The Metzger Law Group is currently litigating numerous cases of “scarred lungs.”  Workers’ lungs can become scarred from exposure to inhaled chemicals, dusts, and metals.  The lungs are workers’ only internal organ that is constantly exposed to the external environment.  Every breath that workers take exposes their lungs to contaminants in the air that they breathe.  The chemicals, dusts and metals that cause scarring of the lungs are too small to see, so workers often do not know, do not understand, or do not appreciate the severity of the respiratory hazards.

When gases and tiny dust particles or metal fumes are inhaled, they can reach the deep recesses of the lungs, where they can be trapped in the delicate tissues of the air sacs and cause irritation, inflammation, and scarring of the lungs (called “pulmonary fibrosis”), eventually causing a serious and debilitating lung disease (“interstitial lung disease”).  Interstitial lung disease is a chronic, progressive and fatal lung disease whose only cure is lung transplantation.

Among the inhaled minerals that cause scarred lungs are silica, asbestos, coal dust, fiberglass, and other synthetic mineral fibers.  A long list of metals cause injury to the lungs, including aluminum, antimony, barium, beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, iron, mercury, silver, tin, titanium, tungsten carbide, and zirconium. Among the gases that cause pulmonary injury are ammonia, chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, phosgene, and sulfur dioxide.  The herbicide paraquat also causes interstitial lung disease, but usually through dermal absorption.   Workers exposed to organic dusts in agriculture can develop lung diseases that scar the lungs and cause a particular type of interstitial lung disease known as “hypersensitivity pneumonitis.”

The Metzger Law Group has been litigating cases of workers whose lungs have become scarred from toxic chemicals throughout the past 20 years and is currently litigating several such cases.  If you are exposed to gases, dusts, minerals or metals, or other toxic chemicals and have been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis or interstitial lung disease, or if you are experiencing shortness of breath walking up the stairs or when doing light exercising, please contact the Metzger Law Group for a free case evaluation and consultation.  We can refer you to physician specialists trained in the diagnosis and treatment of interstitial lung diseases.  We can also help persuade your medical provider to authorize a lung transplant if your lungs are scarred from chemical exposure.  If we determine that your lung disease was caused by occupational exposure to inhaled toxins in California, we will litigate your case to obtain compensation for your injuries.  If your case cannot be filed in California, we will refer you to an attorney who litigates lung disease cases in your geographical area.  We will try our best to help you.