for the same circumstances

• Lung cancer is still estimated to be the leading cause of cancer deaths in both males and females

• California, New York and Florida were the top 3 states on the list for new cancer cases

Types of cancer likely a factor

In today's world, the type of cancer being diagnosed and treated can have a huge impact on the survival rate. Certain types such as melanoma have higher survival rates than others such as lung cancer or mesothelioma. In fact, there is no known successful treatment or cure for mesothelioma which adds to statistics like those in the study showing that higher education levels somehow correspond to survival rates.

Other factors to consider

Among the other factors impacting a study like this are the lifestyle implications that are associated with various education levels. Some of which have a significant bearing on your chances of getting or ultimately surviving cancer and may include:

• Likelihood to take risks either in their personal lives or the workplace

• Participation in unhealthy lifestyles that contribute to cancer such as smoking, drinking, overeating and other health factors.

• Ability to afford medical care and insurance and get treatment immediately when symptoms first arise.

To read more about important new cancer statistics visit the American Cancer Society website.

Or if you or a loved one is facing a cancer diagnosis for something like mesothelioma, make sure to find a local attorney in your area with specific experience in this area of the law.


Original article

An Asbestos and Mesothelioma Statistic

It's 4.45 in the morning, pitch black outside. The alarm clock goes off - the most hated sound at the start of the day. He hits it out, half asleep. Trying to get out of the oh-so-comfortable slumber, all he can think of is how he's going to need a bit more time to get up. 5 minutes, tops! A minute later, a second alarm goes off, tearing him out of his inertia all over again. Sensing it's going to be futile to continue fighting his time, he surrenders to his time-keeper & slowly rolls out of bed.

His wife dozes peacefully, he glances at her a moment - they have been married since high school & he's in still in love with her. Through the painful times, when their world seemed to collapse, he learned to love her even more. He's grateful for having her in his life, but hardly acknowledges it. A tired smirk grows out of the corner of his mouth as he gets up, goes to the bathroom & gets ready.

Half an hour later, he fetches his lunch box from the kitchen, grabs his gear & locks the door as he leaves his home. 'I hope that crazy leakage finally gets fixed today!' he thinks, as he hops into his truck, backs out the driveway & heads to work. A pipeline burst at one of the shafts near the lift, flooding the central area at the top. Getting in & out of the mine has since become a pain. He's been supervising at an asbestos mine, at mid-managerial level, just shy of 13 years now. He's been working in it, overall, for 30 years.

The time is now 6.00 am & he's just arriving outside. As he puts his hard hat on & walks towards the mine, his foreman meets him, sarcastically jokes about how he didn't get any last night again, then briefs him about the day. He takes a look at the roster, sifting through the pages of the activity log. 'Tunnel 6 approaching 80% completion'

'Whoa! If the guys keep it up at this rate, we'll complete the project 6 weeks in advance.' he thinks to himself. 'Way to go, boys!'

Before he walks up the stairs to his office behind the main entrance, he looks over to his left & notices something he's not happy about at all. The central area is still flooded up & now leaking down the lift.

'Those contractors are in for it!'

Inside his office, he drops his gear in the closet, sinks into his office chair & begins collating last week's records on tunnel 5's output. He's been leading all project management since he was a foreman & despite his vast experience & nearly unblemished track record over his career, he still gets nervous whenever he's running a project. It's the same butterflies in his tummy he hasn't been able to get rid of, over the years. They've probably been responsible for his high performance, he reckons, so he's not particularly bothered.

3 minutes go by & a tiny heap of reports have already piled up in front of him, on his heavily, document-littered desk; he still needs a few more before he meets up with his team, then phone the agency to break hell on the lousy contractors. Pictures of his daughter, when she was a child, hang behind him, on the wall. Portraits of his wife & son pose beside him. How time flies! Just yesterday, it seemed, he was throwing his daughter up in the air, as she always loved; now she's about to graduate from college, with a major in cybernetic engineering & $23,000 debts. And his son, now a freshman on full scholarship at a leading private university, doesn't stop calling & texting about the girl he's newly fallen for, whom he's this time convinced is the one.

Got it! The last pair of reports he'd been looking for. At the bottom of the pile as always, when you're searching for something. Now, off to brief the guys. He shuts his office door but suddenly feels dizzy & an incredible pain in his chest - like a heavyweight boxing match for the world title, trying to break out of it. He feels feverish at the same time & is, inexplicably, getting out of breath. The day hasn't even started & he usually only feels like this, half way through. It's been a couple of months now like this, but he's been shrugging it off as a normal thing that comes with age. At 59, he is entering a new phase in life & kissing his prime years goodbye.

