Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility is typically determined by where an individual worked. Please contact us at 855-397-3997 if you’d like to see if you or a family member qualify for a free test.

We’re always happy to help individuals get tested, and will work with you to make it happen if possible. Please contact us and we will do our best.

Our medical director, Dr. Christopher John, is one of less than 200 doctors in the U.S. who has been certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to look for lung-damage in an x-ray. Getting certified is incredibly difficult, and most doctors who attempt to get certified fail the NIOSH test. Additionally, doctors must retake the test every four-years. Even the retest has a roughly 50% failure rate. Dr. John’s certification has never expired, and he is (in our opinion) one of the best pulmonologists in the country.

We pride ourselves on setting the “gold standard” in asbestos medicine. Here are some of the reasons why we believe we offer the best and most reliable asbestos-tests:

• X-rays: The majority of our X-rays are performed on state-of-the-art digital X-ray machines that cost a quarter-of-a-million dollars or more. Some companies use older, film-based X-ray machines that simply aren’t as accurate. The difference between an older film-based X-ray and a modern digital X-ray is similar to the difference between regular television and High-Definition television; you just see more details on our X-rays than older X-rays. This is especially important when you’re looking for tumors and other abnormalities that may be smaller than a millimeter in diameter.
• Breathing Tests: We own two Pulmonary Function Test machines to properly measure our clients’ lung functions. We bought the exact same machines used by major hospitals, which has ranked as one of the top two hospitals in the country for cancer care since 1990. These machines cost $30,000 dollars and are manufactured by one of the best medical device manufacturers in the world. Some other companies use cheap, hand-held devices that you can literally buy from Amazon. As you’d imagine, the hand-held testers are nowhere near as accurate as the machines we have.
• Our Staff: Dr. John is one of only 200 doctors in the country with NIOSH-certification to look for asbestos-damage on an X-ray. Mark Mullinax is a registered nurse who has provided skilled and compassionate care to thousands of patients in a number of clinical settings. Leendert Keus is the head of the pulmonary function laboratory for a major hospital. Those three highly-credentialed gentlemen provide medical care to the majority of our clients. When one of them is unavailable, we rely on other highly-skilled professionals who are often professional colleagues of Dr. John or Mr. Keus. Other companies often rely on doctors and staff members with far less expertise.

Asbestos was used in thousands of products. It was most-commonly used for insulation, but it’s low-cost and high-durability lent it to many uses. Over the years, it’s been used in household appliances, dentistry, filters for cigarettes, and many articles of protective clothing.

The ancient Romans observed that slaves who worked in asbestos mines tended not to live long, and other historical figures speculated about the potential hazards of asbestos. By the early 1900’s, there was ample medical evidence that asbestos could cause serious breathing problems, and by the 1920’s the medical community had recorded numerous deaths due to asbestos. By the 1940’s it was well-established that asbestos could cause lung cancer. By the mid 1960’s there was little doubt that asbestos was the cause of mesothelioma.

Greed, mostly. The asbestos story would make a great movie - if it weren’t so unbelievable. Major corporations conspired together for decades to hide the hazards of asbestos. They setup laboratories where they ran their own tests on dogs and cats, and they worked to prevent the general public from knowing just how dangerous asbestos was. Yes, there were articles in medical journals about it, but in the pre-Internet age it was incredibly difficult for anyone to access those journals.

We’re told that the amount of money varies based upon how damaged an individual’s lungs are. Individuals who have an asbestos-related cancer receive more money than individuals without cancer. Individuals with serious breathing difficulties receive more than individuals who don’t have breathing problems.

No. Here is more information about the compensation available to individuals whose lungs were damaged by asbestos. If you have more questions, please contact us and we’ll direct you to one of the trusted attorneys we often work with.

If you got money in the past, that means you have already been diagnosed with an asbestos-related illness. Asbestos-related illnesses do not “get better” over time, meaning that there is no reason to think a new test would give a better result.

If you can get a copy of the person’s last chest X-ray or CT scan, it’s possible we can help. Please call us before you attempt to get their X-ray or CT scan to see if we think we can help you.