Asbestos Exposure Lawyer Near Kansas City
Kansas City, a key industrial center and consumer distribution hub in the Midwest, was closely associated with asbestos for many years. As a result, a disproportionately high number of asbestos poisoning victims live, or lived, in the Kansas City area. Many of these victims were occupational victims who handled asbestos-laced products and/or worked in asbestos-laced facilities. Other victims were exposed to asbestos indirectly, usually because they lived with an asbestos worker or lived near an asbestos hot spot.
All asbestos poisoning victims can partner with an asbestos exposure lawyer near Kansas City to obtain the compensation and justice they need and deserve. Asbestos-exposure illnesses, such as cancer and serious lung diseases, usually mean sky-high medical bills, along with almost unbelievable pain and suffering. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, an asbestos exposure lawyer near Kansas City holds polluting companies responsible for the injuries they cause.
Asbestos Exposure IllnessesAsbestos may be the most powerful and effective insulation mineral known to mankind. Powerful substances usually have powerful side effects. In this case, asbestos fibers are highly toxic to people. These toxins cause diseases like:
- Mesothelioma: Toxic asbestos fibers cause tumors to form in the mesothelium (membrane layer outside the lungs). Early-stage mesothelioma tumors are nearly impossible to detect. As a result, by the time doctors properly diagnose this illness, the cancer is usually at Stage II or even Stage III, meaning that treatment options are limited.
- Pleural Thickening: This disease is similar to mesothelioma in many respects. In fact, pleural thickening, an inflammation of this layer, is often a precursor to mesothelioma. This disease is bad enough as a standalone condition because, in many cases, the inflamed pleural layer almost literally crushes the lungs.
- Asbestosis: When toxic asbestos particles pass through the lungs, they burn the insides of narrow breathing passages, many of which are about the width of the tip of a pencil. The resulting scar tissue blocks these airways. As a result, the victim has trouble breathing even while at rest and eventually suffocates.
People who were directly or indirectly associated with asbestos in Kansas City run a high risk of developing an asbestos-exposure illness. 20,000 microscopic asbestos fibers can fit between Abraham Lincoln’s mouth and nose on a penny.
Treatments for these diseases are available, but the specialty is narrow, and they are expensive. An asbestos exposure lawyer connects victims with doctors who focus on such treatments and, in most cases, charges nothing upfront for their professional services.
Your Legal OptionsIf available, a bankruptcy victim compensation fund claim is often the straightest and narrowest path to fair compensation. Usually, when polluting companies declared bankruptcy to avoid liability lawsuits, federal judges forced them to create large victim compensation funds. Today, these funds contain more than $50 billion.
A civil claim is on the other end of the scale, both in terms of complexity and compensation. Usually, these matters wind their way through the civil court system before they settle out of court. This settlement is often very high, mostly because additional punitive damages are available in civil claims.
Several no-fault claims, such as VA disability and Social Security Disability, are somewhere in the middle. In many cases, these matters are resolved almost as quickly as bankruptcy VCF claims and substantial benefits are available.
Reach Out to a Hard-Hitting Asbestos Exposure LawyerMesothelioma victims need and deserve significant compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced nationwide mesothelioma lawyer, contact the Throneberry Law Group. We routinely handle matters in Missouri and Kansas.