Simmons Law Firm Sponsors 11th Annual Malignant Mesothelioma Symposium

As part of the Simmons Law Firm’s efforts to support mesothelioma research and raise asbestos awareness, the firm is once again partnering with Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation to sponsor the 11th annual Malignant Mesothelioma Symposium. The symposium, held this year from June 23-25 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., features sessions with some of the nation’s leading mesothelioma doctors and advocates.

This year, Simmons Law Firm partner John Barnerd will participate in a panel to answer questions about the legal process for mesothelioma victims. The discussion will take place from 5:45 – 6:45 p.m. on June 23.

“The symposium provides a perfect opportunity for patients and their families to connect with each other and stay up-to-date on the latest medical research,” said Joy Wheeler, the Simmons Law Firm’s vice president of medical and patient relations. “As an advocate for victims of mesothelioma, we work to support the mesothelioma community in any way we can.”

The Simmons Law Firm’s sponsorship of the Malignant Mesothelioma Symposium is the latest in the firm’s ongoing support of mesothelioma research. To date, the Simmons Law Firm has donated over $2 million to the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, making it the research foundation’s top cumulative donor.

Through events like the annual Malignant Mesothelioma Symposium, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation has been a leader in the fight against asbestos-related disease,” said John Simmons, founding partner of the Simmons Law Firm. “We are proud to team up with the foundation as they bring us closer to a cure.”

Register for the symposium and find a schedule of events through the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation.

About the Simmons Law Firm:

The Simmons Law Firm, headquartered in Alton, Ill., is one of the country’s leading asbestos and mesothelioma law firms. With offices in Illinois, Missouri and California, the firm’s lawyers have represented over 2,000 patients and families affected by mesothelioma in every state. The Simmons firm has pledged over $15 million to cancer research and proudly supports mesothelioma medical researchers throughout the country in order to find a cure. For more information about the Simmons firm

AboutMesothelioma.Net What the Veterans’ Cancer Registry Reveals About Mesothelioma

Doctors still have much to learn about mesothelioma and how best to treat patients diagnosed with this aggressive cancer linked with asbestos exposure.

To better understand the causes and consequences of mesothelioma, researchers from Creighton University School of Medicine and the Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine in Philadelphia retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 924 veterans diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma between 1995 and 2009 and listed in the Veterans Affairs Cancer Registry.

The median age of the veterans with malignant pleural mesothelioma was 71, according to the researchers who presented their findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference June 3-7 in Chicago. The median age of the veterans with mesothelioma is a reminder of the typical 20-year to 50-year delay between exposure to asbestos and appearance of asbestos disease symptoms. Many veterans of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard likely were exposed to asbestos in their 20s and 30s, but didn’t notice any respiratory symptoms for decades.

From the 1940 through the 1970s, millions of veterans were exposed to asbestos which was widely used in building materials, automotive parts, ships and insulation. The use of asbestos was restricted starting in the late 1970s because of its toxicity to humans. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans who served in shipyards, mining, insulation work, carpentry and construction, demolition of old buildings, and the manufacture of friction products such as brakes were most likely exposed to asbestos.

In the new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the researchers reported that the median survival for the veterans with mesothelioma was seven months. Veterans who had malignant mesothelioma that had not spread and underwent surgery or surgery combined with chemotherapy or radiation tended to live longer.

Nearly 90 percent of veterans diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma were Caucasian and about 9 percent were African American.

In the analysis, some factors observed among the veterans correlated with longer survival including younger age, diagnosis of early stage cancer, the type of cellular structure of the mesothelioma and receipt of surgery.

Approximately, 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the U.S. each year. Most are workers and veterans who were exposed to asbestos for an extended period on the job decades ago.

Light-based Photo Therapy May Brighten Future of Pleural Mesothelioma Patients

Photodynamic therapy is an emerging cancer treatment that uses a drug called a photosensitizer and a particular kind of light to kill cancer cells. The application of photodynamic therapy or PDT to pleural mesothelioma is still in its infancy. But the results of early research are encouraging.

