Personal Injury Law

On The Other Side Of Mesothelioma: A Doctor?s Story Of His Own Diagnosis

Posted on October 20, 2009
As healthcare professionals, doctors have a particular point of view when it comes to their patients. They have their routines for delivering bad news and treatment. Yet, there comes a time that doctors must become patients. As doctors, they have the unique position of caregiver and cared-for...

Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization Updates Resources And Awareness Links

Posted on October 15, 2009
Dedicating its efforts to the memory of  ?June Breit and the thousands of other victims silenced by asbestos?, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) has released an awareness and resources update.  This update includes important excerpts from the recent statement by the US Surgeon General Steven K...

A Closer Look At Mesothelioma Types: Pericardial Mesothelioma (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on October 12, 2009
Pericardial mesothelioma is very rare. It occurs as a result of extended exposure to asbestos. This type of mesothelioma is characterized by the growth of cancer cells around the heart. The pericardium is a fluid filled sac which surrounds the heart. It serves as protection by keeping the heart from being irritated by surrounding membranes and [...

A Closer Look At Mesothelioma Types: Peritoneal Mesothelioma (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on October 06, 2009
Peritoneal mesothelioma is a cancer affecting the abdominal lining, or peritoneum, and is sometimes referred to as abdominal mesothelioma. This membrane supports and covers the organs of the abdomen. Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is an extremely rare condition; only 100 to 500 cases are diagnosed in the US each year, making up less than 20% of [...

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A Closer Look At Mesothelioma Types: Pleural Mesothelioma (Part 1 of 3)

Posted on October 02, 2009
In the U.S. current statistics show between 2,000-3,000 people are diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma each year. However, 10,000 Americans die each year from all asbestos-related diseases, according to statistics compiled by the Environmental Working Group...

Brief Overview Of Malignant Mesothelioma Types

Posted on September 29, 2009
Mesothelioma, or cancer of the mesothelium, is a disease in which cells in the mesothelium become abnormal and divide uncontrollably.

Navy Man?s Family Wins Asbestos Lawsuit in Virginia

Posted on July 08, 2009
The family of a retired Navy sailor who died of asbestos cancer after being exposed on the job years ago was awarded $1.2 million against John Crane, Inc., an Illinois-based manufacturer. Gerald Gray, a Suffolk resident and previously the second-highest-ranking enlisted man in the Navy, died in late April 2009 after a 16-month struggle with mesothelioma...

Wisconsin Bill Could Limit Asbestos Lawsuits

Posted on June 30, 2009
There is a little-known provision sliding through the state budged in Wisconsin which some fear will stop recovery of damages for asbestos cancer. The proposal, which has not had any public hearing, would limit plaintiffs? ability to sue companies that merged with smaller companies before 1972...

Don?t Forget Asbestos Claimants in GM Bankruptcy

Posted on June 24, 2009
Asbestos claimants asked for an official committee in the General Motors bankruptcy case, saying the government’s plan to sell the automaker may be unconstitutional since they?ve been left out of negotiations. The plan is to sell GM’s best assets to a new company...

Town of Marshall, NC Cited For Asbestos Removal Violations

Posted on June 23, 2009
Sounds like the Town of Marshall, NC was trying to cut some corners and got busted.  Now the NC Deptartment of Labor has cited the town of Marshall with some violations for improper removal of asbestos from the town hall. According to a notification of penalty issued June 5, the town faces $1,750 in fines for failing to properly [...

EPA To Clean Up Libby, Montana

Posted on June 21, 2009
In June 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency declared Libby, Montana a federal public health emergency, vowing to finally finish a cleanup that has languished for nearly a decade, pledging at least $125 million to speed the work of going door-to-door, raising tents over contaminated homes, removing contaminated soil and vacuuming out attics and any other surface once contaminated by [...

Supreme Court Determines Future of Johns Mansville Asbestos Claims

Posted on June 18, 2009
In late June, 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Travelers Companies Inc, a U.S. property and casualty insurer, saying a lower court erred in overturning the approval of the company’s nearly $500 million settlement of asbestos-related litigation...

Japan Study Shows 1 in 8 Lung Cancer Cases Due to Asbestos

Posted on June 08, 2009
Pleural plaques, or a thickening of lung membranes due to asbestos exposure, were found in one in eight lung cancer patients in Osaka, Japan. The finding is documented in medical research papers jointly released by 12 medical institutions. The research team said the number of people who died from asbestos-related lung cancer could amount [...

Man Arrested for Gathering Asbestos Hazard Evidence

Posted on June 04, 2009
Eugene Roos, a potential whistle-blower who admits taking asbestos samples from a Long Island elementary school he claims is contaminated was arrested for trespassing on Thursday June 4, 2009. He was released on $200 bail. Roos took samples of asbestos insulation and shot video of school interiors, then gave them to a local cable news channel...

