Open a newspaper or browse through the latest news on Yahoo or any other internet search engine and you’re likely to dig up at least a few current stories about asbestos negligence cases in the United States. Sadly, most of the time, the stories involve a negligent employer/owner/executive and an unsuspecting employee who now has to face life with the threat of asbestos disease hanging over his/her head.

Recently, media outlets profiled the story of a maintenance worker at a large veterans’ hospital in south Texas who brought suit against the facility for the unsafe handling of toxic asbestos, including actions (or non-actions) that put him and others at risk for exposure.

The plaintiff claimed that hospital administrators forced him and other employees to perform daily tasks in an area that was known to contain asbestos. He also saw other maintenance workers cutting through drywall that clearly contained asbestos. In no instance were the workers provided with protective gear while on the job.

In addition, the employee who filed suit claimed that all asbestos-containing refuse was discarded in regular trash bins where other unsuspecting individuals could come in contact with the toxin.

Asbestos Negligence Cases Are Common

Unfortunately, stories like this aren’t rare. It’s a common disbelief that because asbestos-containing materials are no longer manufactured or sold that the danger has dissipated. That couldn’t be further from the truth. While many owners/supervisors of old facilities have been proactive in removing or encapsulating any potentially dangerous asbestos, the material in its hazardous state remains in countless buildings throughout the United States.

Sadly, it’s often up to workers to be diligent about protecting themselves. If you are employed in a profession that often encounters asbestos-containing materials, you MUST remain on the lookout for asbestos. Remember, you have a right to say “no” when asked to work in an environment that might compromise your health. You also have a right to ask for protective masks, respirators, or other items that can prevent the inhalation of asbestos fibers.

Asbestos lawsuits have grown in number because of such negligence, a problem that has existed for decades. For much of the 20th century, workers were led to believe that asbestos – used in abundance from the 1940s through the 1970s – was safe, yet proof of the mineral’s hazards have been noted for literally centuries. Now, as workers from that era reach their later years, many now know that they were deceived by their employers. Mesothelioma is a part of that reality. It might be part of yours, too.

If you believe you were negligently exposed to asbestos during your work as a tradesman, including plumbers, pipefitters, electricians, mill workers, shipyard workers, power plant employees, and others, take time to examine your options as you begin the tough journey through the struggle that is asbestos-related cancer. Mesothelioma victims can often obtain compensation for their suffering.

What Kind of Compensation is Available to Veterans with Mesothelioma?

Estimates show that each year in the U.S. about 1,000 veterans are diagnosed with life-changing mesothelioma cancer. With about 3,000 new cases of the disease diagnosed each year in the United States, it’s easy to do the math: about one-third of all Americans diagnosed with mesothelioma are veterans.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that their exposure happened during the military, but in most instances, active duty jobs and tasks were indeed responsible for the development of the disease in these veterans with mesothelioma. So what can they do to receive rightful compensation for their suffering?

Who Do I Sue?

Contrary to what some veterans and their families might have been led to believe, you can’t sue the U.S. Military. The United States government is protected from lawsuits by the Feres Doctrine and the Federal Tort Claims Act. Instead, in most military cases, the defendants are other parties involved with asbestos in some way, including the manufacturers, designers, and suppliers of asbestos-containing items with which the vet may have come in contact during active service.

An experienced mesothelioma attorney can assist in determining who is responsible for your exposure. He/she is knowledgeable about the products/items most responsible for causing mesothelioma among veterans. In addition, he/she has most likely already represented former military who’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma due to their active service jobs, which may have included:

• Shipyard workers

• Pipefitters

• Demolition workers

• Insulators

• Electricians

• Plumbers

• Mechanics

What Other Benefits are Available?

• Health Care from the VA – If it is determined that exposure was indeed service related, the veteran may be able to qualify for free or cost-reduced care at a VA hospital or a VA-approved facility. Note that there are many parameters that need to be met, so veterans seeking benefits should be prepared to prove exposure and to complete an abundance of paperwork. Cost of care at VA facilities is also linked to one’s income level so some co-pays may apply.