In a June 2011 study published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, pleural mesothelioma patients who underwent lung-sparing surgery in combination with photodynamic therapy, showed unusually long overall survival, University of Pennsylvania researchers reported.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lung associated with inhaling asbestos. Asbestos exposure typically occurs 20 to 50 years before symptoms of mesothelioma appear. But once the aggressive asbestos-related cancer develops, patients typically die within 9 to 12 months.

The Penn researchers compared the survival of two groups of pleural mesothelioma patients who underwent different surgical treatments combined with photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy from 2004 to 2008. A number of the mesothelioma patients who underwent photodynamic therapy in combination with a pleurectomy to remove cancerous tissue from the lining of the lung remained alive after more than two years, they reported.

The strategy of any multi-pronged cancer treatment regimen is to use surgery to remove cancerous tumors as completely as possible, then use other therapies to control any remaining cancer cells.

The way photodynamic therapy works is a drug is injected into the patient that makes cancer cells sensitive to certain wavelengths of light. The specific wavelength of light causes the photosensitzers to release a form of oxygen that kills cells—in this case malignant mesothelioma cells. The light beam can penetrate into tissue, but cannot pass through more than about one-third inch of tissue. That makes photodynamic therapy more suitable for treatment of cancers on the surface or just under the surface of tissue.

To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved PDT to treat esophageal cancer non-small cell lung cancer. The use of light-based therapy in treatment of mesothelioma is still experimental, and the University of Pennsylvania is one of only a few institutions using PDT for mesothelioma treatment.

In the study, one group of 14 mesothelioma patients underwent a modified version of radical surgery to remove a lung and the lining of the lung, a procedure known as an extrapleural pneumonectomy. The radical surgery was combined with the light-based cancer therapy while each patient was in the operating room. The second group of 14 mesothelioma patients underwent a pleurectomy, in which the diseased lining of the lung is removed, but the patient’s lung itself is spared.

The two groups totaling 19 men and 9 women overall had similar demographics, and both groups received the photodynamic therapy. The patients ranged in age from 27 to 81 years old. Most patients also received pemetrexed-based chemotherapy and some underwent radiation.

There was a significant difference in the overall survival of the two groups of patients, the researchers reported.

The median survival for the patients who underwent the extrapleural pneumonectomy to remove a lung combined with the light therapy was about 8.4 months. But enough of the mesothelioma patients in the second group who underwent lung-sparing surgery remained alive after two years that the researchers have yet to be able to calculate their median survival. That contrasts with the typical survival of 9 months to 13 months for mesothelioma patients who undergo a pleurectomy based on other studies.

The findings are particularly notable because most of the patients in the study had advanced stage III and IV cancer. They would not otherwise have been good candidates for radical surgery because of their age or cancer characteristics.

Given the results, the Penn researchers say that removal of the cancerous lining of the lung (a radical pleurectomy ) combined with photodynamic therapy is a reasonable option for appropriate pleural mesothelioma patients. A growing body of evidence supports photodynamic therapy as an effective way to induce an immune system response against cancer. The researchers say the procedure can serve as the backbone of multi-pronged surgery-based treatments for mesothelioma.

A follow-up study involving multiple medical research institutions and the latest generation of photosensizer drugs is now underway to test the hypotheses produced by this study.

Multimodality Mesothelioma Therapy is Still the Best Option

Patient-centric treatment optimizes the potential for success of a patient’s care by offering the right treatment at the right time. This is especially vital for mesothelioma patients as the disease rapidly progresses to cause life-threatening complications, and can differ dramatically across patients. But before determining the optimal treatment for an individual, researchers need to gauge the efficacy of the available options.

In a recent article in the medical journal Current Treatment Options in Oncology, researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, explore the benefits of the individual treatments for mesothelioma, as well as the three-pronged multi-mode approach using a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused pulmonary cancer, is diagnosed in close to 3,000 Americans each year. Most are workers who breathed or ingested asbestos dust at at-risk workplaces in New York and elsewhere. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is by far the most common form of mesothelioma.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma typically remains contained locally to the lining of the lung during much of its development, but spreads, or metastasizes, to other parts of the body in the later stages of the disease. For localized mesothelioma, surgeons often try to remove visible malignant tumors and use additional treatments of chemotherapy and radiation to manage the remaining cancer.

