Pleural Plaques, Asbestosis, Mesothelioma, MRSA and Flood claims – The insurers nightmare
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The insurance industry is a giant, but even giants can be brought down.
We insure to cover loss and damage. This system works because more people insure than claim.
Insurance companies make more from our policies than they spend in claims. Simple, well no.
As we stumble through the credit crunch, increasing unemployment and the pressures of improving lifestyles, it has become obvious that a compensation culture once considered crass in the UK has suddenly achieved in the acceptability stake.
As long as the numbers add up, risks managed and there are enough clients purchasing policies then things were fine. Slowly though, a number of issues have contributed to a major threat to the insurance companies.
Tens of millions of pounds was claimed in the UK at the time of the severe floods in 2007.
The issues with global warming and coastal erosion have created a financial headache for the insurance industry.
Thousands of people lost their homes in freak flooding storms. Many still trying to put their lives together. There was little that the insurers could do at that time, other than pay-out on terms of the policy. A major headache was born.
In 2008 an actress called Leslie Ash was awarded GBP5m after contracting a form of MRSA after cosmetic surgery.
This alerted the UK public to the menace of Hospital Acquired Infections, namely MRSA and C Diff, Despite thousands of potential claims being put forward the insurance industry is fighting hard to keep the top tightly closed on claims for negligence. This is situation however may well turn sour for the insurers shortly as lawyers acting for the injured progress through the legal system.
The ticking time-bomb that is Asbestos Exposure may well prove to be the nemesis of the insurance industry. Damage to the human body by negligent asbestos exposure may well be thought of as the most deplorable form of negligence, but is the wriggling and writhing of the insurance companies trying to cast-off their financial responsibilities to the insured just as bad, or indeed worse.
Pleural Plaques is though of as a mild medical condition, a resultant from asbestos exposure and offers little in the way of pain and suffering to those diagnosed with the condition. This is the stance the the House of Lords made when making change to the law and taking away the
claim of sufferers to damages in 2006. There was a great deal of lobbying by the insurance companies who said the damages for Pleural Plaques would cost the industry GBP300m plus and threaten the industry as a whole. Despite this sufferers of the condition focused on the fact that
their pain was the worry that the condition would turn into more serious Asbestos related diseases such as Asbestosis, Lung Cancer or the worse type, Mesothelioma.
Incidences of asbestos related illnesses are on a steady increase, this despite earlier predictions that they would be in decline. The latency period for diseases can be upwards of 50 years. The silent killer is indeed among us. Yet the insurance industry is doing it’s damnedest to avoid paying damages.
The Scottish Parliament at Holrood recently passed bill for the redress of Pleural Plaques Compensation, which should help those suffering the condition make claim for damages on 17th June. The Insurers are taking a judicial review through the courts with an announcement expected 12th June
It would be not only be against the will of the people but a disgrace of society if the giants of the insurance world triumph at the expense of those that they were paid to protect.
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If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with an Asbestos-related disease, what can you do? Watch this video- learn about Asbestosis and Mesothelioma lawyers in the Modesto area, and how their experience and knowledge can help. You can learn about all the different types of diseases such as Asbestosis and Mesothelioma. We have been helping victims since 1974- Call today for a no cost evaluation.
Help answer the question
How frequently does asbestosis develop into diseases such as lung cancer or mesothelioma?
asbestosis mesothelioma
3 Comments
August 25th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Asbestosis is not nescessarily fatal, but can decrease lung capacity and lead to heart failure. It causes chronic scarring in the plueral walls and can actually lead to mesothelioma. Mesothelioma, on the other hand is a rare form of cancer caused by prlonged expsosure to asbestos. This cancer is highly resistant to conventional radiotherapy and chemo drugs, and very often has a poor survival rate.
August 25th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Hopefully, Spreedog answers this Q
. Maybe he (or, someone else) will have a much better answer. But, I’ll give this a shot…
I found a 1997, where cohorts of asbestos sprayers and silicosis patients were tracked for incidence of cancer. Total cancer, lung cancer, and mesothelioma were dependent/criterion variables (<-not familiar with the statistics utilized), from what I saw. I realize this research is a little dated. There is no control group, but just looks like a report on incidence, but, still, not very much control to attribute results to isolated effects. Anyway, from what I read, standardized incidence ratios indicated that asbestos sprayers had a significantly higher incidence in the development of mesothelioma. Silicosis patients only had significantly higher incidence ratios for all sites (i.e., total cancer risk). Check out the abstract for yourself:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9131223?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Interesting little bits to do with silicosis and asbestos-related diseases. More recent, but not quite relevant to your Q: Apparently, silicosis and asbestos-related diseases not only differ in their causative materials (obviously, really), but also in terms of complications; autoimmune disorders being common in silicosis and tumors in asbestos-related diseases. Asbestos-related disease patients also show restricted overpresentation of TcR-Vbeta without clonal expansion, whereas silicosis patients reveal significant overpresentation of TcR-Vbeta 7.2. Basically, it may be concluded, here, that there are superantigenic effects associated with asbestos and dysregulation of autoimmunity-inducing effects of silica. I include these aforementioned bits, for the sake of interest, really, but perhaps you may glean something related to your reasoning/background to do with asking the Q. Here is the relevant abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17166401?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
EDIT: Below, scroll down to the graph entitled, "CDC asbestosis vs silicosis deaths" associated with "Attachment 1". It's not a very clear graph. Pesky. But, on quick skim, it looks like a comparison of those with either asbestosis or silicosis who expired due to malignant mesothelioma, from 1980 thru 2002. Looks like, asbestosis on the rise and a bigger killer (?):
http://www.actuary.org/pdf/casualty/asbestos_feb06.pdf
August 25th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
This would depend on the severity of the asbestosis, i.e. some sufferers can have a mild widespread scarring of the lungs over a life time. However smokers who continue smoking after they have been diagnosed with asbestosis have a fifty five percent higher chance of developing cancer and mesothelioma – particularly if the person smokes more than 20 per day.
Tobacco smoke and asbestos both contribute to each other’s cancer-causing carcinogenic effects, hence, both risk factors combined is more dangerous than the effects of one risk factor alone.