Each coin has two sides. It was all over the media. Court cases were asbestos companies were ordered to pay out unbelievably high amounts of money to compensate former employees who had developed Mesothelioma or other forms of asbestos induced cancers. Lately, though, some of those firms are starting to fight back, because they feel they were taken advantage of.
It was all over the media, jus a few months back ago. Remember that huge firm in Georgia, which was ordered by the court after they had lost their case to pay approximately $ 99 Million dollars in a Mesothelioma class act to his former employees? That company decided to turn tables and sue doctors, testing labs and their lawyers because they suspect that they were victims of a large scam.
This is not the first time, by the way. But it’s a risky endeavor. For example, in the mid nineties an asbestos production firm opened up a lawsuit against a laboratory because they thought they had enough evidence to convict them of mischief. But as government investigators got involved, that firm eventually agreed to settle into a confidentiality agreement.
It goes even further than that. There are reports that some attorneys of Mesothelioma patients were even asking Health Care Professionals to fake data so they in order to position themselves stronger in court.
This, of course, is illegal. There are numerous clinical studies that suggest that up to 4 % of all workers who had been exposed to asbestos at some point in their lives are likely to eventually suffer from an asbestos induced lung disease, such as cancer of the lung or Mesothelioma.
And each asbestos related claim is estimated to cost an average of $ 52,000. A big portion of that money goes straight to attorney fees, as you can imagine. It’s good business. Some say with a sense of sarcasm: “Mesothelioma cases – or any asbestos related case for that matter- became a lucrative enterprise.”
I know what I’m talking about. I was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma (kidney cancer) in October of 2009. Seven months before that, my wife receive her breast cancer diagnosis. We are lucky to have relatively good health care insurance plan coverage. However, we still end up with monthly out of pocket expenses that are regularly over $ 4,000.
I mention this because it upsets me, that because of some ruthless and greedy people, we as the people cant’ get a hold of our medical costs. It doesn’t matter if you have Mesothelioma or any other cancer, or diabetes or just a bad cold. We all have to deal with the astronomically high costs for drugs and medical treatment.
And because of those individuals who by their conduct generate more and more costs for lawyers, court fees, etc., our medical expenses continue to rise. And I had it with that. I can only speak for myself, but I guess you get my point.
The author of this article was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer. On his website he features a blog about mesothelioma trial lawyer and provides details on asbestos lawsuits and the huge amounts of money involved.
