Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog

August 17, 2011

Forensic Sculptor Dies of Pleural Mesothelioma at 70

A 70-year-old forensic sculptor, a rare field that aids police in investigating murder victims, died recently in Philadelphia of pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of incurable cancer.

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have seen the devastation of family members who have lost a loved one to mesothelioma in New England, as it is a rapid-moving form of cancer once detected that has no known cure.

Frank Bender made his living sculpting the faces of crime victims through the studying of skulls. He was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a form of the cancer that attacks the outer lining of the lungs.

The obituary goes on to lay out the man’s extraordinary career, which started with his photography skills and morphed into a life of re-creating the faces of murdered or missing victims in cases where DNA, fingerprints and dental records did little good. His goals was to help law enforcement try to identify someone. His work was used by local law enforcement agencies, the FBI and was featured on America’s Most Wanted.

After leaving the U.S. Navy, he took painting classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Because there were no anatomy classes offered at night, he ventured to the morgue and saw the body of a woman, who was shot in the head and unrecognizable. He told the medical examiner he knew what she looked like and proceeding to create a bust of a woman later identified as Anna Duval, a Phoenix woman who traveled east to recoup money; her killer was fingered as a mob hit man.

But, sadly, the man’s life was cut short because of mesothelioma and likely exposure to asbestos. The obituary notes he served in the U.S. Navy which is significant because this branch of the armed forces was a major consumer of asbestos — it was used as insulation on warships as well as in shipyards throughout the United States.

Much of the country’s vermiculite, a natural mineral, was contaminated with asbestos and came from a mine in Libby, Montana. As the Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog has documented for months, this asbestos was useful as an insulator and was used in manufacturing of floor and ceiling tiles, peat moss and other products for years. Asbestos can be found in many historic homes and buildings throughout New England because it was fire-resistant and affordable.

But companies became aware of its harmful effects and link to illnesses and many refused to change, didn’t tell employees of the risks or didn’t clean up the buildings or factories that contained the materials.

Microscopic asbestos flakes can be ingested over time and travel through the blood system and can rest on the lining of the lungs, heart, liver or other major organs. They can stay for decades, sometimes 30 or 40 years, before causing common symptoms, such as chest pain, coughing and built-up fluid. The median lifespan after diagnosis is 12 months.
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August 15, 2011

Norwood 21-Year-Old Diagnosed With Mesothelioma

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The Boston Globe recently reported about a 21-year-old, who was the football and hockey captain at Norwood High School. The young man was recently diagnosed with the rare form of cancer mesothelioma.

This is the second case of a young person who has been diagnosed with cancer that the Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog has reported on. A California teenage football player recently died after being diagnosed with the cancer only a few months earlier. Now the case hits home with a young man being diagnosed with mesothelioma in New England.

According to the article, the young man is being treated at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in February. That form of cancer, which affects the lining of the abdomen, affects 100 to 500 diagnosed Americans each year.

Family and friends recently held a fundraiser for the man, whose family has been saddled with expensive medical bills and are financially exhausted. Doctors believe he would be best cared for using alternative treatments, which aren’t available in Boston and some which may not be covered by insurance.

This is a sad story, heightened perhaps by the fact that the patient in this case is so young. Many mesothelioma patients are older, having been exposed to asbestos over time and after having the microscopic asbestos flakes sit for 30 to 40 years before being diagnosed with mesothelioma:

Shortness of breath
Fluid in the chest wall
Fatigue
Wheezing or coughing
Coughed up blood
Abdominal pain
Bowel problems

Some would simply attribute the symptoms to old age, or years of smoking; but they can actually be attributed to exposure to asbestos. For many of these older patients, it’s from years in the military, which was a large user of asbestos. For others, they may have spent years working at factories or older buildings or with parts that used asbestos, such as brake pads and other manufactured goods.

But it now appears that young adults may have spent years being exposed to asbestos as they were growing up and it has caused mesothelioma at a younger age. Growing up in New England, many people may be exposed to asbestos after living in, playing in or going to school in older buildings that may contain asbestos. Asbestos was used for insulation in many buildings at the turn of the 20th century and onward until manufactures started to use it less frequently after realizing the ill-effects.

