Mesothelioma Blogs

Both plaintiffs and defendants in asbestos lawsuits agree that asbestoscauses 80 to 90 percent of all mesothelioma cases. You would think that it naturally follows that 80 to 90 percent of mesothelioma lawsuit plaintiffs do not have to prove to a jury that asbestos exposure caused their mesothelioma. Until recently, that was not the case. Instead, through a legal process called reverse bifurcation, most if not all mesothelioma lawsuit plaintiffs had to first prove in court that their mesothelioma diagnosis is tied to past asbestos exposure. Once this was proved – and it usually was — most cases settled out of court.

Now, as reported by the Legal Intelligencer, after nearly a quarter of a century of trying asbestos lawsuits with reverse bifurcation, the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court’s mass torts program for asbestos began “straight-through trials” of asbestos cases in which it is uncontested that plaintiffs have mesothelioma because of asbestos exposure.

“Straight through trial” basically means that the plaintiffs do not first have to prove to the court – with documents and records and other evidence – that asbestos exposure caused their mesothelioma. Instead, the court takes for granted that it did, in which case most lawsuits settle out of court. So far though, even those that have gone through to trial have ended favorably for plaintiffs. One such mesothelioma patient and his family won $4.5 million in a recent trial verdict.

It’s good news for mesothelioma victims and not so good news for some defendants who make or have made asbestos-containing products. Examples of companies that had ready defenses to disprove asbestos exposure from their products as the cause of mesothelioma in a plaintiff include break pad manufacturers and insulation companies. These defendants would use reverse bifurcation to fight off taking responsibility for the victim’s illness. Hopefully, more states will follow PA’s lead on this.

If you or a loved one has suffered from asbestos exposure and later developed mesothelioma, call an asbestos attorney at Sokolove Law today for a free consultation.

Asbestos

A new study financed by a section of the National Institutes of Health has made the first potential connection to an individual’s genetics and susceptibility to eventually developing deadly asbestos illnesses such as mesothelioma.

The study, which was recently published online in Nature Genetics, found evidence that people with BAP1 gene mutations may have an increased chance of developing multiple cancer types such as mesothelioma, breast, ovarian, pancreatic and renal cancers. The study highlighted two U.S. families with members who have the BAP1 gene mutation. Both families also have “a high incidence of mesothelioma.”

Dr. Joseph R. Testa, another study co-leader and the Carol and Kenneth E. Weg chairman in Human Genetics at Fox Chase Cancer Center, said the study was the first to “demonstrate that individual genetic makeup can greatly influence susceptibility to mesothelioma.”

While only a first step, the discoveries noted in this study could one day lead to fundamental progress in mesothelioma care. Thanks to Drs. Carbone and Testa and their crew for the hard work. We hope this is just the beginning of bigger breakthroughs to come.

Living with the day-to-day hardships of mesothelioma – whether it is you or a loved one who has been diagnosed with the illness – is both emotionally and financially taxing. If you feel that a company or former employer may be responsible for the asbestos exposure that led to an illness, contact a mesothelioma attorney to learn about filing amesothelioma lawsuit.

Mesothelioma

Medical liability cases against obstetricians and other doctors who participate in the birthing process are most often spurred by errors in clinical judgment, miscommunication between doctors, and technical mistakes.

All of these errors can potentially result in a birth injury occurring that may remain with the newborn child for their entire lives.

According to a study released this month by CRIGO Strategies that analyzed more than 800 OB medical liability cases filed between 2005 and 2009, the three most common allegations in the lawsuits were as follows: Delayed treatment of fetal distress, improper execution of vaginal delivery, and improper management of pregnancy.

“Obstetrics has some unique vulnerabilities, most often involving situations in which a sequence of errors or oversights cascade into a crisis that can put mother and baby in jeopardy,” said Robert Hanscom, CRIGO’s senior vice president.

Obstetrician errors can result in a number of birth injuries that can affect the mother and/or the child being born. Among the more serious birth injuries a newborn can suffer from is cerebral palsy, which can affect a newborn for the rest of his or her life and often relegate them to a wheelchair and constant medical care.

