Skip to main content

Medical View of Mesothelioma

More than 8 million people have been exposed to asbestos and are at risk of succumbing to mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is caused when the mesothelium cells start to divide rapidly leading to cancer. The only known cause of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos fibers. The disease has a very long latency period, sometimes even around 60 years. The disease has no known cure and death becomes inevitable.

It is also very hard to correctly diagnose the disease in the early stages, as the symptoms of the disease are similar to other non-malignant diseases like pneumonia. The asbestos fiber, which is light and invisible, is released during mining and manufacture of asbestos. It is inhaled easily through nose and mouth and affects the mesothelium lining of the body part that it comes into contact with. This sets off the mesothelium cells rapid division operation, resulting in tumors. The mesothelium lining can be found in the organs like lungs, abdomen and heart.

Depending on this, mesothelioma can be classified into three categories: § Pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lungs, § Peritoneal mesothelioma, which affects the abdomen, and § Pericardial mesothelioma, which affects the heart.

Due to the long latency period of the disease, people who have worked in asbestos-related factories in their youth may contract the disease in their old age during or after retirement. Many of them may have shifted many jobs by this time and they do not relate their condition to asbestos exposure. Thus, they do not consider mesothelioma as an occupational disease. They face huge sorrow at having to part with their loved ones in such a tragic way.

Life of Jack Daws

Jack Daws was working as a tutor in the rural regions of Pennsylvania. He had a beautiful wife and a handsome son. He had what is called as a perfect family! They were always supportive and co-operative. They had enduring love and constant hope on each other.

Jack Daws loved his job as he loved kids of all ages and all sizes. He was the coach of the local soccer team during weekends. When Jack was around 55 years, he was planning on getting a retirement from the school where he tutored in another year or two.

At this crucial point of time, Jack slowly started realizing something was wrong with his health. He felt a constant pain in his chest and severe shortness of breath. He, his family and his doctor dismissed all these symptoms as a cause of aging, initially. But, slowly, his condition started to worsen. He felt as if a heavy weight has been placed on his chest. Also, he started losing weight rapidly. By now, the doctor also started sensing that something was wrong with Jack. The doctor conducted a whole lot of tests on Jack. One of the tests that were conducted was to study the fluids & cells in his lungs. After this test, the doctor felt that it appeared cancerous. Further tests followed to make the right diagnosis. It was, finally, confirmed. Jack suffered from 'Pleural Mesothelioma', I.e. mesothelioma affecting the lungs. Doctors felt that Jack had only another year or two of life on earth. Jack started analyzing how he contracted mesothelioma. He had never worked in any asbestos-related industries. Slowly, it dawned on Jack. Lots of construction and painting work used to be done on in his school.

Due to his long career at the school, he was constantly exposed to asbestos dust, which was used during the painting work. The company, which did the job for the school, did not take any safeguards to protect, anyone. Jack was advised to initiate proceedings against the company. The company did not disclose the dangers of asbestos and behaved in a selfish profit-oriented manner.

When Jack initiated proceeding against the company, it was found that lots of people have already sued the company for the same reason and have won their cases. Thus, the Company did not want to go into lengthy and expensive legal proceedings. They agreed to go in for an out-of-court settlement. After negotiations, the company paid Jack around a million dollars for the health damages he suffered and around two million dollars for his family-dependents. Jack underwent treatment at a cancer center. The cancer was spread all around his body and surgery was ruled out for him. Jack underwent chemotherapy and lived a life of suffering for the next two years. After that he succumbed to the disease. However, his soul will rest in peace as he has provided a safe and comfortable settlement for his loving family members.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why You Need A Lawsuit Asbestos Lawyer

The number of asbestos lawsuits filed and the number of asbestos lawsuit lawyers who will take up an asbestos lawsuit case are a sad reflection of a long-time construction mistake that may lead to the ill health of over 250,000 Americans by the year 2020. If you think you may have been exposed to asbestos without proper protective filter masks, you may be entitled to file a lawsuit with the help of an asbestos lawyer. A natural, fibrous form of a number of minerals, asbestos was used since ancient times in fabrics because of its durability and fireproofing ability. For over seventy years, asbestos was used in the insulation of and as fireproofing material in numerous buildings. Over 30 millions tons of asbestos in America alone made its way into the walls of commercial buildings, home, schools, shipyards, and industrial sites. Construction workers labored with asbestos without protection. In the 1970s, however, the medical community, faced with an overwhelming number of construction ...

What are Mesothelioma Cancers? An Overview Of Mesothelioma Cancers

 What are Mesothelioma Cancers? Mesothelioma cancers are the cancers that spread in the mesothelium tissues. Mesothelium in general is the name of tissue that forms lining of different body organs such as heart, lungs, abdomen and reproductive organs. The lining around abdominal organs is known as peritoneal membrane. Lining around lungs is called pleural membrane while the lining around heart is called pericardium. These linings perform two functions. They protect the internal organs by producing a lubricating fluid and to allow the smooth movement of the internal organs. Mesothelioma cancers are the cancers affecting these membranes. The names of the cancers depend on the tissue or linings they affect. Peritoneal mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma and pericardial mesothelioma are the names of cancers of linings of abdomen, lungs and heart, respectively. Pleural mesothelioma is the most common of all mesothelioma cancers and is found in 70 % of the mesothelioma patients. Pe...

Mesothelioma EPIDEMIOLOGY

While an association of malignant, mesotheliomas with radiation or zeolite exposure, severe pulmonary disease, recurrent diverticulosis, and even one case of lipoid aspiration pneumonia has been reported, asbestos remains the most frequent etiologic cause with contact documented in perhaps half of all patients with malignant pleural and peritoneal primaries. While only one of the first 13 cases of malignant testicular mesothelioma reported in the literature involved an asbestos-exposed individual, 3 of the 4 most recently described cases had been heavily exposed. To date, asbestos does not appear to be implicated in the etiology of benign mesotheliomas of any site or of malignant pericardial primaries. The association of asbestos contact and an excess risk of bronchogenic cancer had been established in 1955 by Doll, although case reports first appeared as early as 1935. The role of asbestos in the etiology of mesothelioma was first convincingly documented by Wagner et al. in 1960. Th...