The two most common surgeries are pleurectomy/decortication (P/D), a procedure that strips away the diseased membrane lining the lung and visible tumors but spares the lung; and extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), a more radical procedure that involves removal of a lung, the diseased lining of the chest cavity and heart, and a portion of the diaphragm. Which of the two surgeries to use on a patient is often debated in the medical community.

According to the article, the radical surgery, EPP, carries a significant incidence of patient mortality. Furthermore, many mesothelioma patients who survive radical surgery are too weakened to handle a full course of additional radiation and chemotherapy. The research found that those who had a P/D showed better outcomes among patients. Advances in administration of high-dose radiation have allowed targeted radiation therapy for patients who undergo the pleurectomy / decortication surgery.

Regardless of the surgery used, the MSKCC researchers say mesothelioma almost always recurs locally. To combat the aggressive asbestos cancer, oncologists typically follow the surgery with radiation to prevent the return of the localized cancer, and chemotherapy to reduce the risk of malignant cancer cells spreading to other parts of the body.

The researchers concluded that mesothelioma patients clearly benefit from multimodality therapy. The physician that best knows his patient should be able to determine the ideal combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to personalize the mesothelioma care for optimal results.

Asbestos Exposure at Missouri Job Sites

Minnesota Mesothelioma Lawyer: Asbestos, the leading cause of mesothelioma, was used for decades in buildings, industrial applications, and consumer products in Missouri.

There are a number of known Missouri asbestos exposure sites. Chief among them is W.R. Grace & Co.’s Zonolite plant in St. Louis, which processed nearly 105,000 tons of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore shipped from the mines in Libby, Montana.

Workers may have been exposed to asbestos anywhere in and around the plant from activities such as unloading vermiculite, moving it to the furnaces, processing it or handling waste rock afterwards. During the processing of the ore to produce attic insulation and other vermiculite products, asbestos was released into the air and posed a potential exposure risk to those who worked, went to school, or lived near the Zonolite plant.

Asbestos exposure in Missouri was likely an occupational hazard for many of the state’s workers who were unknowingly exposed on the job and now suffer from such life-threatening diseases as asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma.

A Case of On-the Job Asbestos Exposure

Workers remain at risk for asbestos exposure today at some Missouri job sites. In fact, Hannibal’s fire chief was forced to retire as part of a settlement reached last year over allegations that he had endangered firefighters by having them remove asbestos-containing materials from two Fire Department buildings in 2009. Asbestos exposure can cause a number of health problems including asbestosis and mesothelioma cancer.

The chief was allegedly aware that the building contained asbestos but he had withheld that information from the rest of the department. The firefighters reportedly removed floor tiles and insulation from the buildings that may have exposed them to asbestos.

Other Missouri Job Sites and Asbestos Exposure

Most of the Missouri job sites where asbestos was used, or is known to have been a danger, consist of power plants and chemical manufacturers. But there were other sites as well.

For instance, the Mack Truck assembly plant in Joplin is similar to auto manufacturing plants when it comes to asbestos issues. Gasket materials and brake linings are two of the components of a vehicle in which asbestos is used.

At least one university has also had an asbestos problem connected to renovation. In addition, the owner of a major hotel chain was fined for violations related to the renovation of one of its sites in Kansas City. The owner of the building had failed to hire licensed asbestos abatement contractors and acknowledged using untrained employees to do the work. As a result, the owner of this chain was assessed fines totaling $300,000.

Naturally Occurring Asbestos Exposure in Missouri

Missouri’s Ozark Mountains have two naturally-occurring deposits of amphibole asbestos, one of which is located in an area southwest of Poplar Bluff. The other one is found near the small town of Advance; there is also a serpentine (chrysotile) deposit in the area, in which an asbestos mining operation once existed.

Asbestos is actually a generic term for several different minerals that are chemically unrelated, but have similar physical properties; namely, they are soft, flexible and fibrous, yet retain the fire resistance of rock. These mineral fibers can be woven into fabric, much like wool or cotton.