But some manufacturers continued using it, despite knowing that asbestos exposure was dangerous and could potentially cause ailments and death. The United States never officially banned its use, but it has been significantly curtailed. However, many historic buildings throughout New England are known to contain the natural mineral, despite years of warnings about the potential problems.
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August 13, 2011

Massachusetts Files $1 Million Claim to Clean Up Asbestos in Walpole

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Officials in Massachusetts have filed a $1 million claim for funds to clean up more than 100 years of pollution from companies, Dow Jones Newswires reported recently.

Among the companies the state is requesting money from is the predecessor to W.R. Grace & Co., which, as the Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog has previously reported, was responsible for operating the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana as well as several plants that processed the asbestos-tainted vermiculite.

Mesothelioma in Massachusetts is a serious form of cancer that is deadly and incurable. Research has shown that the median life expectancy after diagnosis is about 12 months. Our Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have seen the destruction this cancer and other asbestos-related illnesses can do to a family.

According to the article, factories around the 22 acres of land in water in the state’s Blackburn & Union Privileges Superfund Site were contaminated with asbestos, arsenic, lead and other hazardous substances.

This latest proposed settlement follows a roughly $13 million agreement last year with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It includes $300,000 to help fund state-run groundwater restoration projects and $575,000 for other U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service projects.

The company that preceded W.R. Grace & Company manufactured asbestos brake linings and clutch linings at the property from 1915 to 1936, the state said. A predecessor to another party in the settlement, Tyco Healthcare Group, LP, later ran a textile factory there from 1946 to 1983 and used caustic solutions.

W.R. Grace ran the Libby mine from 1963 to 1990, when it was shut down. The mine operated beginning in 1919 and shipped — at its peak — about 2 million tons of asbestos-laced vermiculite throughout the country. Plants across the United States heated the vermiculite and turned it into insulation, peat moss, ceiling and floor tiles and other commonly used products. The U.S. Navy was a large importer of the material and used it on ships and in shipyards. The Libby mine produced about 70 percent of the country’s vermiculite.

In Libby, where many people worked at the plant because it was a main source of employment, hundreds have died and many have fallen ill because of asbestos-related diseases. Some have noted that the town was coated in a film caused by the mine and its workers.

These microscopic asbestos flakes were ingested by workers, their families and anyone who lived nearby. And the asbestos would travel through the blood system and land on major organs, such as the heart and lungs. There, they would stay for sometimes decades before producing symptoms of mesothelioma — chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath and fluid.

Because the asbestos can cultivate for sometimes 30 or 40 years before showing symptoms, many smokers would simply chalk up the pain to a smoking habit or older people to the aging process. But exposure to asbestos was preventable, as many companies and employers knew the hazardous effects, yet exposed workers without regard for the health and well-being.
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August 10, 2011

June Massachusetts Tornadoes Exposed Many to Asbestos From Historic Buildings

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The June tornadoes that ripped through Springfield and other parts of western Massachusetts destroyed buildings — killing three people.

But as the Daily Hampshire Gazette recently reported, along with the destruction, the tornadoes may have opened up a secondary public concern with exposure to asbestos. Because many of the buildings in Springfield are several centuries old, many were build with asbestos.

Asbestos has never been officially banned in the United States, but companies have wisely discontinued its use after it became linked to illnesses and cancer, such as mesothelioma. Buildings constructed centuries ago and into the 1970s may have contained asbestos. It was used because of its ability to insulate and be a fire retardant.

And workers in older buildings and factories, as well as Navy seaman, may have been exposed to the natural mineral for years. The U.S. military was a heavy user of asbestos. But asbestos is tricky in that exposure is difficult to detect because it is microscopic and can be ingested or inhaled and sit inside a person for up to 40 years without being detected. After attaching to major organs, such as the heart and lungs, it can lead to a diagnosis of many illnesses, including mesothelioma. Mesothelioma patients have an average life expectancy of 12 months after diagnosis.

