Asbestos lung cancer – Corries team pick up pleural plaque register case and win again

An asbestos lung cancer victim with pleural plaques has been led by Corries leading UK asbestos claims team to win significant compensation from his work at Vickers Armstrong.

Read here about how we secured victory in a case doubted by the medical profession.

Our team have many asbestos lung cancers before. Here’s an example of how we fight for every asbestos victim https://www.corries.co.uk/pleural-plaque-register-helps-asbestos-lung-cancer-victim-win-compensation/

Asbestos lung cancer- the continuing fight

Asbestos disease can cause malignant conditions such as mesothelioma or lung cancer. For mesothelioma most doctors will accept this is due to asbestos. For lung cancer only about 10% of sufferers convince doctors that asbestos played a part.

This perception affects treating doctors and nurses as well as our experts and the courts as well.

Read how these challenges had to be fought to win a case which others would have given up.

Asbestos lung cancer and pleural plaques- case facts

Our client Mr C had worked for Vickers Armstrong, a well known company with a hefty asbestos heritage. He had been on our PLEURAL PLAQUE REGISTER since 2014. At that time chest x rays showed the benign asbestos marker from his working life.

We kept in touch as part of our service. In 2020 he started to have some problems and investigations were started. During the pandemic getting to the bottom of his diagnosis proved a long slow job. It was not until October 2021 that lung cancer was diagnosed. There had been some confusion about the exact positioning and type of cancer and treatment was difficult to resolve.

His family got involved and he moved in with his daughter but he sadly died in March 2022.

The Coroner and Postmortem

As the death occurred during the pandemic a post mortem was not ordered. Biopsies in life had been done and the Coroner held an inquest using paper reports only. He recorded death due to cancer but also included both asbestosis and pulmonary fibrosis. The pleural plaques which had been found earlier remained in his body at death. These were a useful marker for the Coroner to find that the death was due to work.

Asbestos lung cancer – the medical debate

We knew that firming up the case would be hard. The treating doctors had struggled to find out what was wrong with Mr C when he was alive. Piecing it together after his death needed leading experts in Occupational health and in respiratory medicine.

We know from our extensive experience that any lack of clarity or other cause for a cancer or pain will be exploited by the defendants.

Our experience proved to be right and the case was fought. Our experts were extensively questioned about their support for this case. The presence of the pleural plaques were a helpful addition to our argument.

As court proceedings were threatened a series of negotiations were started. The defendants were to seek their own evidence and costly court proceedings would only have delayed matters for Mr C’s family.

Conclusion

We stuck to our guns and engaged in tough discussions about the case. Eventually a deal was done for significant damages and our costs and court action was avoided.

Corries Senior Solicitor Victoria Symonds who won the case has said:-

“I am so pleased that we won this case. The tide for asbestos lung cancers is slowly coming in but there are few easy cases. Mr C’s case was no exception. Working for a big company with an asbestos heritage is helpful but all aspects of these asbestos lung cancers are fought.

This case highlights the benefit of being on Corries Pleural Plaque register. Our team were able to keep a close eye on Mr C and when the time came we had the background information to help us steer the claim.

Undoubtedly picking the right and robust experts was key to our victory. Our reputation in the field means we can call on such help when our clients need it. And our opponents know we do not give up easily.

Mr C sadly never saw his case settled. His family have took great solace from the claim win and it helps as part of the grieving process. I have learned from it and am ready to use Mr C’s claim as a launch pad for other asbestos lung cancer sufferers in the future”

Give us a call

Been diagnosed with lung cancer and not sure what to do? Give our friendly team a call. We are always happy to try and help. If your case is not viable we will always try and give you an early and clear steer about it. If you do have a case then we shall fight hard to get you the justice you deserve.

If you do not have lung cancer but have asbestos pleural plaques then call to join our register. it is completely free and means that if your health suffers we can act so quickly and be better informed for you.

Call us now FREE on 0800 083 7839 – doing good things for great people is our job. Let us try it for you.