Unfortunately, these fibers can have devastating effects on the human respiratory system, causing fibrosis (an increase of fibrous tissue in the lungs), pleural plaques and thickening, and a variety of different forms of asbestos cancer – including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the pleural lining (defined as pleural mesothelioma), or other parts of the body.

Michigan Mesothelioma Lawyers

Michigan Mesothelioma Lawyers: Michigan ranks ninth in the U.S. for deaths from malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare, deadly form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

Mounting a mesothelioma lawsuit is a complicated process. For that reason, victims of asbestos exposure may want to hire an experienced Michigan mesothelioma attorney who can help them to potentially win a Michigan mesothelioma settlement. Sokolove Law’s Michigan mesothelioma attorneys have helped thousands of people exposed to asbestos across the state get the help they deserve.

Those interested in filing a Michigan mesothelioma lawsuit, or a lawsuit for any asbestos cancer or asbestos-related injury, are advised to contact a Michigan mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after diagnosis.

Filing a Michigan Mesothelioma Lawsuit

Those interested in filing a Michigan mesothelioma lawsuit or in hiring a Michigan mesothelioma lawyer should be aware that their legal rights may be restricted by Michigan’s statute of limitations. A statute of limitations is the period of time you have until it is “too late” to file an asbestos or mesothelioma lawsuit. So you are advised to contact a Michigan mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after a mesothelioma diagnosis in order to file any lawsuits within the state’s statute of limitations.

An experienced Michigan mesothelioma attorney can help you present your case and maximize your chances of winning a settlement in a court of law. To make sure that you are protected under the law and to build a strong case, a mesothelioma attorney will first need to obtain the following information: medical records confirming a diagnosis of mesothelioma or other asbestos disease; death certificate with cause of death listed (if applicable); work history or military service to determine how and when the asbestos exposure occurred.

It is important to know that even if your loved one has already lost their battle with mesothelioma, you may still have the right to file a claim.

You may be interested to learn that the Michigan Supreme Court in 2006 prohibited trial courts in the state from “bundling” together asbestos-related cases except for discovery. This means that each case must be tried separately. Bundling, according to the court, can result in severely ill plaintiffs receiving less for their claim in settlement than they might have obtained if their case was not part of another case or cases.

Michigan Asbestos Cancer and Mesothelioma Doctors

Michigan Mesothelioma Medical Resources: The diagnosis and treatment of asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma and other asbestos cancers and conditions is complicated; therefore, it is gradually becoming a subspecialty in the field of medicine. However, as of the present time, there is no medical degree that is specific to asbestos-related practice. Most doctors focusing on asbestos disease today are trained in oncology, thoracic surgery, respiratory or occupational medicine, or some related field.

It’s important for patients suffering from asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma and other diseases and conditions caused by asbestos exposure to be treated by doctors with the proper level of expertise. An established Michigan doctor who specializes in mesothelioma treatment is Dr. Gregory P. Kalemkerian, the Co-Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor.

Those interested in filing a Michigan mesothelioma lawsuit, or a lawsuit for any asbestos cancer or asbestos-related injury, are advised to contact a Michigan mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after diagnosis.

Michigan Asbestos Cancer and Mesothelioma Treatment Centers

Today, between 25%- 30% of all Americans will get some form of cancer during their lifetimes. There are many reasons for this, including the modern lifestyle and the poisons that have been put into the environment – of which asbestos is a prime example.

The numbers of clinics and hospitals that specialize in oncology have increased in response to the growing number of patients. Cancer treatment centers located in Michigan include: Ann Arbor Hematology Oncology Associates, Ypsilanti; Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit; St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, Pontiac; University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor.

Asbestos Exposure at Job Sites in Michigan

Michigan Mesothelioma Lawyer: Michigan was the heart of the auto industry for most of the 20th century – and the automobile is a product that has contained numerous asbestos materials. Even today, certain gasket materials, as well as brake linings, contain asbestos.

