A woman has died 40 years after hugging her asbestos-exposed father. Picture: Angelo Soulas Source: The Daily Telegraph

• Woman dies of mesothelioma after hugging dad
• was breathing in his asbestos-ridden clothes
• Also washed his clothes as mother had lung disease

A MOTHER-of-two who used to welcome home her shipyard worker dad with a hug has died of lung cancer after breathing in his asbestos-ridden clothes.

Annette Bhatti, who was just 49, also helped her ill mother to scrub her father’s work uniform by hand more than 40 years ago.

They did not know at the time that they were breathing in deadly dust particles from his asbestos-ridden clothes.

Mrs Bhatti, a housing officer, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in June 2010. she married her long-term partner Bal Bhatti a month later.

Just 18 months later, in December last year, she lost her battle with the lung disease at her home in Southampton, Hampshire.

Her death has left her surviving father, now a pensioner, devastated and inconsolable.

Mesothelioma is normally associated with people over 50 and more commonly among men who worked at shipyards.

Mrs Bhatti’s father Lawrence Ramplee, now a pensioner, was exposed to asbestos while employed by Hills Construction in Hampshire, England.

He was later further exposed to asbestos during shifts at ship repairers Harland and Wolff at the city’s docks when Annette was just a toddler.

Mr Ramplee’s jobs involved cutting up 10ft corrugated asbestos sheets by hand, coroner Keith Wiseman heard.

His work clothing was worn home where mrs Bhatti was "exposed to the dust fibres in the air" at a very young age. she helped to wash his clothes by hand because her mother was ill with lung disease.

"The clothing worn during the week was taken home to be cleaned at home," Mr Wiseman said.

"Somewhat tragically, Mr Ramplee recalls occasions giving his daughter a hug when he got home before he changed."

He said there was never any warning about working with this particular substance.

"One doesn’t have to be working oneself in industry to die in this way," he said.

"There was significant asbestos exposure during a long period of time."

Speaking after the inquest, her brother Stuart Ramplee said his sister "was so full of life" and travelled extensively the year she died, visiting Hong Kong, new York, Australia, the Seychelles and Dubai.

Recording a verdict of death due to an industrial disease, Mr Wiseman said: "The way in which events happened in this case is not in my experience uncommon, but perhaps it is uncommon for someone quite so young.

Her brother Stuart said despite her condition, mrs Bhatti, whose daughters Luci and Rachel, are both in their 20s, "never complained".

Lawyers are hoping to secure compensation for Annette’s family.

Compensation for relatives of asbestos victims in ‘landmark’ UK ruling

The UK’s Supreme Court decided that liability was "triggered" when employees were exposed to asbestos dust – not when symptoms of mesothelioma emerged sometimes decades later.

Solicitors said the ruling meant that victims were covered by policies in place when asbestos fibres were inhaled – and employers’ insurers would have to meet compensation claims.

Families said they hoped that the decision by a panel of five Supreme Court justices in London would end years of litigation and lead to speedy insurance payouts.

Judges said industrial diseases which could lie dormant for long periods raised "peculiar" legal difficulties – and liability for deaths caused by mesothelioma, a "hideous" and "inevitably fatal" cancer of lung linings, had pre-occupied courts in recent years.

"This is a landmark ruling which will affect thousands of victims of asbestos," said Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union.

UK solicitor Carol Ann Hepworth, whose firm John Pickering and Partners represents hundreds of victims’ families, estimated that some payouts could top $150,000.

For example if you're skin isn't salty tasting, could you still have CF?

Cystic Fibrosis is something you are BORN with, its a lung disease!

Google it!

If you had cystic fibrosis you would have been diagnosed long before you learned to type. Everyone is tested at birth and if not, the symptoms show up when you first take food.

What other symptoms were you having that prompted the docs to test you? I have heard of people being diagnosed as late as in their 30's believe it or not. there was a gentleman in my area who for years had a terrible time breathing but was attributed to his work environment, however, they finally tested him and he has CF. I have a son with CF and he was born in 1990, he was not genetically tested at birth and but was diagnosed at 3months. My son does have salty skin.

Although we tend to consider dental surgeons only in terms of the health of our teeth and gums, the health of our mouths is strongly linked to our all around health. as the primary entrance to the human body, the mouth is interconnected with all the main systems of the human body, including the skeletal system, blood vessels, digestive, nervous, endocrine, and lymphatic systems.

up to date medical research shows that somewhere around 90% of systemic medical conditions are connected to symptoms in the mouth. there is also strong evidence that heart disease, strokes, diabetes and lung disease may perhaps be caused, or at least made worse, by inadequate dental health: a good enough reason for taking the time to find a top quality dentist.

However when looking for a dentist, the majority of people take the easiest approach: typically choosing the exact same dentist as a family member or friend, the nearest dentist to their home or work, or merely the most affordable option available. these tactics, although quick and quite easy, can result in considerable problems later on, including:

• Paying too much for your dental care
• Needing to wait for several weeks to get an appointment
• Feeling anxious and uncomfortable with your dentist
• Choosing a dentist that doesn’t suit your/your family’s requirements

although it might appear like a difficult task at the beginning, finding the right dentist is actually not difficult. All it requires is some time to consider several key issues before you decide. this way you can obtain an even better understanding of all the alternatives so that you can decide what suits your circumstances, and your pocket.

