Treatment Strategies

Belluck & Fox, Mesothelioma Attorneys

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure, your doctor will prescribe a course of treatment based on the stage of the cancer. The treatment strategy will vary depending on whether the mesothelioma is detected at an early stage or has spread to other organs and reached an advanced stage. Common methods of treatment include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, or a combination of the three.

The mesothelioma attorneys at Belluck & Fox understand the life-changing consequences of a diagnosis of mesothelioma and the months of costly treatment that patients and their families must endure. You do not have to face treatment and the stack of medical bills alone, however. You or a loved one has contracted a life-threatening, asbestos-related disease through no fault of your own. The law gives you the right to file a lawsuit for compensation from the asbestos manufacturers and companies that caused you harm. While no amount of money will compensate your for the loss of your health or the loss of a loved one, a monetary award may help cover your medical bills and provide for your family’s future well-being.

If you or a family member has mesothelioma, your focus should be on your treatment and you should let your lawyers worry about how you’ll pay medical bills. Your doctor will want to determine the stage of the mesothelioma to design a treatment regime. Standard treatments a doctor may prescribe include:

  • Surgery - Surgery involves the removal of cancerous tissue from the body and is a common treatment, particularly if the cancer is localized and hasn’t spread throughout the body. For patients with pleural mesothelioma, the doctor may remove the lining of the lung, part of the lining of the chest and a lung (a pleurectomy). The removal of the whole lung is called an extrapleural pneumonectomy
  • Chemotherapy - Anti-cancer drugs that kill cancer cells throughout the body may be given intravenously through IVs. A needle is inserted into a vein and the medicine is dripped into the patient. Chemotherapy drugs such as Cisplatin slow or stop the growth of cancer cells, while Alimta may prevent any remaining cancer cells from multiplying.
  • Radiation - This therapy involves the use of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Doses of radiation may be administered externally by a machine much like an x-ray or internally by introducing chemicals that produce radiation through tubing.

Surgeons are able to remove mesothelioma tumors through surgery in only about one-third of patients. Doctors may use what is known as tri-modality therapy, which involves a one-two-three punch of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to attack mesothelioma. While mesothelioma is generally not curable, doctors are seeing some positive results in extending mesothelioma patients’ lives with this multi-pronged approach.

As a mesothelioma patient, your first priority should be working with your doctor on a course of treatment that will help you ease your suffering and regain your health. At the same time, from the day you are diagnosed with mesothelioma, the legal clock starts ticking on your ability to file a lawsuit to hold accountable those responsible for your asbestos disease. The length of time you have to file a lawsuit varies from state to state, so you should contact an experienced attorney as soon as possible to discuss your situation. An attorney can help you and your family.

Belluck & Fox LLP is a nationally recognized law firm whose attorneys represent individuals with asbestos and mesothelioma claims. Our attorneys have won more than $220 million in compensation for our clients and their families. We can help you with our professional and personalized service. For more information, contact the firm at 877-MESOTHELIOMA (637-6843) or through the online contact form.

Step-by-Step: How to Begin Your Fight for Legal Compensation

For free, no obligation, information to review whit your family, please complete this quick request form:

STEP 1 STEP 2

Mesothelioma Web Network

Open-Close

Mesothelioma Was Preventable, Click to Learn More

In past decades, workers in many industries did not know that the air they were breathing was filled with toxic fibers. But the companies that sold asbestos products knew or should have known that they were putting the very lives of workers in jeopardy. Unfortunately, the companies recklessly pursued profits while risking workers’ health. It is commonly accepted that even small amounts of asbestos exposure can cause mesothelioma and other serious respiratory diseases. Even the simplest, least-expensive precautions -- for example, requiring workers to wear dust masks or to shower and change clothes at the end of a shift -- would have helped protect them and their families from deadly asbestos-related diseases. But asbestos companies chose not to warn workers of its potential hazards and continued using the mineral from the 1920s to the 1970s and 1980s, when the asbestos was finally removed from most products.

Lung Disease Lawyer

Perhaps you or a loved one has recently received a diagnosis of mesothelioma, and you have questions about your legal options. The experienced mesothelioma attorneys at Belluck & Fox understand the serious consequences of asbestos-related disease and the suffering it causes. We believe it’s important to hold accountable the asbestos companies and manufacturers whose reckless and negligent acts caused people to develop mesothelioma and other deadly diseases. We bring legal action to help mesothelioma victims and their families recover the money they need for their medical bills and other expenses.

Open-Close

How Were You Exposed to Asbestos? Click to Learn More

Today, most products do not contain asbestos. But until the 1980s, many building products and types of machinery contained asbestos -- and it is still used in some products today, such as automobile brake linings. You may have been exposed to asbestos in the Navy or in an industry such as shipbuilding, construction, automobile repair, mining, textile mills, sheet metal, plumbing and paper mills. For decades, asbestos materials were commonly used in those industries and trades. You may have been exposed in your home. Asbestos was also used in the Navy. Some families of asbestos workers were exposed through the dust their family members brought home from work on their clothing and shoes.

Lung Cancer Attorneys

However you were exposed to asbestos, you have suffered a serious harm through no fault of your own. You have a legal right to hold those responsible accountable for their recklessness. by filing a lawsuit. While no amount of money can compensate for the damage to your health or the loss of a loved one, you shouldn’t have to worry about how to pay the medical bills or provide for your family while you are confronting this devastating disease.

Article Summary: Treatment Strategies

You and your doctor will agree on a course of treatment based on the stage of the mesothelioma. Common methods of treatment include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors are able to remove cancerous tumors in only about one-third of mesothelioma patients. They have achieved encouraging results with a multi-pronged attack by using a combination of three treatments on the cancer.

copyright 2009 - Belluck & Fox, LLP / Attorney Sponsored Advertising & Resources