• Disability Compensation – When an individual applies for disability benefits from the Veterans Administration, their case is reviewed and the veteran is assigned a rating based on the level of disability. Usually, victims of asbestos-related cancer are given the highest rating and, therefore, the highest amount of compensation available IF it can be proven that the exposure to asbestos was military-related. Benefit amount might also be determined by other factors, such as whether or not the veteran is supporting dependents.

• Dependency and Indemnity Compensation – This benefit actually goes to the surviving spouse of any veteran who dies of a military-related condition. The spouse will need to file a claim to receive this.

Consult with an experienced attorney who can help you navigate the often complex system that is the Veterans Administration. Also, chat with him about the possibility of filing suit against those companies who had a vested interest in the products that caused your exposure to asbestos.  Compensation for you and your family may be just a few steps away.

Throughout the last half-century, thousands upon thousands of individuals have been exposed to asbestos materials. The exposure may have happened in any number of places, from your place of employment to less obvious places, like your home.

You may have been exposed at a young age or perhaps later in life. Regardless of the circumstances, if asbestos has made you ill, you may be eligible for compensation for your suffering.

Many victims of asbestos-related diseases hesitate to contact an attorney because they just don’t know if they have a valid case. You may be one of those people.

However, just by asking yourself a few questions, you can determine whether or not to consider filing a lawsuit.  When were you exposed to asbestos?  Where were you exposed to asbestos?  Who is responsible for your exposure?  What expenses have you incurred due to your diagnosis?

Indeed, these seem like simple questions with simple answers, but when posed to you by an experienced asbestos claims attorney, the answers will help determine if a lawsuit is warranted and how much compensation should be requested.

Here’s some further explanation on each question.

1. When were you exposed to asbestos?

Before you contact an attorney, it’s a good idea to review past history and come up with hard facts about when you may have encountered asbestos. It might have been in more than one place, so list all possibilities.

If you’re uncertain as to the details, the attorney and his team may be able to help garner the specifics as long as you have some preliminary information.

2. Where were you exposed to asbestos?

Make a list of workplaces or other situations in which your exposure most likely occurred. Again, an experienced asbestos claims attorney may already be familiar with some of these locations, especially if it’s a company in his or her local region.

Don’t hesitate, however, to contact a local attorney even if your exposure occurred out-of-state. Many mesothelioma attorneys understand that even a seemingly local case may not get filed in the state where you live.

3. Who is responsible for your exposure?

This sort of ties in with question number 2, but sometimes determining just who to sue in a particular case can be difficult. For example, do you sue the manufacturer of a particular asbestos-containing product or the company that used it?

Did your employer know about the dangers of asbestos yet continue its use? A lawyer well-versed in the field can make these decisions with confidence.

4. What expenses have you incurred due to your diagnosis?

Mesothelioma is an expensive disease and chances are that your medical bills will be sky high. Your lawyer will want to know what expenses you’ve had that haven’t been covered by insurance, if you’ve had to travel for treatment, if you’ve lost wages, and if you’ve had to pay a caregiver, for example.

Oil refinery mesothelioma risk for workers – No doubt you’ve passed them as you’ve driven down the highway. You know, those sprawling industrial complexes lined with numerous tanks, smoke stacks, and miles of pipeline; plants that take crude oil and process them into useful products like gasoline, kerosene, or heating oil.

You’ve probably turned up your nose at the smell or maybe even commented about how these oil refineries were affecting the environment.

Indeed, oil refineries aren’t the prettiest part of any town’s skyline but they necessary to keep America running, and the individuals who work inside or outside of the U.S.’s dozens upon dozens of refineries are hardworking employees who face numerous dangers on a daily basis.

From the time of the first U.S. refinery, built in 1862, until today, refinery workers have been injured, maimed, or killed on the job for a variety of reasons, ranging from carelessness on their part to unavoidable accidents to outright neglect on the part of their employers.

That’s where asbestos enters the picture

Through much of the 20th century, when the growing use of the automobile prompted the building of more refineries, asbestos could be easily spotted in these facilities.

Indeed, because asbestos was so fire resistant, it seemed like the perfect material for a number of uses at refineries around the country and it no doubt prevented many tragedies. However, it caused others. It made people sick.