According to the article, there were an estimated 500 buildings destroyed in Springfield after tornadoes, one with maximum winds of 160 mph, wreaked havoc on a 39-mile path in about an hour. Debris was found as far away as 40 miles.

Immediately following the tornado, with many buildings collapsed, there was a risk to public health from airborne asbestos fibers.

“During the demolition, we monitored the air quality in downtown Springfield and all the results were well within health and safety standards,” said Catherine Skiba, spokeswoman for the Western Massachusetts regional office of the Department of Environmental Protection.

While there may be standards for the air quality, it’s unclear from the article exactly how frequently the air was tested and when. The article also only addresses Springfield and not the neighboring towns.

Cleanup crews from throughout the region that came to help could have been exposed to asbestos in older buildings that collapsed. Emergency responders to Ground Zero in New York following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were said to be exposed to high concentrations of asbestos.

While it would certainly be good news if those living in tornado-damaged towns and cities weren’t exposed to high levels of asbestos, it may be prudent to see a doctor anyway. For those who have lived in New England and visited, worked in or lived in centuries-old buildings, exposure to asbestos may be ongoing without us even knowing it.
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August 5, 2011

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers’ Series on Asbestos Exposure Sites Moves West

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have spent months documenting the cities across the country that have been exposed to asbestos-laced vermiculite due to mining and processing procedures.

Vermiculite was mined mainly in Libby, Montana, which produced 70 percent of the country’s supply the natural mineral from the early 20th Century until 1990. Much of the vermiculite was tainted with asbestos, which has been linked to illnesses, including mesothelioma, a deadly and incurable cancer.

Asbestos has never officially been banned in the United States, but companies have curtailed its use due to the clear link to illnesses and cancer. When ingested, those exposed to asbestos don’t realize it. The microscopic flakes travel through the blood system and land on the lining of major organs, such as the lungs and heart. They can stay, largely unnoticed, for years and sometimes up to 30 or 40 years before a mesothelioma diagnosis is made. Once diagnosed, the average life span is 12 months.

This debilitating cancer, and other asbestos-related illnesses like it, were largely preventable. Because of its ability to insulate and help buildings be fire-retardant, it was a popular product. It was used not only as insulation, but also to manufacture ceiling and floor tiles and peat moss, among other products. But as workers in mines and older buildings along with U.S. Navy seamen and other military personnel where it was used began falling ill, companies who knew of its dangerousness should have stopped using it. Many did not.

This series looks at the processing plants in cities where asbestos-laced vermiculite was shipped and a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which did testing on the sites to determine the amount of exposure and the amount of asbestos there today, some two decades after the Libby mine stopped shipping vermiculite across the country.

Mesothelioma in Denver: This Western Minerals Company plant operated from around 1967 to 1990. The plant processed vermiculite contaminated with asbestos. More than 100,000 tons of vermiculite was processed at the plant.

Since 1990, the site has been occupied by Minnesota Corn Processors, a corn syrup manufacturer. In 1990, while the plant was still operating, about 13,000 people lived within one mile of the site, according to U.S. Census data. Soil sampling showed that asbestos was still in the ground to this day.

Mesothelioma in Phoenix: This W.R. Grace/Solomon’s Mines company plant operated from 1964 until 1992.

The CDC reports that the mine processed more than 100,000 tons of vermiculite in the nearly 40 years it operated. The plant continues to process vermiculite, but from safer sources, the CDC reports.

Mesothelioma in Glendale: The Ari-Zonolite Company plant processed vermiculite from Libby between 1951 and 1964. Plant workers processed more than 100,000 tons of the mineral.

As with all sites, workers, those who lived with workers and those who lived near the site may have been exposed to asbestos. A checkup with a doctor may be appropriate.
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July 30, 2011

Massachusetts School Contains Asbestos; School Will Replace Gym

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A southern Massachusetts school’s buckling gymnasium floor led engineers to discover traces of asbestos in the glue beneath, costing the school at least $280,000 to replace, The Herald News reports.

