After years of working and planning your retirement, you probably looked forward to your vision of those years becoming a reality. Then, decades after your work and your dreams began, you went to see your doctor here in Ohio with what you thought was a routine health concern and discovered it was much worse than you ever could have anticipated. Your doctor told you that you suffer from a rare form of cancer called mesothelioma.
Nearly every case of mesothelioma results from exposure to asbestos, which is a known human carcinogen. Even though most of its uses are no longer allowed in the United States, you may have worked in a profession in which it was heavily used until the Environmental Protection Agency banned it. A variety of industries from construction to steel manufacturing and more used this toxic substance on a regular basis. Many who worked in the U.S. Armed Forces were also exposed to this harmful carcinogen, perhaps without even realizing it.
Even if you found out at some point about your exposure, there was nothing you could do since the deed was already done. All you could do was wait to see whether you would be among those who end up suffering from mesothelioma. Perhaps after 30 years or so you thought you had dodged that bullet, but the latency period for this particular cancer can be up to 50 years or as little as 10 years.
The medical treatment for mesothelioma is expensive, and having health insurance often does not protect you from the financial impact of your condition. Like other sufferers of this rare form of cancer, you may have the opportunity to pursue restitution that could help with the monetary requirements associated with your illness. However, undertaking this endeavor may best be left to an experienced Ohio attorney instead of attempting to do so alone.