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Major Donation to Help in Mesothelioma Research

December 10, 2014 By

Roger Worthington of the Worthington & Caron, P.C. has donated $100,000 to The Pacific Mesothelioma Center (PMC) at the Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (PHLBI) to support its ongoing stem cell research program. Last year he made a similar donation which kicked the research off as he says there is a need to invest to find a long term cure for the disease.

The PMC is dedicated to finding a cure for mesothelioma, a potentially life threatening cancer affecting the lining of the chest.  Worthington hopes that with his donation, the Federal Government will recognize the possible merits of stem cell research for all Americans, especially veterans who have the disease. Thousands of veterans have already been diagnosed with mesothelioma and tens of thousands more are at risk as they were exposed to asbestos during their military service.

Mr. Worthington’s donation will help fund critical clinical studies affiliated with the new Comprehensive Meso Center at the West Los Angeles (WLA) Veterans’ Administration which will not only offer essential patient services to meet the needs of Veterans with mesothelioma in Southern California but will also sponsor clinical trials on those with the disease.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

Filed Under: California Mesothelioma

Pre Surgery Tests for Mesothelioma Patients

December 6, 2014 By

Often mesothelioma patients are required to have surgery to remove tumors, parts of tumors, or parts of organs that have been affected by the disease. However, before any surgery, the patient has to have tests to discover what stage the disease is at and how large the tumor is. Knowing the stage of the disease is important in dictating what treatment should be carried out.

There are many different tests and each one depends on where the mesothelioma is located. If it is in the lung lining, pleural mesothelioma, or the heart lining, pericardial mesothelioma, then usually surgeons will make a small incision in the chest to put in a camera to look in the area, which is a procedure known as mediastinoscopy. They can also remove small pieces of tissue and fluid for analysis.

There is also a newer treatment which is even less invasive called Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) when a tube with a camera fitted and a tiny needle is passed down the throat and through the trachea to check what is happening with the airways, lungs and some of the smaller lymph nodes.

For patients with peritoneal mesothelioma, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is often used with again a tube down the throat to look at the digestive tract.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Mesothelioma

Architect Receives Mesothelioma Compensation

November 18, 2014 By

An 81 year old Los Angeles man and his wife have been awarded over one and a half million dollars in his asbestos cancer lawsuit.

Marty Marteney’s father was a Mexican immigrant and his father took him out of school and made him work in his auto shop, where he handled materials containing asbestos.

Then, with no education, Marteney enlisted in the armed forces, started a family, and later became an apprentice architect. He returned to school and built a career as a well respected architect, designing homes for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. He now lives in San Marino, California, with his wife.

Little did he know that his work as a child would later cause the cancer that would ruin his well-deserved retirement.  He was diagnosed with asbestos mesothelioma in May 2012 and was undergoing treatment when he brought a case against the supplier of the automotive parts, Union Carbide, and the distributor, Elementis for his mesothelioma.

After a three week trial, a Los Angeles Jury returned a verdict in favor of Marteney, awarding him $1.525 million.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

Filed Under: California Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma Compensation

Steve McQueen Died of Mesothelioma November 7, 1980

November 11, 2014 By

On November 7, 1980, the actor Steve McQueen, heartthrob and one of Hollywood’s leading men died at the age of 50 in Mexico.

McQueen first became ill in 1978 with a persistent cough which did not disappear even though he took antibiotics and stopped smoking. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1979 and although it was believed that his exposure to asbestos may have come from wearing racing suits it was more likely to be from removing asbestos lagging from pipes aboard a ship when he was a Marine.

By early 1980 doctors told McQueen that his cancer was terminal and there was nothing they could do so he went to Mexico for non conventional treatment including daily injections of a non FDA approved supposed natural anti cancer drug. He then developed tumors in his abdomen and had an operation to remove them on November 6, 1980 and died the following day from heart failure.

McQueen was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

Filed Under: California Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma

Pleural Effusion and Mesothelioma

November 4, 2014 By

One of the most important aspects of mesothelioma is to diagnose it as early as possible. In around 70% of cases it causes fluid to build up, known as pleural effusion, between the layers of the lining of the lung cavity and about 1.5 million people in the U.S. a year have this problem. However the majority of cases of pleural effusion are not due to mesothelioma.  It can be caused by congestive heart failure, pneumonia, kidney or liver problems, lung injury or tumors. The tumor types  which most frequently cause pleural effusion include lung or breast cancer, and in about 3000 cases a year, mesothelioma.

Pleural effusion is usually diagnosed in those who have shortness of breath, a dry cough and chest pain, and if doctors hear abnormal chest sounds they will normally send the patient to have it confirmed by an x ray or ultrasound. If it is present, a sample is taken to discover the cause and the fluid may be drained to ease the symptoms.

Checking the fluid for cancer cells is one of the main ways that mesothelioma is diagnosed, so anyone who has the symptoms above should visit their doctor to gain a diagnosis, as survival rates for patients diagnosed with early stages of mesothelioma are usually longer.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

Filed Under: California Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma

New Research into Who is Likely to Contract Mesothelioma

October 27, 2014 By

Amble, Pa. is one of the places in the United States which contains asbestos. There are piles of asbestos waste in what are now Superfund sites but many in the community are concerned as mesothelioma has on average a 40 year period between exposure and sickness.

