A Life-Changing Diagnosis After Asbestos Exposure - What Are Your Legal Options?

Asbestos Exposure and Its Deadly Health Risks

In order to understand the legal options for victims, it’s important to first understand the background of asbestos itself and why its health hazards are so disruptive and deadly. Asbestos refers to a group of natural, fibrous silicate minerals that were ubiquitous building materials used in many industries in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Its innate physical properties made asbestos incredibly useful for commercial and manufacturing purposes. Specifically:

• Asbestos has long flexible fibers that can be separated and spun. This made it ideal for weaving and served as a reinforcing agent. It was used extensively in textiles.
• Its fibers are resistant to heat, flames, electrical current and chemical corrosion. This allowed manufacturers to strengthen cement, plastic, insulation, shingles, pipes, clutches, brakes, and much more with asbestos.
• Asbestos was inexpensive and abundant. Commercial mining of asbestos to supply global demand was hugely profitable throughout the 20th century.

However, the very same tiny indestructible fibers that made asbestos so versatile also make it extremely hazardous when inhaled. Billions of microscopic asbestos fibers enter lung tissue through simple inhalation wherever it is handled, processed, distributed, used, applied, and demolished. Inside the lungs, these jagged edges irritate and scar tissue, causing asbestos warts, plaques, and inflammation.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the lung cancer lawyers at Braver Law.

Decades of research clearly show that asbestos fibers lead to chronic inflammation and cell mutation – triggering asbestosis, mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other deadly diseases.

Specific asbestos exposure illnesses include:

Asbestosis – Fibrosis or permanent lung scarring that robs oxygen and causes shortness of breath and coughing. Sufferers feel as though they are suffocating.

Mesothelioma – Cancer developing in the chest lining or abdominal lining surrounding critical organs. Aggressive tumors press on lungs/organs causing pain and fluid buildup.

Lung Cancer – Uncontrolled malignant cell growth in lung tissue triggered by asbestos genetics changes. Deadly and difficult to treat if not caught very early.

Yet asbestos manufacturers actively ignored and buried research warnings about lung diseases and routinely risked the safety of employees and consumers for decades. At the height of asbestos production during the 1970’s, almost 700,000 metric tons of the carcinogen were processed in the U.S. annually to fuel exposure. Today occupational exposure is banned but environmental and household exposure continues.

If you have lung cancer or other disease after working around known asbestos products – you may have strong grounds for a personal injury lawsuit or claim. Skilled asbestos lawyers understand how to leverage this history of deceit and corporate negligence for victims’ benefits during litigation. Let’s explore those litigation options further.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the lung cancer lawyers at Braver Law.

Making a Lung Cancer Diagnosis After Asbestos Exposure

Receiving a formal diagnosis of lung cancer or mesothelioma can be emotionally and psychologically devastating. Asbestos-related diagnoses also often come decades after the initial exposures occurred, confounding and surprising victims who had moved on from old trades, facilities, and employers. This section will cover what patients need to know about properly diagnosing, processing, and understanding a late-stage asbestos disease discovery.

The Critical Importance of Exposure History for At-Risk Patients

Too often general physicians fail to take thorough occupational, military service, household and environmental exposure histories – leading to missed opportunities for earlier diagnosis and life-saving interventions for at-risk patients. Patients displaying relevant symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, wheezing, fatigue, coughing, unexplained weight loss, fever, and clubbed fingers should proactively tell doctors about:

• Any work in industrial or manufacturing settings with known asbestos materials – such as construction, shipyards, power plants, chemical plants, refineries, mines, mills, transportation equipment, demolition worksites etc.
• Specific exposures while serving in the military – especially Navy, Marines, Coast Guard etc. where asbestos was heavily used in vessels, machinery, and equipment.
• Second-hand exposures occur when handling or washing a family member’s work clothing with asbestos particles over years.
• Environmental exposure if living near factories utilizing asbestos, mines, quarries, or construction involving asbestos handling.

