Hope For Mesolthelioma Victims
Although the cancer is still one of the deadliest diesases known to man, mesothelioma survival rates have inched up in recent years, largely because of new available treatment options.
Palliative chemotherapy has increased significantly since 2016, effectively replacing radiation treatments among healthier patients. Effective surgical interventions have increased as well, though they are an option only in a limited number of cases. One study concluded that a battery of surgery to remove the cancer, light-based photodynamic therapy to kill any remaining cancer cells, and chemotherapy yielded a survival rate of nearly four years; the rate nearly doubled if the mesothelioma had not spread to the patient’s lymph nodes. In contrast, patients who received chemotherapy alone survived for less than a year, on average.
In addition to tratment protocols, gender has a significant impact on mesothelioma survial, as up to four times as many fatalities are men.
Mesothelioma and Your Body
This disease is basically a malignant tumor that forms along the lining of the lungs because of exposure to asbestos. Before its carcinogenic properties were identified, asbestos was commonly used in construction projects and shipyards to fireproof building and ship interiors. Most asbestos fibers are fifty times smaller than most human hairs, so they are easily inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Family members of people who worked around asbestos are at risk for mesothelioma as well, because many workers unwittingly carried asbestos fibers home on their clothes and shoes.
Most people know that cancer is an incredibly painful disease which almost literally eats patients alive from the inside out. Because it spreads quickly, it has a very low survival rate, so doctors must use aggressive medical treatments that often have very serious side effects.
Mesothelioma has an incubation period of up to 40 years, and cancer is initially misdiagnosed in many patients, especially those who have no obvious risk factors. As a result, there could easily be fifty years between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma diganosis.
Mesothelioma and Your Legal Case
Wrongful disease cases often have statute of limitations issues. In Kentucky, victims normally have only one year to sue after they discover that their injuries are legally compensable.
Assume Velma Victim grew up in te 1970s and often played near a construction site, although her mother sternly warned her to avoid the area. In 2013, she begins experiencing some cancer-like symptoms but does not go to the doctor, in 2014 she goes to the doctor, in 2015 the doctor says her cancer is mesothelioma, and in 2016 she learns that mesothelioma is linked to construction sites in the 1970s.
The insurance company will probablly argue that the statute of limitations began to run in 2010, when she should have known she had mesothelioma. But the statute probably did not begin to run until 2013, when she found out the truth about her condition and its cause.
For prompt assistance from an experienced personal injury lawyer in Leitchfield, contact Attorney Gary S. Logsdon today, because you have a limited amount of time to act.