However the University of Pennsylvania’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology has received a $10 million federal grant. Over the next four years, researchers will study how people have been exposed to asbestos and investigate why some people get mesothelioma and others don’t. They will be delving into whether there is a genetic reason for what for now, seems to be a lottery.

When the first of Ambler’s factories began making asbestos insulation in 1897, little was known about the harm the tiny fibers could do to the human lungs. Over time the waste piles, containing asbestos were so tall they were called the white mountains of Ambler, and children sledded down the hills on flattened cardboard boxes.

Even today, playgrounds, backyards, and businesses are less than a block away from the dirt covered piles with asbestos underneath.

In a recent analysis covering 1992 to 2008, health officials found that the Ambler zip code had 28 cases of mesothelioma rather than the expected nine for a population of its size. Hence people are anxiously awaiting the research results.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Mesothelioma

Positive Outcome to New Research

October 13, 2014 By

Researchers at the University of Piemonte Orientale in Italy and the Karolinska Institute may have made a breakthrough in the treatment of mesothelioma.

Malignant mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos and is very difficult to treat with the average survival rate for mesothelioma being between 9 and 17 months.  The basic standard is to use chemotherapy in the treatment of pleural mesothelioma but only 40% of patients respond to this and it does not normally extend life by more than a few months.

Now the researchers have found that by targeting an estrogen receptor may help to make the cancer more sensitive to chemotherapy.

The results of the research on mice have been promising in that firstly the mesothelioma cells did not replicate nor grow so quickly and then when combined with chemotherapy there were significant tumor inhibiting effects and increasing death of the mesothelioma cells. In addition the healthy cells appear to have been protected from the damaging effects of the chemotherapy which usually accounts for most serious side effects in patients undergoing chemotherapy.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

 

Filed Under: California Mesothelioma

Asbestos Related Health Concerns are not New

October 2, 2014 By

Concern about the health hazards associated with asbestos are not something new. As early as 1906, a Parliamentary Commission in the United Kingdom confirmed the first cases of asbestos related deaths in factories in Great Britain and recommended better ventilation in the factories.

In the United States there was a study produced in 1918 showing premature deaths in the asbestos industry and as early as 1926 there was the first successful claim for compensation by a sick asbestos worker.

The problem with asbestos is that when it is inhaled, which is easy as the fibers are so fine, it is carcinogenic. This can then lead to several respiratory problems including a potentially serious lung condition called asbestosis. In addition it can lead to one of the most severe cancers known as mesothelioma which not only occurs in the chest but also the abdominal cavity. Mesothelioma is not usually referred to as a cancer of the lung, as the cells which become malignant come from the mesothelium which is a tissue found on the inside walls of the chest and abdominal cavities and on the outer surface of the lungs rather than actually in the lung itself.

It is estimated that ten thousand people in the United States die every year of asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

Filed Under: California Mesothelioma

Location of Mesothelioma in the Body Based on Genetics

September 21, 2014 By

Doctors specializing in cancer research, working at Nara Medical University in Japan, have identified chromosomal abnormalities which seem to affect exactly where mesothelioma develops in the body.

Lead investigator Doctor Maiko Takeda, who is with the University’s Department of Diagnostic Pathology, says that the report shows that there is a genetic difference between those patients with pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the lungs and those with peritoneal mesothelioma, which is located in the lining of the abdomen.

The study, which is published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology, was based on tissue samples from 54 mesothelioma patients and could signal a breakthrough in the study of potential gene based treatments for the disease.

The majority of mesothelioma patients suffer from pleural mesothelioma with only around 30 percent having the peritoneal type of the disease.

If you have been diagnosed with any an asbestos related disease, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To find out how we can help you recover for your asbestos related claim, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation.

Filed Under: California Mesothelioma

Family Wins Millions in Mesothelioma Case

September 14, 2014 By

The family of a Tyler man, who died after contracting mesothelioma, after years of exposure working at the Kelly Springfield/Goodyear plant, was awarded $18.6 million by a Dallas County jury last week, and according to their lawyers, Goodyear plainly ignored standards set in place in 1972 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Jurors found Goodyear grossly negligent for allowing Mr. Rogers’ continued exposure to asbestos.

Carl Rogers worked at the plant for 30 years as a tire builder before being diagnosed with mesothelioma, a deadly cancer caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. He was diagnosed with the disease in August 2008 and died in September 2009.

He worked with Goodyear machines that exposed him to asbestos on a constant basis. He was further exposed to asbestos-wrapped piping while maintenance work was being carried out at the plant. The verdict includes $2.7 million in non-economic damages, $900,000 in economic damages and $15 million in punitive damages.

Goodyear admitted during the trial that the levels of asbestos were 10 to 100 times greater than the average person would breathe outside of the plant.

Three other former workers at the plant have been diagnosed with mesothelioma which is a significantly higher rate, some 900%, more that the national average of one case per million people.

Filed Under: California Mesothelioma
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