It's at the point, where he almost gets off the stairs, that he notices how pale his hands are, after wiping sweat from his forehead. Barely able to breathe, he blanks out within a few split seconds & falls head-first to the ground, all the way from the last three steps of the staircase.

The next thing he realizes is that he's lying on a bed, without the usual sounds & noise in the atmosphere. 'The day couldn't possibly be over! Where did everybody go?'

Groggy, he opens his eyes, to notice he's actually not even at work anymore. He's in a private room that looks like a hospital. It's filled with machines, medical equipment, a large window behind him on the left... & his wife sitting next to him, holding his right hand. He really is in a hospital... yet has no idea how he got there!

A doctor then comes in & talks to his wife. She tells her she would like to keep him a while longer, for observation & to run a few tests. His wife becomes agitated & his right hand is now squeezed. 'What's wrong with him?' she asks the doctor, in a crackling voice. 'We don't know yet. At this point, it's too early to say. The tests will narrow down diagnostics & confirm what will have to be done.' the doctor replies. She continues, 'Your husband has been running a high fever, his pale skin suggests, among other possibilities, anaemia. Because he's a miner, we're not going to rule out possibilities of developing rare forms of cancer that can be caused from inhaling asbestos.'

'My husband has been working in the mine over 30 years! He couldn't have any such thing!' the wife exclaims. The doctor looks at her a bit surprised about her naïveté, then tactfully rebuts 'Alright, but such diseases, if they are present, do take a very long time to fully develop.', then pauses before she carries on. 'Well, like I said. We'll like to keep an open mind & run all necessary diagnostics as a precautionary measure... just to be sure! The tests will include but may not be limited to X-rays & CT/MRI scans. If all goes well, he should be out within a week!'

The miner closes his eyes again, in thought. 'Seven whole days! That should take the leakage off my back & drive some other clown crazy!'

The doctor leaves the room & he begins to relax more. His chest still feels tight, but the boxing match is over for now. It was a probably a draw! 'That fall should have taken me out. I feel like parts of my head are in a coma!' he mumbles. His wife, meanwhile seated next to him again, looks up to him in shock. 'You're lucky to even be alive! The foreman found you on the ground, lying face down from the stairs. The 1st Aid struggled to get you back until the ambulance came & this is the 1st thing coming out of your mouth?' she blurts out. She rapidly becomes so angry, her eyes fill with tears. She gets up, sharply turns away from him as she drops his hand in disgust, walks away from his bed, towards the door, leans her head back with both hands & breathes in deeply, then exhales, once. Great! Now, he's ticked her off. He closes his eyes again, returning to his thoughts. 'Fire in the hole! 3... 2... 1...'

She turns back to him, 'If I were given a moment for every time I have put myself out there for you whenever you were in need, I would get two consecutive lifetimes to make up for myself, you ungrateful,... ungrateful,... you...!!'

He senses he's going to have to diffuse the situation quickly or else the volcano will erupt! He gathers his strength, achingly leans forward and thereafter mumbles, 'Darling... I had no idea.' He stretches out his hand, 'Come on honey... I'm sorry!' His voice drenched in pain. She returns to her seat, wiping her cheeks, he lies back on his pillow & slowly exhales for a couple of seconds. 'Sheesh! If I keep this up, I'll take myself out!'

They hold hands again.

A few days go by & the couple is still together in the hospital room. The swelling on his head from the fall has reduced & his fever is gone. His chest doesn't feel too great but he's sure it'll be fine. They just finished having lunch & are discussing how much time he'll take off before returning to work. The door opens, it's the doctor. They greet each other. His wife is not able to hide the smile on her face. She's made her mind up today that they'll be leaving, so she's only expecting good news from the results. The doctor converses with the miner & checks how he's feeling, while in the meantime another doctor walks in. A tall man, holding a large folder. The wife can't make out what's inside it but can recognize an X-ray sheet, peeking out. Instantly, without even trying to doubt herself, she concludes that it's turned out to be more serious than she first thought. Her mood free falls quicker than the '08 market crash. She struggles to keep a hold of her emotions again, sucking her lips in.

The doctor introduces the tall gentleman, 'This is our resident diagnostics officer here at Memorial Hope.' The officer politely nods at the couple, they nod back. She goes on, 'After several hours of examining with the best medical team in the area...' she pauses, then continues, 'I'm afraid we've come to the conclusion that your condition is far more serious than initially anticipated.'

