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How To Make Mesothelioma Claims

Mesothelioma is a rare form of lung cancer. It is caused as a result of prolonged exposure to asbestos, a fibrous silicate mineral. This illness is dominant in factory workers where asbestos is used in the manufacturing processes.

The dangers of asbestos exposure are well-known and as such if a worker develops this condition, it is treated as the negligence of the employer to provide a safe working environment to his employees. The treatment and cost of health care for this lung condition is quite expensive. Therefore, the affected can make mesothelioma claims against the person he deems responsible and seek financial assistance to bear the costs, in part or full.

What are the different types of Mesothelioma claims?

When it comes to filing claims, one can seek different types of compensation. The first includes compensation for personal injury. It covers the individual affected by Mesothelioma as a result of direct exposure at the work place. The personal injury law suits also cover family members who display the symptoms of Mesothelioma caused by indirect exposure to the silicate mineral; fragments or particles of the mineral brought into the home from the workplace.

The affected can also file Mesothelioma claims for lost income. This lung infection causes intense pain and reduces mobility. In severe cases, it could result in total impairment forcing an individual to stay out of work for prolonged periods. In event of this, one can seek compensation for lost income to support his daily needs.

The compensation also covers the costs of medical treatment. One can also ask compensation for the suffering and pain caused by the illness. If mesothelioma is certified as the cause of death of the patient, the family members can also file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the deceased member. In case of wrongful death lawsuits, a number of aspects are factored in before the compensation is granted.

In addition to seeking compensation from the responsible party, you can seek help government assistance. It includes seeking free medical aid or subsidized medical costs.

Filing Mesothelioma Claims and Lawsuits

A claim for compensation can be filed by the affected person or by the family members or relatives on the worker's behalf. The rules to file mesothelioma claims differ from state to state. The amount of compensation one might receive also depends on the severity of the condition. Therefore, it would be in your best interests to work with a lawyer that specializes in filing lawsuits for Mesothelioma compensation. He will be in a better position to brief you on the amount of time to file a claim or the limitations that apply to your local region or country.

The time duration for which the proceedings might last depend on evidence you have to support your mesothelioma claims and how the defendant and his legal staff manage to refute those claims. If your case is very strong, the defendant might opt for an out-of-court settlement. A mesothelioma lawyers works on a contingency basis and takes a certain percent of the compensation as his commission. If the defendant offers a reasonable amount of compensation, although it might not match your Mesothelioma claims, you should consider it given that the proceedings can run into years.

Filing for Mesothelioma claims can be quite a complicated process given the amount of documentation that must be furnished for the procedure to be completed successfully. Nonetheless, the results are worthwhile. A good Mesothelioma Lawyer with his experience can make this otherwise tedious and time-consuming process a smooth sail for you

The world's new top cause of death: Our diets

The biggest cause of premature death today isn't in the air or water -- it's on the dinner table.

A landmark new study published in The Lancet, a medical journal, examined 79 different health risk factors across 188 countries. Researchers found that poor diet is responsible for one in five deaths worldwide -- more than any other factor.

In other words, what we're collectively eating is deadlier than smoking, alcohol, and air pollution.

The good news is that these diet-fueled deaths are eminently preventable. The remedy simply requires paying more attention to what we put in our bodies -- and recognizing that the food choices we make have as much influence over our health as the air we breathe or the medicines we count on to fight disease.

The study, conducted by scientists from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, found that 14 dietary risk factors contribute to the most deaths worldwide. The risk factors are unsurprising: diets low in things like fruits and vegetables and high in processed foods, added salt and sugar, and red meat.

The poor global diet is producing a generation of unhealthy individuals. People who don't eat the right mix of foods fail to get the nutrients they need to preserve their health. That lack of proper nutrition leads to dangerous physical conditions that leave people vulnerable to deadly chronic diseases.

Take obesity -- a common product of a poor diet. Americans today consume 23 percent more calories than they did 40 years ago. It shouldn't be surprising, then, that more than one in three American adults is obese -- and two in three are overweight.

There are now over 2 billion overweight adults worldwide. That's nearly one-third of the globe's population. Some 600 million people are obese.

Obesity puts people at increased risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes -- the risk factor associated with the fourth-most deaths globally. Between 1990 and 2013, diabetes rates shot up in 185 countries worldwide. They decreased or stayed level in just five.

Today, one in twelve adults suffers from the Type-2 variant of the disease.

Areas once defined by lack of food are instead suffering the devastating effects of widespread poor nutrition. In India, for instance, high blood pressure and high blood sugar contribute to over 3 million premature deaths annually. In Latin America and the Middle East, obesity is now the top cause of poor health.

Fortunately, fighting the epidemic of poor eating -- and thus, poor nutrition -- is entirely within our control.

It starts by doing what our parents told us to do -- eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables. But there's a modern-day addendum to this sage advice -- we also need to get enough protein.

Protein is especially important for the largest growing population: the baby boomers. Older adults need about twice the amount of protein typically recommended by dietary guidelines, according to research published this year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Unfortunately, they're not even getting the recommended amount. One in two older adults today is at risk of under-nutrition or malnutrition.

Proper nutrition is also of higher importance for people battling chronic disease. No amount of medication can fight disease as intended if the body in which it's operating is malnourished.

In fact, nutrition is effectively a form of medicine itself. Eating right can pre-emptively ward off chronic disease -- or compensate for previous damage that may have led to its onset.

