 CBS News |
Man killed, woman hurt in Brooklyn shooting
Newsday - NEW YORK - Police say a shooting in Brooklyn has left a man dead and a woman hospitalized. Officers responded to to a report of a shooting on New York Avenue in East Flatbush at 1 am Saturday. Video: Video Shows Woman Dying on NY Hospital Floor Some psych patients wait days in hospital ERs |
 Voice of America |
Bush presides at groundbreaking for military hospital
Baltimore Sun - By David Nitkin | Sun reporter BETHESDA - President Bush turned a spade of dirt to ceremonially launch a major expansion of one of the nation's premier military hospitals yesterday, saying he hoped a new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center … Video: Bush Breaks Ground at New Walter Reed Bush Speaks at Walter Reed Medical Center Groundbreaking Ceremony |
 ABC News |
Mother accused in cancer case defends role
Boston Globe - "That child has been my world," Kristen A. LaBrie said of her son Jeremy. LaBrie was charged with child endangerment. (FAMILY PHOTO) The Beverly mother accused of withholding cancer treatment from her young autistic son broke her silence yesterday, … Video: Mom Charged With Denying Son Cancer Medication Mom Charged With Denying Son Cancer Medication |
 Boston Globe |
Man killed, woman hurt in Brooklyn shooting
Newsday - NEW YORK - Police say a shooting in Brooklyn has left a man dead and a woman hospitalized. Officers responded to to a report of a shooting on New York Avenue in East Flatbush at 1 am Saturday. Video: Video Shows Woman Dying on NY Hospital Floor Some psych patients wait days in hospital ERs |
One man’s misery can be another man’s fortune. This seems to be the case with the mesothelioma victims on the one hand and mesothelioma lawyers on the other. An online feeding frenzy is currently taking place. The average mesothelioma case today is settled at around 1 million dollars, and that figure jumps to 6 million dollars when the lawsuit goes to the courts. With such enormous money to be made, legal firms are hungry for a slice of the action, and are shelling out big money for online visitors. The result is that search engines and other sites that can supply them with those visitors are racking up huge revenue.
It works like this. In the sponsored listings of search engines, clicks (visitors) are auctioned off to the highest bidder. When someone searches “mesothelioma”, the highest-bidding law firms appear. With the keen competition, these firms are paying as much as $100 per mesothelioma-related visitor to their web site. That’s $100 every time someone just clicks on their ad - and a lot of the clicks are from competitors. Less than one in ten visitors may actually submit an inquiry about the services of the legal firm. And only a fraction of the inquiries convert into clients. Therefore, it is costing lawyers tens of thousands of dollars in advertising to secure a single client.
There is something truly obscene about this situation. But, it is inevitable that while there is huge money to be made from litigation, lawyers and publishers will continue to hustle for their slice of the action. You can even find these vultures on YouTube making an undignified pitch for business. If only a portion of the money could be directed to cancer research. Perhaps these legal firms and others who profit from this horrendous disease should consider donating a portion of their gains to research organizations. By doing so, they may appear a little more genuine and less like vultures.
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer linked to asbestos exposure. In fact, 70% to 80% of mesothelioma cases are caused by a history of exposure to asbestos. It can take decades for the symptoms to appear. Each year, approximately 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are reported. In the past 20 years, the number of reported cases has increased significantly. Although it can take up to 50 years for symptoms to manifest, mesothelioma patients experience a host of symptoms. These include shortness of breath, or a wheezing and hacking cough, which often lead to chest or abdominal pain. In the more serious cases, individuals may have bowel blockages, anaemia, a bloody cough, and jaundice. It is extremely difficult to secure accurate statistics about how many individuals suffer from mesothelioma because in the early stages, the symptoms are quite similar to various other conditions. This often leads to a misdiagnosis of the disease. In addition, when an accurate diagnosis is finally made, the disease has typically already progressed to a more advanced stage.
With the renovation craze that has occurred in the past 2 or 3 decades in countries such as Australia and the US, it is expected that the high rates of diagnosis will continue for decades to come. And as long as there is money to be made from this disease, the vultures will also be around.
About The Author
Sam Gurgis is a scientific writer and the webmaster at http://www.mesotheliomawise.org. Full article is available at http://www.mesotheliomawise.org/category/mesothelioma-lawyers/