Early screening protocols like X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and biomarker lab tests for populations at risk of asbestos diseases can provide life-saving early diagnosis – adding years through prompt treatment. Yet confirmation often arrives tragically late. Banishing doubt requires an official medical diagnosis through biopsy, bronchoscopy, thoracoscopy or other invasive, often expensive procedures. This process involves:

• Imaging tests visualizing suspicious internal tissue structures needing samples
• Analysis determining locations to attempt safe access for sample retrieval
• Surgeon extracts tissue samples and/or lung fluid to examine
• Pathologist checks for malignant cell mutations confirming cancer

It is critical before agreeing to any biopsy or surgery that victims identify physicians specializing specifically in asbestos-related diagnoses like mesothelioma. Otherwise, critical intricacies for legal standing may be missed by standard oncologists. Contact our asbestos lawyers for access to specialists.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawyers at Braver Law.

Establishing Legal Standing for Financial Compensation

In the wake of a devastating asbestos-related diagnosis, victims deserve answers about where, when and how exposures allowing the carcinogen to ravage their lungs went unchecked for so long. They also often face crushing financial realities of expensive specialized treatments, lost incomes, and young families left in lurches through no fault of their own.

Legal options through an asbestos lawsuit and/or trust fund claim can provide both closure through truth and financial compensation if victims can fully prove asbestos exposure liability. This requires:

• Pinpointing recognizable employers, facilities and occupations with liability – Claimants must list where exposures occurred including divisions, sites, buildings, vessels, machinery etc. Asbestos lawyers can cross-reference job sites known to have contained asbestos.
• Identifying all negligently responsible parties – Defendants often include facility owners, operators, contractors, manufacturers of asbestos products, distributors, premises owners of contaminated sites etc. Experienced lawyers utilize claimant employment records, commercial databases, testimonies etc. to identify all possible defendants along supply and decision chains.
• Gathering Complete Medical, Exposure and Employment History Records – This serves as evidence of where, when and to what asbestos types victims were exposed. It also indicates awareness dates when employers knew asbestos harms. Records include medical files, workers comp documents, personnel records, pathology reports, films, Social Security work history reports, union records, military records, asbestos testing reports, air quality audits, and industrial hygiene reports.
• Accounting for State Statute of Limitation Rules – Depending on the state, claims must typically be made within set time periods ranging from 1 to 6 years from the date of diagnosis. But this can be extended in some cases due to defendant fraud in covering up knowledge of harm or when the injured party discovered their diagnosis. Asbestos lawyers handle navigating appropriate start dates.

This process can be arduous for those already dealing with challenging health circumstances. This is why having a knowledgeable asbestos law firm to handle investigative legwork and documentation construction expeditiously is key to establishing a claim and attracting favorable settlements.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawyers at Braver Law.

Asbestos Trust Funds and Claim Settlements

If asbestos exposure liability can be proven, victims have two main routes to receive financial restitution – filing a claim with one of many asbestos trust funds or by pursuing a personal injury lawsuit against the companies responsible. Most cases are files with trusts or a combination of lawsuits and trust claims.

Asbestos bankruptcy trusts are pools of money set aside by courts when asbestos defendants declare bankruptcy, as dozens have done over decades of litigation. Funds are directly paid into trusts for current and future claimants. Common eligibility requirements include:

• Meeting disease and exposure criteria thresholds spelling out admitted areas, occupations, products etc.
• Gathering extensive medical evidence fully detailing diagnosis development to explicitly illustrate damages
• Certifying under oath all exposure events including dates, duties, departments, buildings etc.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawyers at Braver Law.

However, defendants not in bankruptcy remain open to lawsuits brought by skilled asbestos attorneys seeking settlements through negotiation leverage and litigation pressure. Maximum dollar amounts are not capped like trusts. Factors determining values gained by asbestos lawyers include:

• Assets and insurance coverage across all defendable business entities.
• Applicable state laws capping payout ratios and liability clauses.
• The defendant’s risks of losing in court based on the provided evidence and testimony strength.

Average mesothelioma lawsuit settlements reached by law firms now range between $1 to $2 million. Experienced asbestos attorneys know how to secure either trust fund claims or civil suit settlements swiftly.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawyers at Braver Law.

