Society and Culture Sufferers of Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma, though rare, has had a number of notable patients :

• Bernie Banton, an Australian workers' rights activist, fought a long battle for compensation from James Hardie after he contracted mesothelioma after working for that company. He claimed James Hardie knew of the dangers of asbestos before he began work with the substance making insulation for power stations.

Society and Culture Sufferers of Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma eventually took his life along with his brothers' and hundreds of James Hardie workers'. James Hardie made an undisclosed settlement with Banton only when his mesothelioma had reached its final stages and he was expected to have no more than 48 hours to live. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd mentioned Banton's extended struggle in his acceptance speech after winning the 2007 Australian federal election.

• Steve McQueen, American actor, was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma on December 22, 1979. He was not offered surgery or chemotherapy because doctors felt the cancer was too advanced. McQueen subsequently sought alternative treatments at clinics in Mexico.

He died of a heart attack on November 7, 1980, in Juárez, Mexico, following cancer surgery. He may have been exposed to asbestos while serving with the U.S. Marines as a young adult - asbestos was then commonly used to insulate ships' piping - or from its use as an insulating material in automobile racing suits (McQueen was an avid racing driver and fan).

• Cynthia Stelljes, oboist and founding member of the Canadian classical quartet Quartetto Gelato, died from the disease on December 29, 2006.

• Bill Tait, the husband of early anti-asbestos campaigner Nancy Tait, died of the condition in 1968, sparking his wife's subsequent activism.

• Bruce Vento, U.S. Congressman, died of mesothelioma in 2000. The Bruce Vento Hopebuilder award is given yearly by his wife at the MARF Symposium to persons or organizations who have done the most to support mesothelioma research and advocacy.

• Warren Zevon, an American rock singer-songwriter, was diagnosed with inoperable peritoneal mesothelioma in 2002. Zevon refused treatments due to concerns that they would serve to only incapacitate him, and instead opted to record his final album. He died on September 7, 2003, at the age of 56, in his Los Angeles home. His album, The Wind, was nominated for several Grammy awards, winning two.

Although life expectancy with this disease is typically limited, there are notable survivors. In July 1982, Stephen Jay Gould, a well-regarded paleontologist, was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma.

After his diagnosis, Gould wrote "The Median Isn't the Message", in which he argued that statistics such as median survival are useful abstractions, not destiny. Gould lived for another 20 years, eventually succumbing to cancer not linked to his mesothelioma.

Paul Kraus, diagnosed in 1997, is considered the longest currently living (as of 2016) mesothelioma survivor in the world.

Some people who were exposed to asbestos have collected damages for an asbestos-related disease, including mesothelioma. Compensation via asbestos funds or class action lawsuits is an important issue in law practices regarding mesothelioma.

The first lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers were in 1929. Since then, many lawsuits have been filed against asbestos manufacturers and employers, for neglecting to implement safety measures after the links between asbestos, asbestosis, and mesothelioma became known (some reports seem to place this as early as 1898).

The liability resulting from the sheer number of lawsuits and people affected has reached billions of dollars. The amounts and method of allocating compensation have been the source of many court cases, reaching up to the United States Supreme Court, and government attempts at resolution of existing and future cases.

However, to date, the US Congress has not stepped in and there are no federal laws governing asbestos compensation. In 2013, the "Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2013" passed the US House of representatives and was sent to the US Senate, where it was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As the Senate did not vote on it before the end of the 113th Congress, it died in committee. It was revived in the 114th Congress, where it has not yet been brought before the House for a vote.

History

The first lawsuit against asbestos manufacturers was brought in 1929. The parties settled that lawsuit, and as part of the agreement, the attorneys agreed not to pursue further cases.

In 1960, an article published by Wagner et al. was seminal in establishing mesothelioma as a disease arising from exposure to asbestos. The article referred to over 30 case studies of people who had suffered from mesothelioma in South Africa. Some exposures were transient and some were mine worker.