While this is a lot of money for a school district at a time when many schools are facing budget cuts and unsure financial times, this is a critical step they must take. Asbestos exposure in Boston and throughout the nation can lead to a diagnosis of the cancer mesothelioma and other illnesses that are life-threatening. Consulting with an experienced Mesothelioma Attorney in Boston will ensure the case is properly reviewed — justice is worth fighting for.

In Swanea, which is near Providence, R.I., the school system’s assistant superintendent told the newspaper the trace amounts of asbestos were not considered harmful to those using the gym because asbestos typically poses a danger when flakes can be inhaled.

The School Department has inquired with the Massachusetts School Building Authority to see if emergency funding can be acquired. If not, Joseph Case High School will require a loan to pay for the floor replacement. Humidity and age is to blame for the floor warping over the years. The air circulation system, which pumps in outside air and recirculates it into the gym is also to blame.

The current floor is made of maple and was installed in 1975. Beneath the floor is a layer of tar paper and cork adhered to cement, the newspaper reports. Because of the asbestos, demolition will require an asbestos abatement, which will cost between $100,000 and $130,000. The cost for a straight demolition would have been about $30,000.

While it is great news that the gym of the high school is being replaced, this story shows that oftentimes businesses — and in this case schools — aren’t quick to address the potentially deadly effects of asbestos.

While officials told the newspaper they don’t believe anyone was harmed by the asbestos in the school’s gym, it may be difficult to actually make that statement. While it is true that asbestos exposure is harmful when flakes are inhaled, it’s possible that an old gym that has been deteriorating for years could have let asbestos into the air.

It is microscopic and difficult to track. So, for the last 36 years while asbestos has been in that old gym, countless numbers of students, parents and community members have attended sporting events and other events, while possibly being exposed. Asbestos in old schools and other buildings remains quite common — another indicator of the risks.

The same can be said for thousands of buildings throughout New England that are old and likely built with asbestos. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that was mined in the United States from the early 20th Century until around 1990. While it has never officially been banned, companies have curtailed its use in the wake of discoveries that it causes deadly illnesses. It was once primarily used in the construction of buildings because of its fire-retardant quality and its ability to insulate houses and buildings.
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July 25, 2011

Insurance Companies Building Reserves For Mesothelioma in Boston, Nation

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A recent story by the Reuters News Service reports that insurance companies are adding more and more money to their reserves to fend off lawsuits on behalf of workers who were exposed to asbestos.

The story cites information from the American Cancer Society that suggest new cases of malignant mesothelioma have dropped at an annual rate of 1.8 percent from 1999 to 2008. But while reported cases may be dropping, the story doesn’t properly address the fact that a mesothelioma diagnosis in Boston can happen 30 to 40 years after exposure to asbestos. So while the numbers may have dropped in the last 10 years, there may be a new wave of victims who are at high risk of being diagnosed.

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have been fighting big businesses and insurance companies for years. Those who attempt to deny harming people who were exposed to asbestos and suffer from this incurable and quick-to-kill form of cancer need to be held accountable. The average life expectancy for someone diagnosed with mesothelioma is about 12 months.

According to the article, while diagnoses may be dropping, the number of lawsuits have increased, causing insurance companies to put more money into reserves to fend off cases by aggressive attorneys fighting for the rights of injured clients. Insurance companies are seeing more lawsuits against what they call “peripheral insureds,” such as contractors who worked on projects where asbestos was used.

The article focuses on the plight of insurance companies, which tend to make educated guesses about how long a particular risk will endure and how much it will cost them to be done with it. The article correctly implies that for insurance companies, victims are simply a dollar sign and not a person who is hurting from being unnecessarily exposed to asbestos.

The article states that many of the rescue workers at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York were exposed to high concentrations of asbestos — in some cases nearly a million times the normal background level.

