Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog
Mississippi television station WAPT is reporting that a man who got an asbestos-related illness while working for an oil company recently was awarded more than $15 million by a jury.
While these kinds of jury awards are impressive, they don’t change the fact that a man was severely injured and has been made to suffer because of exposure to asbestos.
Our Massachusetts mesothelioma lawyers have seen many people just like this man who worked for decades for a company, dedicating their lives for the good of the company only to discover that they weren’t told they were working with dangerous chemicals or minerals.
In the case of asbestos, people can work with it or around it for decades without knowing the dangers. While the company may have known the ill effects of the product, they may not have told their workers.
And now, after decades, the workers end up with a debilitating or possibly fatal disease. In these cases, the jury awards — if they make their way through seemingly endless appeals — will mainly go toward years of expensive medical treatments and the pricey bills that follow. These cases are about justice, not profit.
In this case, a Jones County, Mississippi jury found in favor of a man named Troy Lofton, who was an oil and well drilling worker for a division of Conoco Phillips Corp. He worked for CP Chem for more than 20 years and part of his job was to ship a product that contained asbestos.
The product was used throughout the oil and well drilling industry and he was exposed to it every day for more than 20 years. In 2004, he was diagnosed with asbestosis, a lung disease caused by exposure to asbestos.
Asbestosis, like mesothelioma, isn’t typically diagnosed or discovered for years or even decades. Both illnesses have similar symptoms, including chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath and a tightness feeling in the chest. Like mesothelioma, asbestosis has no cure, though there are measures that can help remove fluids from the lungs and chest cavity.
The condition worsens over time and can develop into mesothelioma, which is fatal and has no cure. Both illnesses are dangerous and are the result of exposure to the dangerous mineral asbestos.
Mesothelioma tends to affect the lungs, but can also be centered around the heart or the lining of the abdomen. In each case, the cancer can be deadly. And because of the location, it can be difficult to treat. That contributes to its status as a fatal illness 100 percent of the time. The median age span after diagnosis is about 12 months. These are serious illnesses that could be avoided with the proper awareness given to employees by corporations that knew of the ill-effects of the product it routinely used. When that didn’t happen, justice must still be done.
Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers provides representation for victims exposed to asbestos who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma in Boston and throughout Massachusetts and New England. Call (617) 777-7777 for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights.
More Blog Entries:
Salem Construction Firm Penalized By State For Asbestos Removal Problems: December 26, 2011
WHO Reports 92,000 Mesothelioma Deaths Between 1994 and 2008: December 12, 2011