Settlement for family of lung cancer victim
Joseph worked in the building trade his whole life. He married Olive and they have grown up children.
In 2004 Joseph developed a cough that would not clear up. He had a biopsy on a small section of his rib but no diagnosis was made. He began to lose weight, became less active and lost his appetite.
During his life Joseph never received a diagnosis but he became so ill that his wife had to give up work to look after him. As the illness progressed he became less and less mobile.
For the last few months Joseph had difficulty getting up in the morning, getting out of bed and getting downstairs. He had no energy. Once he was downstairs he wouldn’t move from his chair and he just sat, watching television. This was completely unlike him: previously he had been very physical and active.
In his life Joseph made a statement, in which he stated he had been exposed to asbestos when sawing asbestos sheets in his employment with a number of employers.
After his death a post-mortem revealed that Joseph had lung cancer. It is known that asbestos in sufficient quantities can cause lung cancer.
Olive instructed Andrew Morgan to pursue a claim against Joseph's former employers but, like all lung cancer claims, this claim required complex medical evidence.
Andrew obtained evidence from a respiratory physician and from a pathologist. On their advice he obtained a report from Dr Roggli of Duke's University in the USA.
Dr Roggli assessed the intensity of Mr Callan's asbestos exposure by looking at lung samples that were taken at Post Mortem. He did not find any asbestosis but thought there was enough asbestos exposure to explain the lung cancer even so.
The Defendants obtained their own opposing medical evidence but ulitmately accepted that Mr Callan had been exposed to substantial quantities of asbestos in his employment and that this had caused his lung cancer.
As a result of this Andrew was able to negotiate a settlement of £105,000, which Olive was happy to accept.
After the case Olive said:
"Thank you Andrew for all of your help and hard work over the past years. As you know, I am delighted with the final outcome and settlement that you achieved."
Contact us
For further information about asbestos disease claims, please call Andrew Morgan on 0330 460 6737 or email andrew.morgan@fieldfisher.com.
Alternatively
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