Euless Mesothelioma Asbestos Lawyers
Helping You Get Justice
Construction is already quite a dangerous field of work. Personal injuries are prone to happen on worksites where conditions are less than ideal. But few people think that the work they do today, the building they were making or tearing apart, could result in them getting increasingly sick years down the road.
But that’s exactly what can happen when people are exposed to asbestos. This deadly material can cause a handful of serious illnesses, but perhaps none of them are as serious or as frightening as mesothelioma.
What’s worse is that this type of dangerous exposure can be disguised for years. The symptoms may not develop until decades after the exposure. It takes a passion for justice to investigate and prove cases such as these, but we here at The Wolf of Law Street believe it’s important work.
What is Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that occurs in the tissue that covers most of the organs in the human body. It is particularly bad because, once it develops, it is an incredibly aggressive cancer. It is one of the worst to be diagnosed with, and while there are some treatments for mesothelioma, it has a shockingly high mortality rate.
The symptoms of mesothelioma can vary depending on where the cancer is located. They include:
- Chest pain
- Deep, painful coughs
- Shortness of breath
- Lumps of tissue under the skin in the chest area
- Unexplained weight loss
- Abdominal pain
- Nausea
- Abdominal swelling
These are bad enough, but these are only the symptoms of the forms of mesothelioma that we know the most about at the moment. Other forms have presented around the heart or in the groin, though because they are rarer, it is hard to say too much about them.
In the medical realm, mesothelioma is caused by mutations happening in the DNA of our cells. It’s the same as cancer, except that not all cancers are mesothelioma. The direct link has yet to be made.
But the linkage of asbestos exposure to the development of mesothelioma is so high that it is safe to say there is something about it that causes the disease. The correlation has been significant enough to lead to changes in the construction industry and the use of asbestos.
Why Is Asbestos Used in Construction?
It’s the same reason why drug companies produce bad batches or manufacturers become liable for their products. It’s the ever-tempting urge to cut costs. Asbestos is cheap and naturally occurring, which alone makes it pretty cool in theory.
But the reason that asbestos was so commonly used in construction is the fact that it is fire-resistant. When packed into the walls of a house, in addition to helping insulate the space to keep the heat in, the asbestos would be slow to burn. This might not seem all that important but fire’s were a much bigger problem historically than they tend to be nowadays.
So the stuff was cheap and easy to get, plus it had a bunch of added bonuses. It started to be used as a building material in houses in the United States in the 1800s, and it continued on for over a hundred years. That is until around the 1970s.
People had started to notice that those who worked with asbestos a lot had a tendency to get incredibly sick and die. The illnesses themselves seemed eerily similar, but the people lived vastly different lives except for the fact that they either worked with asbestos, lived in a house that was insulated with asbestos, or worked in a building that had asbestos.
This rising concern led to the federal government implementing bans on asbestos products. To this day, there are still old buildings that need to be tested for asbestos and then have it removed. The process is a long and tiring one, but it’s worth it to avoid the illness.
Yet while we’re doing better at getting rid of asbestos now, we could have started the process much earlier and saved a lot more lives if it weren’t for the asbestos industry.
Like the tobacco industry, the asbestos industry had knowledge about how harmful asbestos was well before the general public, but they worked hard to hide and suppress public health initiatives and scientific findings that would hurt their sales. Asbestos kills between 12,000 and 15,000 Americans a year, and they hid this information in order to make more money.
Don’t think for a minute that this was something they discovered only a little while before the general public did in 1970. The asbestos industry had evidence that asbestos was killing workers as early as the 1920s, and there is documented proof through internal documents from the 1940s showing they knew.
They willingly pushed death on Americans, so they could make a dollar. It’s only right that justice is served.
Who Is At the Highest Risk of Asbestos Exposure or Developing Mesothelioma?
Asbestos primarily just sits there. It’s not good to be around but it’s not a boogeyman that’s going to jump out and get you. If you identify some, don’t disturb it.
Asbestos is at its most dangerous when it is disturbed. Airborne fibers are easy to inhale, and you will barely notice. A little bit isn’t enough to do serious damage. But it essentially hooks into the lungs and does damage there that is particularly harmful when allowed to accumulate.
Those who are at the highest risk are individuals that work in areas where they may unknowingly be exposed to asbestos. Insulation workers, electricians, carpenters, drywallers, painters, and pretty much anybody that calls themselves a construction worker risks exposure to asbestos anytime they tear it into the wall or ceiling of an old building without proper safety equipment.
When Should I Speak to an Attorney?
If you or one of your loved ones has developed mesothelioma, then there was some exposure to asbestos in the past that is the culprit, and you should speak to an attorney.
The Wolf of Law Street’s knowledgeable lawyers have years of experience helping clients like you get the justice they deserve for the damage that greedy corporations forced you through. Contact us at (972) 573-4532 to learn more about how The Wolf of Law Street can get you justice.