John Comerford, senior partner of Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford says when people come to see them with mesothelioma, they have to do a little type of investigation to determine how they were exposed to asbestos. Mesothelioma is only caused from exposure to asbestos.
John says there are many ways to get exposure. Some women in their forties and fifties are coming to them with mesothelioma and their only exposure to asbestos is cosmetic talc and John says the talc industry knew in the 1920’s and 30’s that the cosmetic products they were selling were laced with asbestos. He goes on to say, “we’ve worked closely with many firms in investigating huge cosmetic talc companies and we learned they absolutely knew asbestos was in their product and they created a testing protocol that wouldn’t see it so that they could really cover their backside, no pun intended and it’s terrible.”
Treatments: Mesothelioma is a tumor and if you develop one of these tumors you need immediate treatment because the goal is to slow down the growth of the tumor. John says that’s done usually by chemotherapy first, radiation and if they are able to shrink the tumor at a place locally like Roswell here in Buffalo or Strong Memorial in Rochester, there is a chance you can remove it.” There is no cure for this disease. John says, “they are making progress in that direction and I always say to my clients, if we can get you another Christmas, another Thanksgiving, maybe you’ll make your daughter’s wedding.”
Another treatment option is immunotherapy, and he says at Roswell Park they are on the cutting edge of immunotherapy. John tells Mercedes that he has been representing people through this office, people with mesothelioma for almost thirty years and he’s learned that immunotherapy is a difference maker for these people.
Lipsitze, Ponterio and Comerford can help. Give them a give them a call at 716-849-0701.
For more information visit lipsitzponterio.com.