The miner slowly gulps what must feel like an oz of saliva, in fear. He's as tough as can be & has taken his fair share of hits in life & kept going, but was honestly of the opinion they were, thank God, over. 'Wait!' he thinks. 'Don't thank him yet!'

The doctor then announces monotonously, 'Our results conclusively confirm that you have Mesothelioma, a terminal cancer that is affecting your lungs. It has already spread to more than half its area. At this stage, you won't have more than 8 months left!'

Immediately, the miner pants hard, then in the pain to speak, shouts to his wife, 'Get me a bin!'

His wife, already burst up tears, grabs the paper bin from the corner & holds it in front of him. He flings his head just over the ledge & throws up right into it. His wife pats him on the back, throughout. 'I'm really sorry! There's nothing we can do. We have put together a treatment plan that you will be undergoing, which includes ingesting medication to ease the pain.' the doctor says, trying to allay the despair in the hopelessness of the situation. The resident diagnostics officer, blushed with anguish, hunches down to his colleague & whispers, 'This may not be such a good time to show the results, right?'

The doctor, obviously irritated by what she had just heard, gestures hurriedly with her hand that he leave, then consoles the couple.

A few minutes & a bin full of fresh vomit later, the wife, now whimpering uncontrollably, mutters, 'We just finished puh... paying our mortgage. Our kids are taken care of... we were looking forward to a holiday cruise! Wha... wha... what are we supposed to do now?', then cries heavily, all over again. This time being embraced by the middle-aged doctor. The wife sits down next to her husband when she gets a hold of herself again & clutches his hand, TIGHT! The miner responds, almost whispering, 'In all of my life, I never thought this would happen to me. It's always the other guy!' while looking out of the window.

It's a bright, sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky. Perfect to have a picnic, stroll through the park - smell the roses!

At that moment, an eagle lands onto the ledge, outside. Both the doctor & the miner momentarily notice the bird, a bit taken aback. The eagle looks through the window into the room, as if lost & unable to find what it had come to see. Then, unanticipated, the miner & the eagle both lock eyes & observe each other for a moment! The eagle then flies away.

The miner is left with a subtle impression. A couple of seconds later, he turns back. He clears his voice calmly, fighting tears from his eyes as he looks at the doctor, then begins, 'Tell me doc... What can we do over the next period? Less than a year ain't a mighty long time!' He holds his face & finally breaks down to let the tears run their course. Joining his wife, who has been quietly sobbing all along. The doctor, now clearly affected by her patient's misfortune, despite her professional experience, takes a step to his bed.

'Find an attorney! Sue the pants off your employer! It's a long shot taking it up through the union & you don't enough time now anyway!' She stops abrupt, conscious of possibly being insensitive. 'I don't know how to say these things... just fight for your right through a good Mesothelioma lawyer. File a lawsuit that will make up for everything you've lost.'

She turns to the wife & squeezes her hand in sympathy, then looks on to the miner & says, 'You're in my prayers!', then leaves the room.

It's been four days since the diagnosis. The couple are out of hospital, the miner is with his wife at a prominent law firm, in the larger, neighboring town, 40 minutes drive away from home. They have been referred to the firm by the doctor, who personally inquired for a really good attorney from her 'friends at the top' of Memorial Hope Hospital. When she found one & contacted the lawyer, she pleaded that he handles their case pro bono, as a personal favor to her. In the phone call she said, 'They're really good people. Life can be so cruel sometimes. It's a crying shame what happened to them, a real tragedy!'

The couple just finished telling the lawyer their story. He's sitting at his desk, across them, in his corner office overlooking the metropolis skyline. He has been listening intently, without ever interrupting. All through the narration, he had been nodding, while twisting his Mont Blanc pen around his fingers. The miner's wife, who's meanwhile become cynically disposed to life itself, stares at the lawyer from her chair, almost menacingly. Her eyes are dreary but alert. It's evident she has been crying profusely over the past couple of days. The creases beneath her eyes are contoured deeper into her face & she now looks 10 years older. The miner himself is still pale, but now as composed as he usually is. There used to be a youthful vigor about him; that's all gone. Nowadays he appears frail; a shadow of his former self. Like a man his age, working in the service sector, or so.

