Take home asbestos exposure, also known as secondary asbestos exposure, causes Mesothelioma in women and children through asbestos fibers that were still on their husband’s and father’s work clothes. Workers went home to their families, not knowing their workplace had exposed them to cancer-causing asbestos. These hard-working men certainly did not know that they were, in turn, exposing their families.
At Baggett McCall, LLC we have extensive experience representing take-home asbestos claims victims and their families after a Mesothelioma, Asbestosis, COPD, Asbestos-Related Lung Cancer diagnosis, or wrongful death.
Take Home Asbestos Exposure Lawyers
Statistically, women and children have a much lower risk of developing mesothelioma than men. Outside of the women who worked in factories and shipyards, typically men worked in jobs where direct workplace asbestos exposure was an everyday occurrence. Typically, this type of workplace asbestos exposure occurred when one inhaled the dangerous fibers in the air.
In addition to the men and women directly exposed to asbestos, several additional cases of asbestos-exposure-related cancer are diagnosed each year. Many of the additional diagnosed are women, discovered to be victims of secondary exposure or more commonly referred to as “take-home exposure.” This occurs when men or women are exposed to asbestos in a secondhand fashion that resulted in inhalation of the dangerous fibers.
Take Home Asbestos Exposure goes by many names, such as bystander exposure, domestic exposure, household exposure, or secondary exposure. No matter what you call it, it involves involuntary exposure to a dangerous substance. Take Home Asbestos Exposure diagnoses are most commonly found in relatives, spouses, and children of workers that were subjected to direct exposure. The most common areas for exposure are construction sites, chemical plants, metal works, shipyards, and other industrial areas. While workers in these areas were faced with the threat of direct asbestos exposure, those who came into contact with them or their clothing were at risk for take-home exposure.
Domestic Exposure & Pleural Mesothelioma
Many scenarios involved commonplace household contact with an asbestos fiber-laden worker when he came home from work every day. At this time, many workers came straight home without a shower or change of clothes. This left their clothing, hair, and body covered in dust and asbestos fibers. Simple acts like shaking off dusty clothes, embracing a husband after a long day of work, sitting on a parent’s lap, or laundering their uniform could cause the tiny asbestos fibers to become airborne and easy to inhale. Simple acts of affection could result in a diagnosis of Mesothelioma many years later.
Unfortunately, symptoms of asbestos exposure can take decades to appear. This amount of time is typically referred to as the latency period between exposure and experiencing adverse side effects. This latency period can make it quite difficult to pinpoint the time, location, and nature of exposure. If you or a loved one has developed signs of asbestos exposure, without coming into direct contact with points of exposure, you or your loved one may be a victim of take-home asbestos exposure.
The law office of Baggett McCall is a pioneer in asbestos claims litigation. We handled the first asbestos claims case decided by the Louisiana Supreme Court, which deemed the roadmap to asbestos litigation. That was in 1991, and we have been representing victims diagnosed with Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer, and Asbestosis ever since.
Mother Poisoned by Laundering Husband’s Asbestos-Laden Clothing
Baggett McCall represented the surviving family members of a woman who died of cancer after years of laundering her husband’s asbestos-tainted clothes and won an award of $7 Million.
The woman died from Mesothelioma, a disease caused exclusively by exposure to asbestos, years after handling her husband’s work clothes. Her husband worked around asbestos at his job for Placid Oil Company. As part of his job at Placid Oil, he was required to crawl over equipment insulated with asbestos to change gaskets and remove insulation. This caused asbestos dust and fibers to accumulate on his clothing, which he wore home on a daily basis to be laundered by his wife.
Ingersoll-Rand manufactured asbestos-laden compressors and supplied them to Placid Oil Company, and the removal of insulation and vibration from the compressors would create visible asbestos dust in the compressor room.
Workers had no idea their health was at risk, and they would never have known of the dangers of taking asbestos home on their clothing. The four children found Baggett McCall to take up their fight and represent them in their pursuit of justice, each was awarded $750,000 for their mother’s death.
“Take-home asbestos exposure will continue to harm families across America due to the negligence of companies that failed to properly protect workers,” Jeff Gaughan, a partner with Baggett McCall, said. “We are honored to have represented the family and proud to bring them justice for their unimaginable grieving, pain, and suffering.”
Protecting Your Rights
It is important to be very careful when choosing an attorney to handle your case. Our lawyers have extensive experience in asbestos claims for take-home exposure, asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma cases. Our asbestos claims attorneys are seasoned in the complex medical issues that are crucial to making a strong claim for compensation. We will take every necessary step to identify all responsible parties and pursue every avenue of recovery on your behalf.
Baggett McCall – The Serious Injury Lawyers
Contact Baggett McCall, LLC in Lake Charles, LA. For a free consultation, call 337-478-8888 or 800-639-2524 now to speak directly with an experienced asbestosis lawyer. Choose your lawyer carefully.