If you or your child was born with a birth injury that can be attributed to medical error, such as cerebral palsy, there may be legal options available to you. Contact a birth injury attorney at Sokolove Law today to learn about your options regarding a lawsuit against the doctors who caused your injury.

Birth Injury

Aside from legal ads on TV, many Americans don’t know what asbestos is or where it can be found, let alone that exposure to this dangerous material can result in the development of an asbestos-related cancer such as mesothelioma. In fact, mesothelioma occurs in such a small number of patients – it’s estimated that only 2,500-3,000 new patients are diagnosed every year – that the disease is often referred to as an orphan disease. And while new mesothelioma treatments can alleviate symptoms and improve a patient’s quality of life, to date there is no proven cure for the disease.

Perhaps most troubling is the fact that despite these known health risks, asbestos is still not banned in the United States and is manufactured and used every day.

But you can help change this. There are a number of easy ways for you to join the fight to ban asbestos and beat mesothelioma forever, and it all begins with one simple goal: raising awareness.

Each year, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF) recognizes September 26 as National Mesothelioma Awareness Day in order to educate the public about the dangers of asbestos exposure and raise much-needed financial support for research towards improved treatments of the disease. The first Mesothelioma Awareness Day was started in 2004 by a group of volunteers and every year since has been larger and more widespread.

Want to participate, but don’t know where to start? Here are some ideas:

• Write a letter to Congress urging them to ban asbestos. We have a pre-written letter on our homepage you can sign and send digitally in minutes. (Yes, your representatives really receive them and sometimes they’ll even write you back!)
• Spread the word! You can click the Facebook and Twitter buttons on the top or bottom of this page to easily share the news about Mesothelioma Awareness Day with your friends.
• Join MARF’s social media campaign. They have ready-to-use facts and updates for you to share online.
• Plan or attend a fundraising event. You can check MARF’s event calendar to see if there’s anything planned in your area, and if there isn’t, they have otherideas how you can become involved – both on 9/26, as well as throughout the year.
• Make a donation to a non-profit organization like MARF or the Asbestos Disease Organization (ADAO).
• Check out the Mesothelioma Resource Center’s list of ways to raisemesothelioma awareness, which include contacting local news outlets, meeting local government leaders, fundraising and more.

Whether it’s the click of a mouse or a dollar in a donation jar, you CAN make a difference on National Mesothelioma Awareness Day. By raising awareness, we can save lives through safety education and prevention, as well as gaining support for the movements to ban asbestos and secure additional funding for improved treatments.

So take action and spread the word! Together, we can ban asbestos and beat asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma

With Mesothelioma Awareness Day coming up on Monday, September 26th, we thought it apt to highlight the top ten products we were surprised to find that are still being manufactured today with the use of the known carcinogen, asbestos. Asbestos exposure has long been known to cause mesothelioma as well as other cancers and diseases. Mesothelioma Awareness Day is an annual day devoted to raising awareness about mesothelioma and raising funds for mesothelioma research.

In this post — the first in a series of Mesothelioma Awareness Day posts designed to help raise awareness – we present our top ten asbestos-containing products to be aware of:

Baby powder? Baby powder!

Baby powder and other adult cosmetic powders and talcum powders often contain talc. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies talc that contains asbestos as “carcinogenic to humans” and talc not containing asbestos as “not classifiable as to carcinogenicity in humans.

2. Cigarette Filters

As if smoking cigarettes wasn’t already bad enough, asbestos has been known to be present in the filters.

3. Hair Dryers

Check with the manufacturer of your specific model, as some hair dryers have asbestos-based insulators.

4. Mittens

Are your hands really that cold? Some fire or heat-proof mittens have linings that contain asbestos.

5. Yarn

Typically, you don’t have to worry about the yarn you’re using to knit a scarf, unless it’s known to contain heat-proof threads, which contain asbestos.

6. Popcorn Poppers

As with hair dryers, most small electronics and appliances manufacturers have discontinued the use of asbestos. If yours is an older model or if you have concerns, contact the manufacturer.

7. Brake Pads

Many automotive parts are still manufactured with asbestos today, especially brake pads, to help prevent overheating.

