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Couple Blames His Mesothelioma on Failures of 3M Mask
In 2019, Larry Roemmich was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, the rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Roeemmich had spent twenty-seven years working at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) as an insulator. Over eight of those years he wore a protective mask manufactured and sold by 3M Company. Roemmich and his wife named
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Proposed Change in New York Law Would Impact Mesothelioma Victims’ Families
The families of New Yorkers lost to malignant mesothelioma are waiting and watching as New York Governor Kathy Hochul considers a bill that’s been sent to her for signature. The Grieving Families Act (Senate Bill S74A) would be the first change to the state’s wrongful death statute since 1847. It would dramatically expand the damages
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Study Shows the Right Mesothelioma Surgery is the One the Patient Can Best Tolerate
Not every patient diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma is eligible for surgery, but those who are surgical candidates face a significant dilemma. Should they opt for extrapleural pneumonectomy, an aggressive surgery that removes the pleural membrane, the most affected lung, and all evidence of cancer? Or should they choose the less invasive pleurectomy and decortication
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New Drug Combination Shows Promise as Second-Line Mesothelioma Treatment
Researchers from The Netherland Cancer Institute in Amsterdam presented the results of a recent mesothelioma study at the recent International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2022 World Conference. The PEMMELA study explored whether combining two medications, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) with lenvatinib (Lenvima), would lead to improved median overall survival and progression-free survival in patients
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Judge Rejects Asbestos Company’s Appeal, Mesothelioma Victim’s Family to Keep Damages Award
It’s been nearly ten years since Stephen Stewart was first diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, and three years since a South Carolina jury ordered dryer felt company Scapa Waycross, Inc. to pay the man’s family a total of $700,000 — later amended to $1 million — for his economic damages and the pain and suffering that
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Building Company Must Face Jury in Mesothelioma Case
Malignant mesothelioma lawsuits pit victims of asbestos exposure and their families against the companies that put them at risk. Though individual families may seem disadvantaged when battling billion-dollar companies, the recent case of a worker sickened by asbestos-contaminated joint compound shows that the rules of the justice system level the playing field, giving plaintiffs a fighting
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Mesothelioma Researchers View NIPEC Treatment with Optimism
Though malignant mesothelioma most frequently develops in the pleural cavity, approximately 15% of victims are diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. The tumors, which appear in the abdominal cavity, are generally treated with a combination of cytoreductive surgery followed by the site being bathed in heated chemotherapy solution. In recent years a new treatment called NIPEC, or
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Lawsuit Blames Homeowner’s Mesothelioma Death on Product Used in Remodeling Project
Esther D. Mellor died eighteen months after her diagnosis with malignant mesothelioma, but before her death she filed an asbestos lawsuit against Union Carbide Corporation and other defendants. She claimed that she had been exposed to the company’s asbestos in a joint compound used to remodel her home in the 1960s and 1970s. The asbestos
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J & J Mesothelioma Claims to be Assessed by Famed Mediator
Facing conflicting requests from cancer plaintiffs and Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary LTL Management, U.S. bankruptcy judge Michael Kaplan has announced that famed mediator Kenneth Feinberg will be providing an independent estimation of the mesothelioma and ovarian cancer claims against the consumer giant.
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Report Confirms 20-Year Rise in Malignant Mesothelioma Deaths in Women
A study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report has confirmed what mesothelioma advocates have long suspected: deaths from malignant mesothelioma among women have continued to increase despite the sharp decline in asbestos use.
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Navy Vet’s Widow Files Mesothelioma Case Against Forklift Companies
Despite objections from two forklift companies, a mesothelioma claim filed by the widow of a Navy veteran will be able to proceed. Patricia Elizabeth Smeal blames asbestos within the forklifts’ brakes for her husband’s death from the rare asbestos-related disease.
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Court Compels Westinghouse to Provide Evidence in Mesothelioma Case
Malignant mesothelioma lawsuits often feel like David and Goliath battles, pitting everyday citizens against corporate giants. That must certainly be the case for the family of Ann Stadtler, whose quest for justice has them facing off against the Westinghouse company. The family was recently handed a win when the Superior Court of Rhode Island granted
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Lawsuit Links Dental Products to Man’s Malignant Mesothelioma
Though not exclusively an occupational disease, the rare and deadly form of cancer known as malignant mesothelioma is frequently attributed to workplace exposure to asbestos. While the vast majority of victims come from construction, shipbuilding, and factory environments, others have been exposed simply by working in buildings or with appliances that were fabricated using asbestos
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Quality of Life Study of Mesothelioma Patients Yields Surprising Results
Patients diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma face a grim prognosis and many tough choices. One of the decisions they have to make regards surgery, and whether to undergo an aggressive procedure called extrapleural pneumonectomy that removes an entire lung plus other affected tissue, or a less aggressive procedure called pleurectomy and decortication, or P/D, which
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Expert Panel Concludes that Firefighting Boosts Risk of Mesothelioma and Other Cancers
Firefighting has always been on the list of occupations considered at risk for malignant mesothelioma. But now an expert panel put together by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has confirmed the dangers, concluding that firefighting itself is carcinogenic.
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Mesothelioma Advocates Watch Closely as Bankruptcy Judge Considers J&J Talc Lawsuits
Mesothelioma victims and others who blame Johnson & Johnson for their asbestos-related illnesses have been frustrated and outraged that recent bankruptcy maneuvers might protect the company from litigation. Now there’s hope that some cases may be heard, as two states have renewed their lawsuits against the company over its talc sales, and the bankruptcy judge
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Researchers’ Novel Approach May Counter Mesothelioma’s Resistance to Cancer Drugs
While chemotherapy drugs are extremely effective in the treatment of many cancers, some malignancies characterized by solid tumors — including malignant mesothelioma — have proven resistant to the drugs’ effects. But according to new research, a combination of several drugs generally used to treat other serious conditions may offer hope to those afflicted with these
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Construction Worker’s Family Awarded $15 Million After Mesothelioma Death
Though the presentation of evidence took three weeks, it took a New York state jury just 45 minutes to return a $15 million verdict to a mesothelioma widow seeking justice for her husband’s death. The jury found that asbestos company Kaiser Gypsum acted with reckless disregard leading to the death of 69-year-old Munir Seen.
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Pennsylvania Jury Awards $3.8 Million to Family of Mesothelioma Victim
For three weeks, a Pennsylvania jury heard testimony accusing manufacturer Washington Penn Plastics of causing 64-year-old Daniel Rugg’s death from malignant mesothelioma, and every day of the trial his widow Sandra sat and held a photo of her late husband. Last week the jury ordered the company to pay $3.8 million in damages.
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UK to Begin Offering Immunotherapy for Mesothelioma Patients
Almost two years after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab as first-line treatment for adult patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma, the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom has granted the same approval for its citizens.