Asbestos, while it has never been officially banned in the United States, has been used less frequently in recent decades because of its link to illness. It was so attractive to builders because of its ability to insulate and be fire-retardant and was also used to manufacture floor and ceiling tiles and in ships and shipyards for the U.S. Navy.

Many people may have been exposed without knowing it and came to suffer — or will come to suffer in the future. Microscopic asbestos flakes are inhaled and travel through the blood system before attaching to major organs, such as the heart and lungs. They sit for years and sometimes decades before turning into the deadly cancer mesothelioma. The symptoms include chest pain and trouble breathing. Smokers often chalk up the symptoms to their habit, but it may be the asbestos exposure that causes the medical problems.

Insurance industry officials cited in the article lament the fact that asbestos claims aren’t going away any time soon because of their cost. But do the victims and family members of people who have suffered for years deserve compensation. We think so. And now workers’ lives are being cut short because of this debilitating illness.
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July 18, 2011

University of Hawaii Receives Donation to Research Mesothelioma in New England and Beyond

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The University of Hawaii recently received an anonymous $3.6 million gift to research mesothelioma, an incurable and fatal cancer that often goes undiagnosed for decades before killing its victims, The Associated Press reports.

This is great news for the family members of mesothelioma victims in Massachusetts and throughout New England who have witnessed how this cancer’s devastation. Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers are prepared to fight for those who were unjustly exposed to the asbestos that led to a mesothelioma diagnosis.

According to The Associated Press, the donation is the second-largest in the university cancer center’s history and could go a long way toward understanding and helping to stop this fatal illness. According to aboutmesothelioma.net, the Hawaii researchers have spent the better part of the last 15 years studying in a region of Turkey where nearly 50 percent of its residents have died from mesothelioma as a result of exposure to eroinite, a naturally occurring mineral found in rock formations that is considered even more toxic than asbestos. It is used in road paving in the United States.

This area of Turkey resembles Libby, Montana, where 70 percent of the country’s asbestos was discovered between 1919 and 1990. In this town there was a mine that employed a large percentage of the population. And hundreds of thousands of tons of vermiculite, which contained asbestos, were shipped to plants that processed it and manufactured goods sold throughout the country. In Libby, thousands have gone ill and hundreds have died and thousands more are probably undiagnosed with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses after the town was covered in a haze of asbestos flakes.

But Hawaii researchers are hoping to conduct a clinical trial in this region of Turkey, called Cappadocia, in order to further their studies. They have already discovered that asbestos kills cells through a process called programmed cell necrosis that leads to the release of a protein molecule HMGB1. Those exposed to asbestos have an elevated level of the protein in their blood. And it sets off an inflammatory chain reaction in tissue that causes the release of mutagens that promote tumor growth. Researchers believe that by interfering with the inflammatory reaction, it may be possible to decrease the occurrence of mesothelioma.

“Mesothelioma is a serious public health problem,” said Virginia Hinshaw, chancellor of the University of Hawaii Manoa. “We’re proud that Dr. (Michele) 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.”

Asbestos exposure is especially problematic in Hawaii because of the military’s use of asbestos in ships and buildings at Pearl Harbor and the remains of the shipyard that was bombed in 1941 by Japanese forces. As a result, Hawaii has higher rates of the cancer than other parts of the country. Veterans from years ago have been diagnosed with mesothelioma in recent years, though the life span after diagnosis is only about a year.
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July 16, 2011

$22 Million Verdict Against Goodyear Shows Devastating Effects of Asbestos Exposure in Boston

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A recent jury verdict against The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and Goodyear Canada of $22 million for workers exposed to asbestos in the 1970s is a sign of the potential future litigation that will be brought against companies for ignoring the devastating effects, the Bradenton Herald reports.

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers believe now is the time to act if you or a loved one inhaled asbestos for years at work, in an old building or in years of service in the U.S. military. This incurable cancer acts slowly and quickly at the same time.