8. Cork Board

If you have an old cork board and you can’t verify its safety with a manufacturer, think twice before tacking up your next picture or note.

9. Duct Tape

Many electrical tapes contain asbestos to help prevent melting or catching fire.

10. Rope

Although many ropes are asbestos-free, some that are heat or fire resistant do contain asbestos.

When asbestos fibers are inhalable, they are breathed into the lungs where the microscopic fibers embed into the tissue and accumulate. The inhalation of asbestos fibers is the leading cause of mesothelioma.

Speak to an Asbestos Attorney Today

For those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer that can be linked to asbestos exposure caused by a product or former employer, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney to learn more about your rights, and to see if pursuing a mesothelioma settlement is in your best interest.

Asbestos

A Zoloft lawsuit has been filed against drug maker Pfizer by a group of parents who claim the antidepressant caused their children to be born with severe birth defects, including heart damage.

According to the Madison Record, six couples filed Zoloft lawsuits on December 2, 2011 and allege that, despite the medical studies published on the dangers of drugs similar to Zoloft in pregnant women, the mothers were all prescribed the antidepressant drug during their pregnancies. thedangerous drug lawsuits claim that Pfizer was aware of the possible risks Zoloft posed, and that the company did not properly design or test their antidepressant.

The Zoloft lawsuits also claims that the drug did not have proper labeling to warn consumers about the possibility of birth defects associated with its use in pregnant women, and that Pfizer violated Consumer Protection Laws.

The drug maker is being charged with breach of implied warranties, fraud, misrepresentation and negligence.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by Zoloft or another dangerous drug, contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation and to learn about your options.

Zoloft Lawsuit

In honor of National Mesothelioma Awareness Day, we’re launching a three-part blog series highlighting the newest scientific research regarding mesothelioma. New science has emerged in the last two years that may have significant implications for the future treatment ofmalignant mesothelioma. In this series, we will look at three important scientific breakthroughs that have the largest potential to affect the future of mesothelioma treatment.

In early 2010, results of a study were published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that proved the safety of a possible vaccine for mesothelioma.

In late 2010, Dr. Rachel Ostroff, the clinical research director of Somalogic Inc., presented results of an ongoing study at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development about new biomarkers she discovered for mesothelioma that would impact early diagnosis and provide insight into new therapies for the disease.

Just last month, NIH-funded research discovered a genetic link to mesothelioma.

History of Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure

As far back as the early 1900’s, cases of mesothelioma and lung cancerhave been linked to asbestos exposure. It wasn’t until 1970 with the United States Clean Air Act that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was permitted to start regulating asbestos as a hazardous pollutant. With asbestos being more and more regulated in the United States over the past forty years, the rate of new mesothelioma diagnosesin the U.S. each year has risen steadily in men and sporadically in woman.

Currently in the United States, there are an estimated 2000 to 3000 new cases of mesothelioma diagnosed each year. The increase in incidence may be the result of lag time between asbestos exposure and diagnosis, which can be up to 50 years. For this reason, the number of new mesothelioma diagnoses is expected to continue to rise through the year 2020.

New Science – Mesothelioma Vaccine

The continued increase in the rate of mesothelioma diagnosis and the current lack of treatment options is what inspired researchers at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands to study new therapies. Immunotherapy, which stimulates the immune system to target and destroy cancer cells, had previously shown promise. Based on this previous research, Dr. Joachim G Aerts, a pulmonary physician at Erasmus Medical Center, set out to create a vaccine for mesothelioma. The vaccine, which uses a patient’s own dendritic cells (DC) with antigen from the patient’s tumor, was able to induce a T-cell response against mesothelioma tumors.

In other words, three out of ten patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma of the epithelial subtype showed signs of tumor regression and four others showed evidence of cytotoxicity against their own tumors after vaccination. There is much more work to be done before results can be irrefutably attributed to the vaccine and side effects can be minimized, but the study showed real promise.

Dr. Aerts says of the study: “We hope that by further development of our method it will be possible to increase survival in patients with mesothelioma and eventually vaccinate persons who have been in contact with asbestos to prevent them from getting asbestos related diseases.”