So, just which steps do you need to follow?

The first thing you need to do is create a complete list of your needs and wants. Consider such factors as the best location for your dental practice, when you’d like to have your appointments, ideal pricing, whether you’ll use insurance or not, specific kinds of treatment required (e.g., orthodontics or a dentist that specializes in treating anxious patients), and any psychological or “comfort factors” you consider to be important. be sure to specify any “must haves” or “deal breakers” on your list (factors you consider to be absolutely necessary or that will cause you to instantly rule out a dentist).

when you have your list of needs and wants, the next thing is to develop a list of prospective dentists in your community. The best way to do this is by using the internet. say you’re looking for a dentist in Derby: you would search the internet phrases like Derby dentist or cosmetic dentist Derby, according to your needs. Also, be sure to look at the local telephone book and ask friends and relations for their recommendations.

After you have a list of possible candidates, compare them to your list of requirements and rule out the ones that are unsuitable. looking at the dentists’ websites will also help here. when you find yourself down to a workable number, consider contacting each dental practice for an info pack, or to ask any specific questions you have.

One last step in your homework is to actually go to the dental surgery you have in mind. Have a look around, speak to the staff and ask any last questions. It’s advisable to meet the dentist and find out if you really feel at ease with him or her. You will be ready to select the perfect dentist and book yourself in for an appointment and/or a routine cleaning. Use this opportunity to evaluate your dentist and see if you want to continue there, or if you’d like to check out another dentist from your list in the future.

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Mesothelioma and Asbestos Diseases

Image : flickr.com

There are five main asbestos diseases including cancer that can develop following exposure to asbestos fibres. These are malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, pleural thickening and pleural plaques, however, doctors who do not regularly diagnose asbestos disease can misdiagnose (or be slow to give a diagnosis) what the condition is. this can lead to sufferers of asbestos disease wrongly concluding they do not have a right to make an asbestos compensation claim. It is therefore extremely important for sufferers of lung disease who have been exposed to asbestos fibres to immediately contact a specialist lawyer or attorney for advice and assistance in obtaining an accurate diagnosis if there is any doubt.

There are five main asbestos diseases including cancers that can develop following exposure to asbestos fibres These are malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, pleural thickening and pleural plaques, however, difficulties can arise as follows:-

Doctors who do not regularly diagnose asbestos disease can misdiagnose (or be slow to give a diagnosis) what the condition is because:-

* a history of asbestos exposure may not be volunteered to the doctor at an early stage as it may have occurred 30, 40, 50 or even more years prior to seeing the doctor and may have been forgotten about. a striking feature of asbestos disease is this long latency period between exposure and onset of symptoms, the fibres laying dormant for many years before causing disease or symptoms for which medical advice is sought.

Some asbestos diseases require exposure to only very few asbestos fibres to cause illness, especially mesothelioma which can be caused by just one fibre being inhaled into the lungs! this adds to the above mentioned difficulty of no, or only poor, recollection of exposure to asbestos fibres and accurate diagnosis.

As chest physicians become more aware of asbestos disease, due to its increasing incidence, and the need to ask patients at an early stage if they have ever been exposed to asbestos fibres, these difficulties become less and less of an issue, however, in addition to early history taking the following further difficulties regularly arise.

* The radiological evidence (shown on x-ray films) is often misunderstood. this can often lead to a incorrect diagnosis being made in asbestos disease cases of pleural plaques and pleural thickening. this is usually due to inexperience and the fact that radiological evidence of pleural plaques is similar, to the inexperienced eye, to pleural thickening and vice versa.

* this is important in the context of asbestos UK disease litigation as pleural plaques is currently not considered to be an injury by the UK courts for which compensation can be awarded! this is in spite of the fact that pleural plaques sufferers were routinely awarded compensation for twenty years prior to a Court of Appeal ruling in 2006.

* Accurate diagnosis in cases of asbestos pleural thickening can be difficult due to the fact that apart from the potential for it to be radiologically confused with pleural plaques, it can also be confused with other non-asbestos related injuries or illnesses. for example, as part of the careful history taking in cases of suspected pleural thickening, it is important to ask the patient if they have ever had a fractured rib or ribs. The healing process of a fractured rib can leave behind radiological evidence that shows up on x-rays as pleural thickening. Other prior lung complications and conditions can also leave behind such evidence.

* Difficulties can also arise when trying to arrive at an accurate diagnosis in cases of asbestosis. Asbestosis is the scarring of lung tissue caused by asbestos fibres in the lungs. The difficulty here is that scarring of lung tissue can be caused by other factors or foreign bodies entering the lungs and not just asbestos fibres. Lung scarring or fibrosis appears the same on x-ray films regardless of what has caused it. It is therefore crucial, perhaps more so than with any other asbestos disease, to ensure an early and very detailed history of significant exposure to asbestos fibres is taken and recorded as lung fibrosis can only be diagnosed as asbestosis if the patient has suffered significant and heavy exposure to asbestos fibres in the past.

See also : asbestos cancer lawyer asbestos cancer lawyer asbestos cancer lawsuit

Check it out: Mesothelioma and Asbestos Diseases