Mesothelioma
The widespread use of toxic chemicals has made the occupational risk of working for railroads companies very high . For decades, railroad workers have been exposed to deadly and dangerous materials. Although workplace standards now exist to better prevent exposure to health hazards like asbestos, in the past no precautions were taken to avoid deadly illnesses caused by these hazards . Asbestos is the cause for the majority of reported cases of mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the mesothelium.
The difficulty of diagnosing mesothelioma is the latency period that exists between asbestos exposure and symptoms, as well as the similarity of mesothelioma symptoms to a number of other conditions. Since workers were often unaware of the presence of asbestos fibers at the workplace, when health effects began to emerge years later, mesothelioma was commonly mistaken for other problems. By the time some workers were finally diagnosed with mesothelioma, the cancer had developed to late stages. It is believed that a high number of mesothelioma cases have gone undiagnosed and that the incidence of mesothelioma today is still much higher than reported.
Taking up to forty years to develop in some cases, workers are still being diagnosed with mesothelioma even though their exposure to asbestos may not have been present for years.
Please contact a FELA attorney to learn your legal rights and options regarding mesothelioma.
Learn more about other types of railroad injuries and dangers:
