Does the idea of drowning in insulation fibers seem ludicrous to you? This is exactly what has happened to Oklahoma City mesothelioma victims. Asbestos fibers, used for decades as fire-retardant and heat-resistant insulation materials, cause a rare form of cancer. Miniscule pieces of these fibers break off and float through the air. They become attached to clothing and are inhaled into the lungs of their victims. Here, they become the messengers of a painful, usually incurable disease known as lung mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma cancer has stricken hundreds of people in Oklahoma city who worked in construction trades, shipyards, automobile manufacturing companies, and the oil industry. Furthermore, these workers brought home asbestos fibers to their families on their clothing and in their hair. Most cases of malignant melanoma have been diagnosed in people who worked directly with asbestos. A significant number of people, however, whose only exposure to this material was secondhand, have contracted this disease.
A number of industries in Oklahoma City offered workers many opportunities for mesothelioma exposure. Shipyards and power plants used large quantities of asbestos before it was outlawed in the 1970s. A number of those employed in construction trades also handled this substance extensively. Many people worked for oil drilling companies and returned to their families in the city on weekends or after several weeks.
Even though laws were passed to protect workers in the 1970s, many innocent people were exposed as late as the 1990s. For example, a mine in Montana shipped ore containing asbestos dust across Oklahoma. Oklahoma City was one of the three cities whose residents were affected by this deadly error. In fact, most of the people in the state diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer live near Tulsa or Oklahoma City.
Unfortunately, the state has chosen to enact laws that favor these corporations rather than the unfortunate people who worked for them. Oklahoma law states that those who are entitled to compensation for asbestos mesothelioma must be diagnosed within two years of the date of exposure. Alternatively, their doctors must have recognized the symptoms of this cancer within two years of the time when their symptoms began. The difficulty with this is that mesothelioma symptoms are often vague at the outset, and suggestive of other health problems, including emphysema, asbestosis, and congestive heart failure.
Because of the limitations imposed by this statute, many Oklahoma City law firms recommend that their clients file lawsuits in other states if possible. This is because most states do not have this statute of limitations. Furthermore, some states, including California, work to expedite the claims of mesothelioma victims so that they can at least have the peace of knowing that they received some compensation for the deadly exposure imposed upon them by their workplaces.
In Oklahoma city, mesothelioma injury victims are forced to fight long, hard battles for mesothelioma settlements. Sometimes victims, as in the case of Randy Stone, die long before their cases are ever brought to court or a settlement. In these situations, only the families of the deceased victims can demand justice from uncaring corporations for their loved one’s death caused directly from mesothelioma injury. Oklahoma city mesothelioma lawyers are put through stall and delay tactics on all claims, hoping the mesothelioma victims family will lose interest in any type of large settlement.
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A Mesothelioma Patient has a Grim Prognosis if not treated as early as possible for best survival odds.