The Lancet Oncology Reports Carcinogenicity of Asbestos

Posted on May 31, 2009
The May 2009 edition of The Lancet Oncology reports that in March, 2009, scientists from eight countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to reassess the carcinogenicity of metals, arsenic, dusts, and fibers classified as cancer-causing to humans...

DHHS To Provide $6M Grant For Libby Residents

Posted on May 25, 2009
Now that the jury has acquitted W.R. Grace & Company of charges of exposing residents in Libby to asbestos that killed hundreds, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana announced a $6 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to provide health care for residents suffering from asbestos-related diseases...

Canada Releases Chrysotile Asbestos Risk Report

Posted on May 17, 2009
The Annals of Occupational Hygiene has published a long-awaited report about a debate on the risks of chrysotile, initiated by Health Canada. The report discusses two meta-analyses of asbestos epidemiological studies for which exposure?response relationships could be estimated, specifically for the risks of chrysotile asbestos mined in Canada...

Asbestos Widow Wins and Loses Lawsuits

Posted on May 14, 2009
A Florida jury awarded Betty McBride of Lynn Haven $995,600 in damages and medical bills from her husband’s mesothelioma death in May 2009. So what’s the problem? The party they found most responsible was not a defendant in the lawsuit and the judgment is not binding...

Things Are Looking Good at W.R. Grace

Posted on May 12, 2009
W.R. Grace was collectively found not guilty of conspiracy, violating the Clean Air Act and obstruction of justice in the contamination of the town of Libby, Montana. They can now exit from an eight year bankruptcy. A conviction in the case would have meant more than $280 million in fines and restitution, and [...

W.R. Grace Trial Twist

Posted on May 10, 2009
W.R. Grace & Co. and three former executives were acquitted on charges that they knowingly let residents of Libby, Montana be exposed to asbestos mined there.  During the course of the trial, which began in February, charges against two additional former executives were dropped...

The Trial in Libby Goes On

Posted on May 06, 2009
The New York Times reported in late April 2009 that despite ?the failings? of federal prosecutors, he would not dismiss criminal charges against the big chemical products company, W.R. Grace, over the asbestos poisoning of the small town of Libby, Mont...

Highest Rate of Mesothelioma Deaths Happening in Maine

Posted on May 03, 2009
The Maine Public Broadcasting Network is reporting that the highest death rate from the disease per capita than anywhere else in the country. “We noticed that death rate in Maine is 27.5 per million population — the highest rate in the United States,” says Ki Moon Bang, the senior epidemologist at the National Institute for Occupational [...

CDC Chart Showing Where the Asbestos Deaths Are Happening

Posted on May 01, 2009
Hopefully not happening in a state near you….. The CDC has released a report on malignant mesothelioma mortality from 1999 to 2005, along with a US map showing mesothelioma deaths by state. What? I want to see this. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasbestoshub...

Mesothelioma Deaths To Peak in 2010

Posted on April 30, 2009
According a report from the CDC, deaths from malignant mesothelioma are expected to peak in 2010. The number of malignant mesothelioma deaths increased from 2,482 in 1999 to 2,704 in 2005, Ki Moon Bang, Ph.D., of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and colleagues reported in the April 24 issue of Morbidity and [...

New Health Canada Report: Wall of Shame

Posted on April 28, 2009
Canada, in case you didn’t know, mines and exports chrysotile asbestos around the world, all the while insisting it is safe. A new Health Canada report documents the “strong relationship” between lung cancer and exposure to chrysotile asbestos...

UK Teacher Gets Cancer From Asbestos In School

Posted on April 26, 2009
Ok so it’s a UK headline, but horrifying nonetheless. A teacher, not an asbestos worker or family member, or anyone else you’d expect to get mesothelioma. After being exposed for 30 years to asbestos in schools, Carole Hagedorn was diagnosed in June of last year...

Asbestos in the United Nations

Posted on April 23, 2009
So now apparently the U.N. Headquarters is about to undergo renovations and the people are worried about security risks and……you guessed it. Asbestos exposure. The renovation is expected to take years and in the meantime, U.N. employees, contractors and media will be moved to temporary office spaces inside or near the U...

W.R. Grace Criminal Trial Update April 2009

Posted on April 21, 2009
Kathleen Kennedy, a former epidemiologist for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), testified during the W.R. Grace trial on April 14, 2009, that W.R. Grace stymied government efforts to study the health effects of Libby vermiculite...

Erionite Linked to Mesothelioma

Posted on April 19, 2009
Scientists want to study the health effects of a mineral used widely in western North Dakota which has been linked to cancer; however volunteers are scarce. The culprit is erionite. It can collect in the lungs of people who breathe it, much like asbestos fibers, which are also slivers of rock...

Washing Asbestos-Covered Clothes Kills Australian Woman

Posted on April 15, 2009
After shaking off the asbestos and washing her husband’s and father’s clothes for 20 years, Margaret Dawson of Sydney, Australia, died from asbestos disease at age 64. Mrs. Dawson’s father Gilbert Batchelor and her husband Maurice Dawson were both employees of building material producer James Hardie...

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