Past Household Indirect Exposures to Asbestos Dust From Work Clothes Is Just As Likely in North Carolina To Cause Mesothelioma
This article from the Watford Observer, “Cancer victim contracted disease while a child, from asbestos worker father’s overalls, says coroner”, reports about a man, Keith Turnbull, who was diagnosed with the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in October 2008 and died on February 1, 2012 at age 66.
Keith’s mesothelioma asbestos cancer was caused by his second-hand exposure to asbestos as a child from his father’s work overalls.
Keith’s father, an asbestos moulder, worked with fire-retardant material, which got onto his overalls, and eventually brought into his home, where Keith was then exposed. Keith’s family only lived 500 meters away from Croxley Moor, the asbestos factory where his father worked.
Keith’s brother, Martyn, remembers his father coming home with his work overalls covered in dust. As their father came through the door, the whole family would greet and hug him; while doing so, they, too, were being exposed to asbestos.
Coroner Edward Thomas said that if a person develops mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos, it is most likely that the mesothelioma was caused by the asbestos exposure.
When Keith was diagnosed with the asbestos-mesothelioma in 2008, he was told that he only had six months to live, but he was able to hold on for more than three years. Keith’s asbestos exposure happened during a time when the dangers of asbestos were unknown, so he was forced to retire and could not make a claim for any type of compensation.
“He died of mesothelioma in consequence of his father’s exposure to asbestos at work,” stated a narrative verdict recording for Keith’s death, taken by Coroner Edward Thomas.
Even though the events in this article did not take place in North Carolina, secondhand asbestos exposure and subsequent tragedies, such as Keith’s asbestos-related death, can happen anywhere. Often times it can be determined how the asbestos exposure during childhood happened and, in turn, an asbestos lawsuit for legal compensation can be filed on behalf of the mesothelioma victim or his surviving family.