Oil Refinery Asbestos Use

For decades, a sizable number of products used in oil refineries contained asbestos. These included:

• A variety of electrical products
• Insulation/pipe covering or block
• Asbestos paper
• Millboard
• Cement
• Refractory products for kilns, furnaces, reactors, etc.

It’s likely that those who worked in oil refineries during the years of asbestos use would remember encountering those products on a regular basis. Those same refinery workers might even remember that the products were stamped with the names of the companies that manufactured the items, including:

• Johns Manville
• Keene
• Atlas Turner
• U.S. Gypsum
• Unarco
• National Gypsum
• Celotex
• Raymark
• GAF
• Carey
• and many others

Asbestos Diseases: Who’s to Blame?

Even a perfunctory review of the mesothelioma cases that have been filed over the last few decades show that refinery workers – especially those who worked in the industry prior to about 1980 – have been prime candidates for developing the disease due to exposure to the above-mentioned types of products.

For most of those victims, the disease came as a surprise. That’s because their employers never warned them of the risk of working closely with asbestos, especially asbestos that was damaged or had to be cut, sawed, or ground to fit a particular application.

So it was rare that oil refinery workers wore masks while working with the toxin, making it likely that they inhaled the dangerous dust that resulted from their work.

So, who’s to blame? Only an experienced mesothelioma attorney can provide a definitive answer, but it’s likely that workplace exposure was not your fault.

If you’re suffering from an asbestos-related disease, discuss the particulars with a lawyer to determine whether or not you (and/or your family) is eligible for compensation due to workplace neglect.

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If you’ve ever been dealt a serious blow of any sort, whether that issue is connected with you personally or with a friend or member of your family, you probably recognize how difficult it is to carry on without it having some effect on your life.

Perhaps you find it difficult to work or to continue with day-to-day activities. Maybe you’ve lost your zest for life. You might even sink into a deep depression and consider harming yourself.

That’s often what it’s like for a mesothelioma patient, who – once they are educated about their disease – realizes that they are facing death much sooner than expected. This is true for the close family members of the mesothelioma victim as well. They see the proverbial writing-on-the-wall and, hence, life changes from this point on.

That’s why it’s important for terminally ill patients with asbestos-related cancer to consider some sort of counseling and, often, grief counseling is the answer.

What is Grief Counseling?

The term “grief counseling” usually denotes counseling that will occur after a loss. While that’s true, many cancer patients have found it to be helpful while they are still alive but facing death sometime in the not-too-distant future. After all, the terminally ill patient has already begun to grieve.

He or she ponders the future and recognizes the fact that he/she will not grow old with their spouse, will miss momentous family events like weddings and births, and will not be able to complete the plans he/she had for their life. Grief counseling can assist with coming to grips with these losses.

Often, grief counseling is based on the stages of grief touted by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who wrote the book “On Death and Dying” in 1969. She notes that individuals who are bereaved usually progress through five different stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Each individual progresses at a different pace and may stay in one stage longer than another, but psychologists have found that Kubler-Ross’s theories are pretty much on the mark.

A grief or bereavement counselor can assist the patient – and the patient’s family members – in making their way from one stage to another, eventually coming to accept the fact that death is a given because of this dreadful disease. Counselors use a variety of different techniques to help their patients.

Some use just “talk” therapy while others may employ the use of tools such as music or art therapy, meditation, or role playing. Whichever technique is used, the end goal is to take the individual by the hand and lead him/her back into as normal a life as possible.

Where Do I Find a Grief Counselor?

Bereavement counselors are plentiful so it’s usually not difficult to locate one. A good place to start is to ask a member of the patient’s medical team if they can provide a recommendation for such a counselor.

In some instances, if the patient is in the hospital for an extended period, such counseling can happen in-hospital by a member of the staff. Large cancer centers, especially, often make such counseling part of the patient’s care regimen.

Paying for such counseling for the patient and/or the family can be expensive. If you are filing an asbestos-related lawsuit, money from a successful settlement can help pay for counseling. Talk to your attorney about the need for counseling while discussing the particulars of your lawsuit.