There are opportunities for legal nurse consultants (LNCs) to provide services to attorneys who are soliciting mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis cases. Since these attorneys are spending money to advertise for these cases, they are likely to have the resources to contract with legal nurse consultants to assist them. However, it will be critical for you to be able to demonstrate your expertise in order to be able to successfully market your services to these attorneys.

Begin your marketing by identifying attorneys in your geographic area who are solititing mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis cases. One way of doing this is to look for attorneys who are advertising on the internet or in newspapers and on the radio and TV. There may even be some firms with Google Ads on the bottom of this page or advertising on search pages.

Contact the attorneys who are soliciting mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis cases to set up an appointment to discuss how you could help them save time or money by hiring you to help them with these cases. If the law firms are not in your geographic area, you can still contact them to see if they are handling cases in your area or if they know who are handling these types of cases in your area.

One of the most critical background things to know is the statute of limitations for personal injury and for wrongful death in the state(s) where you will be reviewing cases. You should also know the requirements for applying for social security disability for these diagnoses as this may be an additional service the attorney will want to offer his clients. You may even want to suggest this as an additional service if the law firm is not already offering this to their clients. 

You should be aware of the staging definitions for mesothelioma so you sound knowledgeable and credible even though staging of mesothelioma does not appear to be critical in pursuing a law suit. If you are aware of staging definitions, you will also know when personal injury claims may turn into a wrongful death claims even before the case is settled. 

Obtaining medical documentation will be a critical step in the process. Medical records since the asbestos exposure should be obtained from all treatment providers. These records could be extensive since asbestos exposure could have occurred over many years and may have occurred 15 - 20 years before the cancer symptoms developed. These medical records will need to be summarized. Some of the issues you will be looking for in the records include

When was the person officially diagnosed
When was the person first informed of their diagnosis
Were they exposed to asbestos or were they living with someone who was exposed to asbestos. (Para occupational exposure is a type of "second-hand" exposure since asbestos fibers are so toxic.)
Any conditions or symptoms that may be related to asbestos exposure

If there isn't sufficient documentation in the records, you may need to suggest one of more of the following be obtained for the client:
Imaging studies
Fluid and tissue tests
Pulmonary function tests (PFTs)

Take the first steps now to get involved in working mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis cases with attorneys in your area. 

[Mesothelioma is a commonly used shortened term for malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an asbestos related pleura, peritoneum, or pericardial cancer. It is almost exclusively related to exposure to asbestos and usually results in death. Asbestosis is a scarring or fibrosis of the lung tissue as a result of exposure to asbestos. Many of the companies who made profits from making products with asbestos knew as early as the 1920s about the danger for workers who were exposed to asbestos.]