What people are eating -- or not eating -- has emerged as the biggest threat to global well-being. We can extinguish that threat by simply improving what we put on our plates.

Robert H. Miller is Divisional Vice President, Research & Development, Scientific and Medical Affairs at Abbott.

8-year-old crash victim's organs will give children a second chance

A Raleigh family gave a remarkable gift on Monday night. They recently found out that a child in their family was going to die and decided that they did not want other families to get the same news.

On Sunday, doctors told Tiffany James that her 8-year-old daughter, Ziari King, was not going to make it.

“She fought and struggled all she could, but you know, she got tired,” said James. “There was not much they could do.”

A few days earlier, James said a ball rolled onto Perry Creek Road and King thought it was safe to grab it. King was struck by a car and thrown 55 feet by the impact.

James was at home, a few doors down.

“I heard a bunch of kids running and screaming and ringing the doorbell frantically saying ‘Ziari, Ziari, Ziari got hit’,” said James.

King’s injuries were severe but, for a few days, there was hope. Then the bad news came from doctors.

“She stopped fighting and that is okay with me,” said James.

In that moment, James knew what it was like to lose a child, but she felt her daughter was telling her something.

“I felt compelled that she would want to save other lives,” said James.

James said King’s organs will be donated to help as many as eight other children.

“She’s wrapping her loving angel wings around other beautiful children that need a second chance in life,” said James.

James said she has no hatred for the driver that hit her daughter. She said, if anything, the last several days have given her more love for people around her.

The family has set up a Go Fund Me page to help with King's funeral expenses.

Groundbreaking face transplant: After a firefighter was injured on duty, a deceased 26-year-old cyclist gave him his life back

Patrick Hardison was working as a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Senatobia, 40 miles south of Memphis, when he got a desperate call. A house was in flames, with a woman trapped inside. Hardison arrived on the scene and raced inside, moments before the roof suddenly collapsed. His helmet was knocked off, and he felt his mask melting. He closed his eyes and jumped out the window.

Hardison lost his eyelids, ears, lips and most of his nose, as well as his hair, because of that fire. He also had disfiguring third-degree burns across his entire face, head, neck and upper torso. His skin was so badly damaged that he was not even able to close his eyes completely.

"From that day on, Sept. 5, 2001, there was no normal tissue left throughout his face," Eduardo D. Rodriguez, chair of plastic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, said in recounting the first responder's story.

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Former volunteer firefighter undergoes face transplant surgery

Watch volunteer firefighter Patrick Hardison before and after his 26-hour-long face transplant surgery in August. (Ashleigh Joplin/NYU Langone Medical Center)

In a press conference on Monday, the medical center announced that Hardison, now 41 and a father of five, had undergone the world's most extensive face transplant to date. The donor was a young BMX cyclist from Ohio named David Rodebaugh, whose family donated his liver, kidneys, and both eyes to help other patients. A representative from LiveOnNY, which works to match donors with recipients in the New York metropolitan area, said his mother didn't hesitate when asked about the face transplant and called her son "a free spirit who loved life."

Rodebaugh died in July when he crashed and hit his head while riding in Brooklyn. He was 26 -- virtually the same age as Hardison was when he was injured.

The years following that accident were full of dark times for the young Mississippi firefighter.

He underwent more than 70 surgeries that involved multiple grafts from his leg to his face, but he was still very disfigured -- with "no semblance of normal anatomy," as Rodriguez put it -- and had to hide behind sunglasses and a baseball cap whenever he went out. Talking or eating caused tremendous pain.

A friend at Hardison's church heard about the work Rodriguez had done at the University of Maryland Medical Center for another man whose face had been damaged and contacted the surgeon on his behalf. Hardison became a patient of Rodriguez's while the doctor was at UMMC and continued to work with him after he was recruited to join NYU Langone.

The transplant operation, which took place Aug. 14, was funded by a grant from NYU Langone. The hospital estimates it cost between $850,000 and $1 million.

In the 26-hour surgery, Rodriguez and a team of more than 100 doctors, nurses and technical assistants were able to give Hardison a new face. Unlike previous face transplants, which involved delicately stitching parts of another person's skin, lips, bones, muscles and/or blood vessels onto a patient, this one involved a comprehensive graft of both the front and back of the head that was described as a kind of "hood." It included the scalp, ears and ear canals, parts of the bone from the chin and cheeks, and an entire nose. Surgeons were also able to replace Hardison's eyelids, including the muscles that control blinking.

The team worked in two groups, in two adjoining operating rooms. One was responsible for procuring the face from the donor along with other organs which were to help other patients and the second on Hardison.

Surgeons said encouraging signs were evident even as he was still in surgery: "Patrick’s new face, particularly his new lips and ears, were robust with color, indicating circulation had been restored." Soon the hair on his scalp and face began growing back. Within a week, he was able to sit up in a chair.

The hospital said that just three months after the surgery -- a critical period when most rejections occur -- Hardison is "doing well and is quickly returning to his daily routines."

“I am deeply grateful to my donor and his family,” Hardison said in a statement. “Even though I did not know who they would be, I prayed for them every day, knowing the difficult decision they would have to make in order to help me. I hope they see in me the goodness of their decision."

Rodriguez said that "when I met Patrick and heard his story, I knew that I had to do all I could to help him."

He said one of the most moving moments for him was when Hardison went out to Macy's in New York after his surgery to buy clothes. “For him it was so remarkable that no one stared at him. ... It was a very emotional exchange for us,” Rodriguez said.