Hiring a Lung Cancer Lawyer to File an Asbestos Lawsuit

Handling a lawsuit involving asbestos exposure can be overwhelming, especially when dealing with medical treatments, family responsibilities, and financial pressures. Victims of asbestos-related lung cancer require strong legal representation from attorneys who specialize in these cases. Here’s what to consider before choosing a lawyer:

• Assess the lawyer’s experience in asbestos litigation, including their success record and familiarity with complex cases. Request examples of their past work.
• Understand the attorney fee agreements available, which may include hourly rates, flat fees, or more commonly, contingency fees where the lawyer takes a percentage of the final compensation. Many firms also cover litigation costs upfront, with repayment only if the case is successful.
• Evaluate the firm’s resources for gathering evidence, such as relationships with medical specialists, investigators, legal nurse consultants, and access to asbestos testing labs. These resources can strengthen the case.
• Discuss realistic expectations for case valuation, necessary preparations, the litigation process, and estimated duration.
• Ensure the firm has protocols in place to avoid conflicts of interest with companies that could affect their legal strategy or objectivity.

Unfortunately, some attorneys exploit vulnerable victims with misleading advertising, exaggerated promises, or improper referrals. Reputable firms like Braver Law prioritize the well-being of their clients over profits.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawyers at Braver Law.

Building a Strong Asbestos Lawsuit

The litigation phases demanding the most attention in any asbestos injury case are the intensive investigation and discovery efforts made before complaint filings ever reach trial arguments. This is when your lung cancer attorneys carefully:

• Comb employment/military records to pinpoint asbestos product types, exposure dates, facilities etc. as evidence.
• Research medical reports outlining victims’ health trajectories since initial diagnosis to quantify damages for plaintiffs.
• Track down defendant companies’ dissolution histories, mergers and acquisitions needing navigation to determine accountable successors.
• Compile research on safety protocols, products utilized, asbestos abatement decisions etc. by defendants revealing what they should have known regarding dangers.
• Construct chronological timelines integrating victims’ progressive exposure events with defendants’ growing internal recognition of health hazards.
• Locate specialists willing to serve as expert record reviewers and court witnesses if a jury trial is pursued.

Meticulous discovery and investigation allow the asbestos law firm to methodically build strong arguments proving the liable parties’ roles and determining fair damage amount demands. When collectively presented to defendants, reasonable settlement offers often promptly follow since risks of losing in court become clear. If not, our lawyers fully prepare to aggressively litigate for victims’ rights.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawyers at Braver Law.

Financial Support Options During Litigation

Given average resolution times spanning anywhere from several months to years for asbestos lawsuits, many victims under financial strain could use assistance paying for:

• Ongoing asbestos disease treatment and palliative care
• Cost of living expenses due to lost wages forcing early retirement
• Sudden debts accrued from their dire diagnosis and disability

If an experienced asbestos law firm accepts a case on contingency, fee payments are deferred until case settlement, allowing lump sum assistance then. In the meantime, lung cancer lawyers may help victims explore:

• Social Security disability benefits applications citing a terminal diagnosis
• Healthcare credits through hospital financial planning departments able to negotiate costs
• Advance settlement loans allow victims limited upfront money against expected litigation outcomes. Interest accrues so these warrant caution.
• Accelerating trust claim payments while waiting for lawsuit payouts.

Reliable asbestos lawyers remain sensitive to clients’ perpetual financial challenges from diseases. They can advise on available relief options during the waiting game towards settlements, securing true justice at last.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawyers at Braver Law.

Let Braver Law’s Lung Cancer Lawyers Guide You Through Your Legal Options

Receiving an asbestos disease diagnosis, particularly the late-stage terminal variety, drops patients and families into terrifying territory fraught with fear, anxiety and anger over dreams cut devastatingly short by preventable circumstances. Why did this happen? Where can we turn for help, financially and emotionally? For asbestos victims, difficult yet potentially empowering paths forward exist.

Asbestos and lung cancer attorneys CAN leverage truth into tools securing both financial lifelines and closure when companies face accountabilities through non-partisan courts and trust systems.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawyers at Braver Law.

Frequently Asked Questions