Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that affects about three thousand Americans each year. It is estimated that fifteen to twenty thousand people suffer annually from mesothelioma worldwide. There are no known cures for mesothelioma. After diagnosis patients have a short life expectancy, averaging eighteen months.
Mrs. Valentino of Ohio was one of these patients. She died in August of 2009, just two months after being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Her husband, Charles Valentino, has brought charges against twenty-six companies who he believes to be jointly responsibly for the death of his wife.
Mesothelioma in most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. Once these fibers are inhaled they can start a mutation process in the lining of the lungs and other abdominal cavities. This mutation grows into an irregular cancer that can lay dormant in the patient’s body for decades. When signs and symptoms do begin to appear there is little time to combat the cancer. Mesothelioma treatments include chemotherapy, surgery and palliative care.
Mr. Valentino believes his wife was exposed to asbestos fibers during her employment at several hospitals in the Columbus area. In the sixties and seventies Mrs. Valentino had worked in at least three hospitals including St. Anthony’s Hospital, Mount Carmel Health and St. Ann’s Hospital. The litigation claims it was at these locations that Mrs. Valentino allegedly “was exposed to asbestos, products containing asbestos or machinery using asbestos products.”
The Environmental Protection Agency now has strict standards regarding asbestos use and safe removal, described in the Clean Air Act. Prior to the nineteen-eighties, however, the risks were not well known and the standards lax. Many mesothelioma cases in the US are linked to employer negligence from more recent decades when the laws have been in place but disregarded.
Mr. Valentino’s wrongful death litigation is the first of its kind to be filed in Meigs County Common Pleas Court. As the average latency period peaks for mesothelioma patients exposed to asbestos before the new regulations were in place, this lawsuit may not be the last of it’s kind in Meigs County.
According to a report in My Daily Sentinel on 1 November 2010, Mr. Valentino claims the twenty-six companies he is indicting to be guilty of “liability for her illness and death, breach of warranty, product liability, conspiracy, concealment and willful misconduct.” Cleveland-based Bendix-Corp’s predecessor, Allied Corporation, is the main defendant in the suit.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 at 1:13 PM and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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