Mesothelioma and Asbestos

The technological progression of the modern age has had many positive improvements to the quality of life of the average person, but along the way, there have been some very unfortunate side effects as well. One of the most compelling examples is the use of asbestos. This material is well known as a major cause of a kind of cancer known as mesothelioma. This rare but incurable disease still has a very poor prognosis even today, and many people justifiably seek out compensation for being exposed to a dangerous material like asbestos without being made aware of the risks. In this article, we will discuss this issue further and go into detail about the nature of asbestos, mesothelioma and related lawsuits, with a particular focus on California mesothelioma lawyers and what they can do for you.

Asbestos: The Root Cause
Asbestos is a material that was formerly used in construction. It was seen as extremely suitable for many different purposes owing to its tensile strength and its heat resistance, both properties that are very highly valued in construction materials. Industrial asbestos was used as an insulator as well as in mining and general purpose construction. We were not aware of its unfortunate side effects until quite some time after it became popular, though as we shall see, the risks were indeed known about earlier than you might assume. The asbestos timeline is complicated due to the conflicting desires of corporations and their workers, and for a time it remained popular despite its well-recognized health dangers. This is one of the reasons that a San Francisco asbestos lawyer might be sought in the case of health issues arising from the material.

Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a cancer that is widely associated with asbestos exposure. Thankfully, it is very rare, and affects only about 2000 people each year in the United States, out of a population of over 300 million. Although the disease can occur without the patient having had any exposure to asbestos, there is a very high correlation (about 70%-80%). Mesothelioma is so-called due to its development from the mesothelium, or the protective lining that covers the internal organs of the body. Most of the time, mesothelioma presents around the lungs, abdominal cavity or heart.

Symptoms And Prognosis Of Mesothelioma
One of the most pernicious aspects of the disease is its delayed onset. Mesothelioma often does not begin to show its symptoms until twenty to fifty years after the initial exposure. There are a number of different subtypes of mesothelioma, each of which presents with different symptoms. Taken as a whole, these symptoms may include chest and breathing problems such as a persistent cough, pain or shortness of breath, abdominal swelling, weight loss, blood clotting problems and fever. Diagnosing the disease definitively can be very difficult, as its symptoms are not unlike those, which present with a number of other medical problems. If it is indeed mesothelioma, the prognosis is often poor, with many patients surviving only a few years.

Treatment Options
Treatment of the disease can occur in a number of different ways. These include surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiation treatment. Each of these treatment options has its benefits and drawbacks. The most common surgical intervention is known as a pleurectomy, which involves the removal of the chest lining. More severe surgeries may even involve the removal of one of the lungs. However, surgery is not usually very successful when used exclusively. Chemotherapy is perhaps the only definitive cause of improvement in mesothelioma patients. It essentially involves attempting to attack the cancerous cells with various chemicals. These chemicals are designed to kill only those cells that show a high likelihood of being cancerous, specifically those that divide very rapidly. This is a definitive feature of cancerous cells, but unfortunately, it is also characteristic of various other cells including those that make up your hair. This is why chemotherapy patients tend to suffer hair loss. A combination of different cancer treatments is known as multimodality therapy. It is usually the case that a combination of treatments has a better outcome than any single assault on the disease. The exact nature of the therapy will vary greatly depending on the patient’s current condition and the likely progression of the disease.

Potential Side Effects Of Treatment
Any severe medical intervention runs the risk of side effects. Chemotherapy, for example, has the aforementioned health problems associated with it, such as hair loss. However, another problem that can occur in rare cases is down to an element known as gadolinium. Gadolinium uses includes the contrast dye used in the MRIs that help doctors to diagnose the mesothelioma in the first place. The contrast is used to produce a clearer and more definitive picture that can make a diagnosis more definitive. Unfortunately, in rare cases there can be some severe side effects of gadolinium. For most people, these are relatively trivial; possibly a source of some discomfort but not dangerous. For a rare few, gadolinium may cause a disease known as nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, or NSF. This disease can cause breathing problems as well as joint and mobility issues that may result in the patient being wheelchair-bound. NSF can progress to fatality. In cases such as this, many patients turn to a mesothelioma law firm California such as Levin Simes Kaiser and Gornick, which specializes in cases of both mesothelioma and gadolinium side effects.

Mesothelioma Lawyer California
There are a number of reasons to contact a California mesothelioma lawyer should you be diagnosed with this cancer. It is important to recognize that in many cases the dangers caused by asbestos were well known and understood at the time. They could thus have been avoided, and the corporations who failed to act on this known medical knowledge should arguably be held accountable for their error. In many cases, California mesothelioma lawyers are sought in order to help cover the often severe medical costs of treating the disease. There are many related costs that can accrue, including outright medical costs, costs related to being out of work, costs relating to a shortened lifespan and the inability to pay for a son, daughter or spouse as one had intended, and more. A California mesothelioma attorney may be able to help you secure some of these funds. Other advantages to hiring a California asbestos lawyer or similar include simply exercising your legal rights in order to secure future generations against similarly unfair practices related to unsafe working conditions.

Conclusion
Mesothelioma is a cancer very strongly associated with exposure to asbestos. This building material had many different uses and applications in the 20th century and a great many people were exposed to it. This is despite the fact that the dangers of asbestos were well known at the time. Many people diagnosed with this disease opt to contact California mesothelioma lawyers to seek compensation for their exposure, illness and subsequent medical costs. The incentives go beyond that, however, and encompass a desire to build a precedent of company honesty in future, so that later generations need not grow up with the same dangers faced by workers in the early-to-mid-1900s. Contact a firm of California mesothelioma attorneys today and help to secure not only your future, but that of others as well.

Mesothelioma Lawyers California
There are many California mesothelioma attorneys or law firms. I do not feel comfort mentioning any specific names since I haven’t worked with any mesothelioma attorneys in California personally. However, I would strongly encourage you to go via the American Bar Association (ABA) and request a list of lawyers who focus on asbestos claims located in California. Here is a link that takes you straight over to a list of attorneys who meet the ABA standards:

List of lawyers in CA.