The lawyer discreetly clears his throat. His face looks like he's in heavy brainstorming. Gently, he lays his pen in front of him. 'What has happened to you is a case of extreme worker negligence. You have been working in hazardous conditions, from which you were not personally protected in adequate measures, over your 30 year career. A rare disease which you could have been prevented from developing, now severely affects you & is in its final, terminal stages.' he says. 'This leaves you with leverage over your employer, to seek the maximum compensation for your losses, both health-wise & financial.'

Then he stops for a moment. The miner's wife, who in the past week has lost all of her natural optimism & become severely bitter from the cards life has played her, opens her eyes noticeably wider, despite her skepticism. The lawyer proceeds, 'There are four ways to go about this, one of which will be the most realistic method to get us to succeed in our legal proceedings. You have to understand that because your disease has developed so late, the other options may not have as great a chance to win your case as the actual one. Think of it like trying to accelerate a car from standstill, in the second gear or even third, if possible, when the highest & most effective amount of torque comes from the first gear.' The miner nods his head in understanding, knowing exactly what he means.

'Mesothelioma lawsuits are complex & every case is unique & cannot be generically given a one-size-fits-all solution. Cases can be broadly categorized in four areas, though. Product liability, professional malpractice, worker compensation & wrongful death. From what your doctor has already told me, in addition to your elaborate statements, I recommend we sue for worker compensation. It is the most befitting litigation in your circumstance so, to give you an example, it will be proven that the mining group would have exposed you to asbestos, illicitly during your job. The company will therefore be fully responsible for your tragic incident & will be made to pay a very high sum in compensation. If a strong case is made, which we will put forward, the management executives will have nowhere to run to, because even if they file for bankruptcy, federal injunctions could be pulled to effect the complete payment. It's bulletproof! And as a personal guarantee... I've been working in this field for 25 years. I understand it from the inside out. My reputation precedes me in the industry. I have strong ties with unions, agencies & health-care providers nationwide. I'm not saying this as an audition to you. I'm saying it because I want you to know who you're dealing with,... and what it means when I say that I'm going to personally make sure that you both get your entitled compensations to the maximum we can squeeze out of them. I'm going to do everything I can. Let's suck them dry... off the record!' The miner manages to reveal a relieved smile. His wife becomes elated, gets emotional again & rushes for some tissue out of her handbag, while she strenuously grips herself together again. With all the crying she has been doing ever since, you'd think she would have become good at it by now!

The miner reaches over & rubs her back. The lawyer had seen it all, but in all the years he had been working with asbestos victims, he's never been able to get over the raw nature of pure human emotion - the grief, the anguish he's experienced in every case. Every single one. Every one had a profound story to tell. None of the clients could truly understand WHY but they all shared one thing in common; they had all been afflicted by an ordeal so catastrophic, that simply none of them ever thought it would happen. But it did & that had become their reality.

The lawyer himself is doing fine. He owns a Carrera & a 5-bedroom, countryside villa in the high-brow parts of town. Business is good & he's been securing his retirement annually with well cared for investment portfolios. His wife, a former national beauty pageant finalist, owns & runs a thriving cosmetics retail chain, which spans across 3 countries. They have no kids. He's in his mid-sixties. He's developed a thick skin from weathering the failures & riding out the successes in the industry. Nonetheless, all his material wealth never totally insulated him from the powerful emotions of simple despair. Every time his clients 'had a moment', it psychologically scooped a chunk out of him as well. And no success can protect you from that! Like inhaling passive smoke: It sucks the life out of you in trickles, exponentially confirming your death sentence... by cancer.

Empathizing with the wife, the lawyer reaches into the bottom drawer of his mahogany desk, brings out a box of luxury tissues & hands it to the miner's wife. 'We thank you sir, we really appreciate your help!' the miner says as his wife grabs a handful of tissue out the box & tries to stop a seemingly unrelenting flow of tears. 'This is just a difficult time for us. We're faced with so much,...' the miner swallows, inhales & exhales once, then continues in his ailing voice; one that's had the joys of a long life evaporated from overnight, in large amounts. 'We don't know where to go from here, so we're just putting everything to God.' A shallow smile briefly surfaces on his face. 'He'll be our support!'

The lawyer adds, 'Given the extraordinary circumstance surrounding you, your doctor urged me to be lenient on your legal fees & I agree. I have therefore determined to represent you, as promised... pro bono!'