Thus it is not surprising that the Ford Motor plant in Ecorse is just one of many auto industry job sites that have been identified as a Michigan asbestos exposure location.

Asbestos exposure in Michigan may have been an occupational hazard for many of the state’s workers in the auto industry. Some were unknowingly exposed on the job to asbestos and now suffer from such life-threatening diseases as asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma.

Suit Alleges On-the Job Asbestos Exposure

Consider the asbestos-related lawsuit filed by a Michigan woman, Marsha K. Ayer. Her complaint alleges that 38 companies were responsible for the asbestos exposure that caused the lung cancer death of her next-of-kin, Gary Ayer. The Madison-St. Clair Record reports that Ayer worked as a line worker and powerhouse engineer at General Motors from 1972 until 2005 and as a home repairman and remodeler from the 1960s until the 1970s. The suit states that the defendants failed to exercise reasonable care for Ayer’s safety and exposed him to asbestos-containing products during his career, which allegedly caused his lung disease. Ayer suffered great physical pain and mental anguish as a result of his illness; his condition also resulted in significant medical costs.

Ayer’s case is a cautionary tale for Michigan workers. However, the auto industry wasn’t the only one that may have exposed its workers to asbestos in Michigan.

Other Michigan Job Sites and Asbestos Exposure

Chemical plants such as Lakeway Chemical in Muskegon have also been known to use asbestos materials because asbestos is resistant to most corrosive chemical substances.

Most of the asbestos used in chemical labs is of the “blue” crocidolite variety. This is a particularly deadly form of amphibole asbestos; the fibers resemble microscopic needles that burrow their way straight through the lung tissue from the inside out. On the way, they interact with the DNA of cells in ways that medical researchers are only beginning to understand, causing the cells to mutate and become malignant.

Michigan also has a strong maritime heritage that includes shipbuilding and marine repair facilities since the state is surrounded by the Great Lakes. However, such job sites have often been associated with asbestos exposure. According to a study carried out at the National Cancer Institute, shipyard workers employed prior to 1980 run a significantly elevated risk of developing asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis or a form of the asbestos cancer mesothelioma,

Asbestos Exposure Sites in Michigan

Following is a list of some of the job sites from the state of Michigan where workers were potentially and unnecessarily exposed to asbestos and put at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer: Bay City Power Plant, Defoe Shipyard, Cooks Nuclear Power Plant; Ford Motor Company; Lakeside Refining; Lakeway Chemical; Marathon Oil; McLeod Steel; Sunoil Refinery.

While many of these Michigan asbestos exposure sites have taken steps to keep their employees and visitors safe since the problem was discovered, people who worked in or visited these areas in the past may still have been exposed to asbestos. Individuals who lived or worked near these areas or other known asbestos exposure sites in Michigan should be checked regularly for signs of mesothelioma and should contact a Michigan mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after a diagnosis in order to file any lawsuits within the state’s statute of limitations.

Naturally Occurring Asbestos Exposure in Michigan

Michigan also possesses natural asbestos deposits, which are located in the state’s Upper Peninsula. This is a heavily forested and geologically rugged area; the Porcupine Mountains have been identified by geologists as the oldest mountain range in North America.

Five of these asbestos deposits are around the towns of Marquette, Negaunee and Ishpeming; these deposits contain both amphibole and chrysotile (serpentine) forms of asbestos. Additional serpentine and amphibole deposits exist south of this area, around the Norway/Niagara/Iron Mountain area. Further south of this was an asbestos mining operation that has long since shut down.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry maps also indicate a chrysotile deposit near the town of L’Anse as well as an amphibole formation west of Copper City and Allouez.

cars crash, mesothelioma

cars crash and mesothelioma

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lemon law a remedy for purchasers of cars

Lemon laws are American state laws that provide a remedy for purchasers of cars that repeatedly fail to meet standards of quality and performance. These cars are called lemons. The federal lemon protects citizens of all states. State lemon laws vary by state and may not necessarily cover used or leased cars. The rights afforded to consumers by lemon laws may exceed the warranties expressed in purchase contracts. Lemon law is the common nickname for these laws, but each state has different names for the laws and acts.