Mesothelioma settlements are not only available to sufferers of the disease. Many law firms have secured substantial settlements for the families of those who have already died from asbestos-related mesothelioma. Since the cause and symptoms have only come to light in recent years, there was no facility for sufferers to claim until recently. But this does not mean that it is too late for the families of those that have already passed away. A claim can still be logged even after the patient has died, as the family is still entitled to compensation for the loss of their loved one.

Many lawyers offer free legal advice to mesothelioma patients, and the vast majority will not charge a penny unless they are successful in getting a financial settlement for the patient or family. Therefore, those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma have nothing to lose by making a claim.

Depending on the location of the mesothelioma patient, there may be a limited time period in which a claim can be made. It is therefore important to contact a specialist lawyer as soon as a diagnosis has been made, otherwise you may lose your chance to make a valid claim.

You should check with a law firm with regards to the time limitations, and make sure that you take action as soon as possible in order to increase your chances of getting a settlement. If you are unsure as to the source of exposure, many law firms have investigative experts on hand who will do all of the necessary research and determine which company or companies were responsible for exposing you to asbestos.
When selecting a mesothelioma lawyer, patients should look for a firm with experience in dealing with similar cases. These firms may be able to give you an idea of how much your settlement could be, and will already have a lot of the information and resources to make a speedy start on processing your claim and getting your settlement finalized as soon as possible.

Hum Pathol 2002 Jul;33(7):748-55 Abstract quote
Mesothelioma is a fatal tumor resistant to all treatment modalities for reasons that are still unresolved. Glutathione (GSH)-associated pathways are induced by oxidants and cytotoxic drugs, and they are also involved in the progression and resistance of some tumor cells in vitro. The rate-limiting enzyme in GSH biosynthesis is gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (gamma GCS). However, the expression of this enzyme has not been systematically investigated in malignant tumors, and there are no studies of gamma GCS in biopsy specimens of malignant mesothelioma.

We investigated the immunohistochemical distribution and expression of both subunits of gamma GCS in healthy pleural mesothelium, pleural mesothelioma tumor biopsy samples (34 cases), and mesothelioma cells in culture (7 cell lines). Nonmalignant mesothelium showed no immunoreactivity for either subunit in any of the cases. The heavy (catalytic) subunit of gamma GCS was highly immunostained in 29 and weakly positive in 5 cases. High-moderate and weak immunoreactivity of the light (regulatory) subunit of gamma GCS was found in 15 and 7 tumors, respectively, whereas 12 cases showed no reactivity. There was no correlation with either catalytic or regulatory subunit expression and patient survival. There was, however, a significant correlation between the heavy chain and multidrug resistance protein (MRP) 2 (P =.048), whereas no correlation was observed between the light chain and MRP1 or MRP2. Treatment of cultured mesothelioma cells with buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), to inhibit gamma GCS, significantly potentiated cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity mainly by nonapoptotic mechanism when assessed by counting the living cells, TUNEL (terminal deoxytransferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling) assay, and caspase-3 cleavage

In conclusion, gamma GCS is highly positive in most cases of malignant mesothelioma and may play an important role in the primary drug resistance of this tumor in vivo.