The miner flashes his eye-brows as his eyes light up. He clearly cannot believe what he had just heard. His wife, half way in control of her tears now, chips in with a slightly cynical undertone, 'He must be supporting us already!' as she chuckles, while her husband, keeping his eye-brows raised, smiles at her. The lawyer too, but in a defensive, guarded demeanor. 'God bless you, sir!' the miner says. His wife in a monologue speaks semi-melancholic, 'In the depths of your tribulations & miseries, an angel often appears...' Looking out the windows, she begins to hum melodically & drifts into an absence - her new found way of dissociation.

The lawyer presents the miner the contracts & goes over them, while regularly glancing at the miner's wife who seems to make no efforts to return to 'reality'. Her humming in the place she's at is just about good enough for her. She'll stay there a while, if only for a moment. It will summon the strength she needs in herself to continue living out this nightmare. A moment at a time. The miner signs in the spaces where the lawyer's index finger moves to. When he finishes, they both rise & shake hands while the miner's wife, dismayed snaps out of her spell. What could actually be worse: That place or reality?

She gets up while grabbing her husband's arm, braves a brief smile to the lawyer, without shaking hands with him. The couple make their way out of the modern office complex that houses several law firms, consultancies, an accounting firm & an S.E.O. marketing company. All that swarms around are people in suits & business skirts, walking in & out of the entrance in a frenzy... followed by a couple of casually dressed, obvious geeks. Arm in arm, the senior pair closely hold each other, while they slowly walk through the parking lot to their truck. They gently enter the vehicle; his wife pulls out the keys & ignites the truck. It's an old Durango. They reverse out the parking space & make their way home.

A week later, a worker compensation lawsuit is filed against the mining group by the couple's lawyer. Five days later, the hearings begin, as promised. The lawyer forwards a powerful case against the defendant. The miner at first was at the opening of the case, but subsequently stopped appearing due to his treatments supervised by his doctor at Memorial Hope. His children were now also present with their parents throughout the medical schedule. They were told the news when their parents felt they had everything 'under control', much to the anger of their daughter. A week into his treatments, the miner stopped responding to medicines administered & deteriorated rapidly health-wise. At this point, he swiftly became hospitalized again. His family, not missing a single event, cried in torment through it all. Two days later, he passed on. His family mourned privately for days & buried him at the end of that week. If God rests on that day, they decided, he will too! They say when you die, your life flashes before you. It seems to be no different when someone you love dies, too. All you keep on seeing are pictures of every little, precious time you shared with that special person throughout your life together. Like they fill your mind up & all you see are real images & living memories of that person, in one gigantic, virtual reality simulation in a vivid, high-definition, cinematic experience in 3D.

During the legal proceedings, a further lawsuit was charged against the mining group. It was the litigation of 'wrongful death'. The family appeared at every court date throughout their inexplicable grief. After a period of four months, the jury, by unanimous decision found the defendant guilty on all charges & ordered them to pay an astronomical sum to the plaintiff's family, as well as to incur the legal fees of the entire case, in full. When the lawyer embraced the widow, her daughter & son, he said 'This case may have set a record in payouts from Mesothelioma litigation but it will never fill the canyon of loss you feel in your hearts. I just hope the river that flows at the bottom of it, will be a piece of mind you will reach to, once your pain is dispersed!'

The widow faintly looks up to him & replies 'Pain? The real judgment was already passed when my baby died.'

As she grabs her handbag & moves in front of her kids, she carries on 'We have already become sentenced to pain. We have just became its warden now... because money never takes away the pain of the loss of a loved one, but it may ease it.' As she slowly walks out of the courtroom corridor, her daughter, now the tallest in the family, wraps her arms around both her mom & her little brother.

Outside the courthouse, a small group of local reporters have amassed & haste towards the family upon first sighting. A barrage of questions are asked simultaneously while camera lights are flashing & an electronics store worth of microphones, phones & audio recorders are shoved in the family's faces, which visibly upsets the daughter as she tries to keep her cool. A security guard from the courthouse springs to their rescue & backs the reporters off. A question a journalist yells, behind the 6"6ft sturdy frame of the security guard, sounds, 'Do you feel you have been given justice?' At that point, the daughter, who can't control herself anymore, from the gross insensitivity of the press to their situation, stops, turns to the reporters & shouts 'Justice? What do you care? You'll get your story anyway! And the crimes will continue to be committed by other organizations that will make ten-fold in turnover of what is paid in our 'record' compensation. Another person gets infected & the cycle continues.' She breaks down into tears now & screams angrily, 'WHAT DO YOU CARE ABOUT MY DAD? HE'S JUST ANOTHER ASBESTOS & MESOTHELIOMA STATISTIC!'

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