In the next post of this series, we’ll look at mesothelioma biomarkers and the implications they have for possible future treatments

Mesothelioma

The University of Hawai’i Cancer Center has received a generous gift of more than $3 million to continue its important research regarding the causes of mesothelioma as well as potential cure for the disease.

An anonymous donor has given a $3.58 million donation to the Hawaii cancer center to help aid the mesothelioma research work of its director, Dr. Michele Carbone, and her colleagues.

“Mesothelioma is a serious public health problem,” said Dr. Virginia Hinshaw, Chancellor of UH Mānoa. “We’re proud that Dr. Carbone’s team is leading the world in this area of discovery. This gift validates their efforts and will help them remain at the forefront of thoracic oncology research.”

The gift is the second largest one ever given to the UH Cancer Center. Dr. Carbone’s and researchers at the center recently released new findings relating to the presence of erionite – a material that causes mesothelioma – in rock materials that are used to pave roads in North Dakota.

The center has also conducted studies in Capadoccia, Turkey, a region where nearly 50 percent of the residents die of mesothelioma. There are currently plans for Dr. Carbone and collaborators to conduct a clinical trial co-sponsored by the Early Detection Research Network of the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the Turkish Ministry of Health to validate serum biomarkers they discovered for the early detection of mesothelioma.

“Private support is essential to solidify the UH Cancer Center’s role as the world leader in mesothelioma research,” said UH System President MRC Greenwood. “We look forward to furthering our work with donors to help the UH Cancer Center fulfill its vast potential as a transformative research enterprise for our state.”

Mesothelioma and asbestosis are both deadly illnesses that are caused primarily by prolonged exposure to asbestos fibers. If you were exposed to asbestos while working for a company and have since developed one of these illnesses, it may be worth pursuing amesothelioma lawsuit that could potentially result in a substantialasbestos settlement. If you think that a mesothelioma attorney could help prove your illness was caused by a specific entity’s negligence, please contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation.

Mesothelioma

A midwife in New Hampshire who has been involved in a birth injury lawsuit agreed to settle and give $730,000 to the family of a child who suffered a birth injury during a birth she was involved in.

According to the Concord Monitor, Jeanne Browne settled a lawsuit and agreed to pay the settlement to Sarah and Jonathan Sadowski, two Concord parents who brought the lawsuit against her following the birth of their daughter Emily in January 2009. Browne earlier surrendered her license to practice as a midwife.

In their lawsuit, the Sadowskis alleged that Browne – the founder of the Concord Birth and Wellness Center – did not properly manage their child’s birth and ignored several warning signs that Sarah experienced. Despite these risks, Browne did not bring in an obstetrician, or send Sarah to a hospital during the birth once she could not find the baby’s heartbeat.

Even after the birth when the child still had no heartbeat, Browne ignored Jonathan’s requests to quickly call an ambulance.

As a result, the Sadowski’s daughter was born with a severe brain injury. When the family brought a lawsuit against Browne, she voluntarily surrendered her license amid an investigation by the state Midwifery Council regarding the Sadowski’s case as well as others in which complaints were levied.

If you or a loved one have a child who suffered a birth injury due to a doctor or midwife’s error and now must pay for mounting medical bills and treatments, there may be legal action worth taking to pursue a birth injury settlement. Speak to a birth injury attorney at Sokolove Law today for a free consultation and to learn more about your legal options regarding a potential lawsuit.

Birth Injury

The family of a deceased Jackson County Courthouse employee recently settled the woman’s Missouri asbestos lawsuit for $10 million, the largest asbestos settlement in the state’s history.

Nancy Lopez filed the asbestos lawsuit against the U.S. Engineering Co. for failing to take proper precautions to protect courthouse worker while handling asbestos, writes the Associated Press. For 27 years, Lopez had worked at the courthouse in Kansas City. Her complaint claimed she developed mesothelioma cancer from her asbestos exposure at the courthouse.

Lopez died from the disease in October 2010. The asbestos lawsuit settlement was awarded to her family late last month.

If you or a loved one were exposed to asbestos and later diagnosed with mesothelioma, call an asbestos attorney at Sokolove Law today for a free consultation.

Asbestos