As someone exposed to asbestos continually inhales its microscopic fibers day after day and year after year, the fibers travel through the blood system before depositing on the lining of major organs such as the lungs and heart. There, they cultivate for years and sometimes decades before causing health problems. Many workers from the 1960s and 1970s have had few symptoms over the last 30 or 40 years but are now being diagnosed with mesothelioma or other asbestos-related illnesses. And after diagnosis, the median time to live is only 12 months. Short-term exposure to asbestos has also been linked to mesothelioma.

Sadly, many companies and businesses were aware of the dangers of asbestos, but continued using the substance because of its durability, cost and usefulness. And even as more and more facts came out over the years about the deadly substance, companies were resistant to renovating their buildings and old factories, leaving workers at risk.

In this case, two workers were exposed to asbestos in gaskets while working as steamfitters between 1969 and 1973 and a number of upstate New York job sites near Buffalo. Goodyear manufactured sheet gasket material that contained asbestos.

One of the men was diagnosed with lung cancer and was awarded $11.6 million for pain and suffering and $1.9 million to his widow. The jury found the companies 42 percent responsible for his lung cancer, though he smoked.

As for the other man, the jury found the companies 12 percent responsible for the lung cancer, though he, too, smoked. His family was awarded $8.5 million in pain and suffering.

These are large numbers and they show that the jury believed the company ignored the risks of asbestos and still used the material in their buildings. And for these two men, it became fatal.

More and more of these cases are popping up across the country because baby boomers exposed to asbestos are now being diagnosed and are seeking lawsuits to take care of their families. But it is crucial to act quickly if one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma.

These cases require sometimes years of research to detail the facts and put together a case in court. But our firm is committed to helping those who have unjustly been exposed to asbestos that has caused painful and life-threatening illnesses.
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July 15, 2011

High School Teenager Succombs to Mesothelioma

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In a tragic and baffling case, a California football player died recently from mesothelioma after fighting the illness for more than a year, the Pasadena Star-News reports.

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have seen many people throughout New England diagnosed with mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos, but it’s shocking to see a case of a teenager killed by the fatal and incurable illness. The cancer is deadly and a person usually only lives about a year after being diagnosed with mesothelioma in New England.

Mesothelioma has many symptoms, which often makes it difficult to diagnose. Long-time mine workers, those who worked in the military or other factory jobs may be most at risk. But others, who worked in offices made with asbestos may also be at risk and if employers knew of the risks but exposed employees to potentially harmful products as a result, they should be held accountable for their actions.

The Pasadena High School football standout died recently after battling mesothelioma for about a year. He survived cardiac arrest twice over the past several days to fend off death, but his family recently pulled him off life support at the National Institute of Health.

According to news reports, the teen was plagued with health problems ever since March 2010, when his heart stopped during a medical procedure to drain fluid from his chest. Despite that, he played linebacker in his senior year.

He was hospitalized five times in May as local doctors struggled to diagnose what was wrong with his body. Recently, at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, doctors discovered that Lacy was suffering from mesothelioma. The tumors filled his chest and pressed against his heart, restricting blood flow. And after a year, his battle ended. It’s unclear whether Lacy was exposed to asbestos or how he might have contracted the cancer.

It is a sad story and one that thousands of family members throughout the United States are keenly familiar with. More than 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year. And the median life expectancy after diagnosis is only about 12 months.

This is an odd cancer because it can form over 30 or 40 years after exposure to asbestos and then move rapidly. Asbestos is a natural mineral that was mined from 1919 to 1990 in the United States. And while it has never been banned in this country, it is rarely used because of its potential health risks.

When people inhale microscopic asbestos fibers either from old buildings or from working in factories, the fibers travel through the blood system and line the wall of major organs, such as the lungs and heart. There, they cultivate for years and sometimes decades before presenting the following symptoms:

•Shortness of breath •Fluid between the lung and chest wall •Fatigue or anemia •Wheezing, hoarseness or cough •Coughed up blood •Abdominal pain •Problems with bowel
But by then, it is typically too late. As in the case of the football player, doctors sometimes have difficulty making a true diagnosis and all the while, the cancer is developing. By the time a specialist comes into play and makes a correct diagnosis, it’s usually too late.
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