My Dad Has AML Leukemia from Benzene Exposure. Can We Sue His Employer?

If a loved one suffered cancer or died due to an on-the-job accident or exposure to hazardous chemicals in the workplace, then yes, you can sue an employer. But your industrial accident lawsuit must prove that the death was caused by an employer’s negligence or willful misconduct.

Benzene exposure causing acute myelogenous leukemia, or AML leukemia, is one form of on-the-job injury that can lead to death. Such an injury is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

AML leukemia is rare, accounting for only about 1 percent of all cancers. Yet more than 20,000 Americans are expected to suffer from it in the year 2021, reports cancer.net.

Benzene in the Workplace Can Cause Cancer

As one cause of AML leukemia, the chemical benzene is known as carcinogenic. That means it can cause cancer in humans.

Benzene can be found in a variety of places, but in the workplace high benzene exposure most often arises in the jobs of chemical plant workers, painters, paper factory employees, oil refinery personnel and mechanics.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), benzene can be found in gasoline and other fuels and often is used in the manufacturing of plastics, pesticides, detergents and other chemicals.

The degree of exposure and the length (or time) of exposure are important factors in determining if benzene caused the cancer which injured or killed your loved one.

In terms of time, exposure to benzene for less than five years on the job can contribute to cancer, though some workers may be exposed for up to 30 years before the cancer leukemia arises. In terms of the degree of exposure, while exposure to small amounts for a short time may not be fatal, even brief exposure to a high level of benzene can cause death.

Claim Payments for Your Industrial Accident Losses

When an industrial accident causing wrongful death happens on the job, surviving family members have a legal right to file a wrongful death lawsuit claiming payments for their losses, typically by blaming industry owners for negligence leading to the death. A lawsuit filed by a wrongful death attorney can hold them accountable for their mistakes and seek payments for a variety of damages, or losses.

Such losses can include costs of hospital bills and medical care after the injury but prior to death; lost ongoing wages, salary or benefits; and damages calculated to compensate a family for the pain and suffering inflicted upon them because of a workplace injury or death.

Of course, industrial accidents can take many forms beyond exposure to hazardous chemicals such as benzene. A worker may be crushed in a crane accident on a construction site or be killed by falling debris when a high-rise is being built.

Malfunctioning equipment in a factory also can lead to industrial accidents and death, as can hazards and accidents on the job in an oil refinery or on an offshore oil or gas rig.

A Wrongful Death Lawsuit Can Help

Whatever the type of industrial accident or workplace injury, families of victims have a legal right to hold an employer, company or business responsible for the negligence which caused the injury or death. That can happen by means of an industrial accident or wrongful death lawsuit.

The Willis Law Firm has many years of experience helping Americans from across the country gain payments and justice for the loss of a loved one due to the negligence of others. Contact a wrongful death attorney with our law firm today and get a free consultation for your case. Then let us help you get the money — and justice — that you and your family deserve.

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