Articles Posted in Asbestos Exposure

In cold Massachusetts winters, frozen pipes are always a concern. Many people take steps to prevent pipes from freezing, such as buying insulation, putting heaters in basements, and buying foam covers for outdoor or underground water faucets.

While most people are aware a frozen pipe can burst, causing a great deal of property damage, they can also cause serious health concerns, such as exposing residents to lead and asbestos in older buildings. According to a recent news feature from Consumer Affairs, while most pipes in your home are heated and safe from freezing, problems can arise when a heater fails or if the pipe is an unheated area in or around your home.

When water inside a pipe freezes, it will expand due to physical properties of water. When it expands, there is nowhere for the water and ice to escape, so it puts increased pressure on the pipe. When the pressure gets too high, the pipe will fail and burst apart. It doesn’t matter if the pipe is made of metal, PVC, or another type of plastic resin. Once a pipe bursts, a stream of water is often released into the building.
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Harsh Boston winters can be particularly hard on the city’s many homeless who are confined to outside. In an effort to find more temporary housing for homeless residents of Boston, the city has opened a new homeless shelter in what was once a sign shop operated by the city of Boston.

The industrial space used for the homeless shelter, according to a recent news article from the Boston Globe, house the old sign shop less than a month ago. It contained asbestos tiles throughout the building, and most of the windows were broken with cracked frames. The building was also filled with tools and metal scraps used to make street signs, parking meters, and traffic signal lights. The walls were covered with plaster, which also contained asbestos.

While renovation projects like this normally take years, teams of private contractors were brought in and worked around the clock to remove all remnants of the old sign shop, complete all asbestos abatement (removal), and renovate the structure.
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Humans have mined asbestos for thousands of years, because it is a cheap naturally-occurring substance resistant to heat, fire, chemicals and electricity, and can easily be refined into consumer and industrial products. It was heavily used during the industrial revolution and still used until it was largely outlawed in the United States in the 1970s. However, despite the known risks, asbestos is still being using in minute quantities in developed nations and largely used in developing nations.
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Wannall v. Honeywell, Inc., a mesothelioma appeals case from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, involved plaintiff who was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. Malignant mesothelioma is rare form of cancer most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos.

Soon after being diagnosed with mesothelioma, plaintiff and his wife filed a civil lawsuit. In this lawsuit, plaintiff was seeking damages from several defendants alleged to have manufactured asbestos to which he was exposed. Plaintiff died a short time after this lawsuit. His wife opened a probate estate and assumed plaintiff’s role in her capacity as administrator of his estate. His wife dismissed her personal cause of action and proceeded only on behalf of the estate.
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Much like many old buildings across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Plymouth courthouse was built in the 1800s with asbestos-laden materials. The building has sat vacant for years with boarded-up windows while town officials tried to come up with a plan or a buyer willing to deal with the expensive asbestos abatement process.

According to a recent news article from WATD, officials desire to raze the old building and replace it with a new town hall government complex. The town will also tear down the old Department of Public Works building and Commissioners building, which are in the same vicinity as the courthouse.
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Malignant mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that is almost always associated with exposure to asbestos. When asbestos fibers are inhaled, they can become embedded in the lungs and other tissue known as the mesothelium. There is no way for doctors to see if the microscopic fibers are present without cutting a portion of the patient’s tissues and sending it to a pathology lab. There are also no symptoms for the first 20 to 50 years following exposure in most cases. While occasionally a tumor is found during an unrelated surgery, most patients do not find out until the disease is in a very advanced stage. Once an asbestos-related illness diagnosis is made, the patient is usually close to dying.
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Proving when and where asbestos exposure occurred is often a critical element in mesothelioma injury lawsuits. According to a recent news article from the Louisiana Record, the state court of appeals has vacated a dismissal of an asbestosis lawsuit, holding that jury could find five days of asbestos exposure was sufficient to cause the deadly form of cancer.

The court opinion filed on December 10, 2014 involved a plaintiff who alleged he contracted asbestosis while working at various jobs between 1953 and 2006. One of his jobs was working as a pipefitter at a factory for five days. While on that job, he installed and removed asbestos-laden gaskets. In this case, plaintiff and his wife alleged asbestos exposure during this five-day period was a substantial contributing factor to his developing asbestosis. His other responsibilities during that short timeframe involved cleaning up asbestos debris from other workers at the factory.

Plaintiff’s expert testified at trial this five-day exposure was likely above what we currently know to be safe occupational limits of asbestos exposure, and he opined this would have been a significant contributing factor in plaintiff’s illness.
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In the town of Belchertown, Massachusetts, residents have been waiting many years for the demolition of the State School for the Mentally Retarded. According to a recent news feature from New England Public Radio, prior to its closing in 1992, the school was often referred to as a snake pit.

This was 20 years after it was revealed as part of a federal lawsuit that there were numerous hazardous and inhumane conditions at the school, including raw sewage in the cafeteria, toilets and showers in public areas, nonworking fire alarms, and incidents of abuse and neglect.
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It is well known that mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. When the fibers are inhaled, they can become lodged in a layer of tissue known as the mesothelium. The fibers are undetectable and cannot be removed by doctors. In time, normally 20 to 50 years, the fibers can metastasize into the deadly form of cancer known as mesothelioma, lung cancer, or other respiratory illness.

It is for this reason that we normally think of older people being diagnosed with mesothelioma. However, a recent news article from the San Antonio Express discusses a tragic case of a woman diagnosed with mesothelioma at age 22.

As a young girl, she would frequently hug her father, sit on his feet, and grab his legs while he was covered in asbestos fibers from work. After inhaling the fibers, they became embedded in the tissue that lined her chest and caused tumors to form. At age 22, after having a baby, she was having her tubes tied when doctors discovered the tumors and diagnosed her with mesothelioma.
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