Mesothelioma Injury

Mesothelioma injury incidents are caused by exposure to asbestos. Asbestos was once perceived as one of the greatest building materials in history because of its durability and fire resistance. Unfortunately, there have been a number of life-threatening problems associated with this substance. The use of asbestos was found to be the cause of diseases like Asbestosis and Mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the membranes in the lungs, the abdominal cavity, or the heart and present the following symptoms:

• abdominal pain or "fullness"
• chest pain
• difficulty swallowing
• fluid in the lining of the lungs
• lower back pain
• loss of appetite
• persistent coughing
• shortness of breath
• weakness

Texas is amongst the top ten states that show the highest number in Mesothelioma injury incidents. It is currently ranked number five behind Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and California. The reason why location is so critical with diagnosis is because of the industries in these states that use an abundance of Asbestos, such as shipyards, construction sites using the material, and petroleum companies. Medical studies show that 86% of workers with 20 or more years of shipbuilding experience suffer from an asbestos-related disease.

There are also a lot of regular homes that still contain asbestos in their structures. Asbestos was widely used all over the world because it was easy to produce and very inexpensive. As a result, whole manufacturing sites geared their production line towards producing asbestos building materials. Today, houses and buildings built before 1975 may still contain asbestos in their shingles or in the siding.

Mesothelioma injury cases began to arise as more and more personal injuries were reported. Huge class action lawsuits caught the eye of the public; especially since the compensation amounts that were at stake were often in the millions.

Usually, the cases are resolved through Mesothelioma injury compensation settlements and rarely make it to court. Some employers in the asbestos production industry either voluntarily or because they were ordered to do so, place large amounts of money into personal injury and Mesothelioma trust funds. These funds are used for compensation settlement agreements.

Because of mesothelioma's great latency period, treating mesothelioma is difficult, but there is hope in recent research and clinical trials. Current medical treatment options include chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, and most patients choose to undergo a combination of these processes in order to increase their life expectancy. But survivors of mesothelioma have shown that treatment goes beyond hospitals, and that prognosis can be better for patients through healthy dieting, regular exercise and a variety of alternative therapies. Additionally, experimental treatments are available to individual patients depending on their stage progression.