How You to Obtain Financial Compensation for Your E-Cigarette-Related Illness, Injury or Loss of a Loved One
E-cigarettes are not a safe alternative to smoking, although you would never believe it based on the way e-cigarette manufacturers market their products. Inhaling vapors from e-cigarettes, colloquially known as “vaping,” has become a trend, especially among teenagers. One teenager recently found out the hard way how dangerous vaping can be: the 18-year-old waitress required emergency medical treatment for wet lung, which is also described as hypersensitivity pneumonitis or an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Legal action against e-cigarette manufacturers who knowingly market their wares as a safe alternative to tobacco smoking could commence nationwide as people learn more about (i) the dangers of vaping and (ii) how the e-cigarette industry tried to conceal the hazards it knew about or should have known about but nonetheless produced vaping materials for mass consumption.
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury caused by vaping such as “wet lung,” “bagpipe lung,” or “Popcorn lung,” you may be eligible to receive a large monetary settlement. The products liability lawyers with Parker Waichman LLP have extraordinary experience pursuing damages on behalf of our clients. Give us a call today at 1-800-YOURLAWYER (1-800-968-7529) to learn more about your legal rights and options.
How Do E-Cigarettes Cause Wet Lung?
Wet lung is a form of ARDS and is also known as hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is an inflammation of the lungs caused by an irritant. People can experience an on-set of ARDS for many reasons, one of which is inhaling a toxin. ARDS is a sudden buildup of fluid in the lungs (known as pulmonary edema) after the layer of tissue separating the lungs’ capillaries from the air sacs becomes permeable, and fluid flows into the air sacs from the blood vessels.
The capillaries are small blood vessels that fill our lungs. When we breathe in, we take oxygen into the air sacs in our lungs called alveoli. Oxygen from the air in the alveoli passes through the semi-permeable membrane that separates the alveoli and the capillaries. The capillaries then deliver the air into the bloodstream. However, when an irritant invades the alveoli, such as vapor from an e-cigarette, fluid rather than oxygen passes into the capillaries, resulting in severe health problems.
Doctors consider ARDS the most serious of acute lung disorders. ARDS can be life-threatening because the oxygen levels in the blood will drop substantially below normal. A precipitous drop in oxygenated blood adversely affects the brain and the kidneys, both of which require a significant amount of oxygen to function correctly.
Symptoms of Wet Lung
The symptoms of wet lung depend on the irritant that caused the problem. The most pervasive symptom is the feeling like you cannot get enough air into your lungs. As a consequence, you begin breathing quickly. At that point, your oxygen level begins to drop. When oxygen levels drop, then your cognitive ability diminishes. You can also experience confusion and extreme fatigue as your oxygen levels drop.
Other symptoms can occur as well. You might experience:
- Coughing,
- Shortness of breath,
- Chills,
- Fever,
- Body Aches, and
- Overall malaise.
The young woman who fell victim to wet lung from vaping complained of a stabbing pain in her chest. By the time the young woman arrived at the emergency room, the young lady was in full respiratory failure, meaning she could not breathe on her own. Consequently, doctors put her on a ventilator and inserted breathing tubes just to keep her alive. The doctors found that a substantial amount of fluid spilled from her lungs into her blood. The young woman would not have survived if she did not seek emergency medical care immediately.
Doctors were able to remove the ventilator within a couple of days. The patient showed marked improvement with corticosteroids, which are anti-inflammatory drugs. Remarkably, the victim had a history of asthma and needed to use a rescue inhaler every once and a while but never required emergency treatment to that degree. As a consequence, her physicians believed that vaping for the previous two to three weeks before she fell ill was the cause of the condition.
This is not the first case of hypersensitivity pneumonitis associated with vaping to make the news. In 2016, a musician from Liverpool, England died from bagpipe lung, which is another name for wet lung after vaping.
The U.S. Surgeon General Warned About the Dangers of Vaping
The incidence of vaping among teenagers reached astounding heights. From 2011 to 2015, vaping increased by 900% among teenagers. These findings prompted the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to respond in kind. U.S. regulators worry about the health of high school students because e-cigarettes contain nicotine removed from tobacco along with other chemical compounds and artificial flavoring. One such artificial flavoring is a chemical that tastes like butter. However, the chemical cause inflammation in the lungs, leading to “popcorn lung.” Nicotine is highly addictive and can actually lead teens to pick up tobacco smoking.
On a larger scale, no one except e-cigarette manufacturers knows precisely what is included in an e-cigarette. Artificial flavorings and chemical compounds unknown to the consumer pose a latent health risk.
Protecting Your Rights Against E-Cigarette Manufacturers
You have a right to file a lawsuit against an e-cigarette manufacturer if the manufacturer produced a product it knew was harmful to the public and yet marked it as safe. In such a scenario, the company may be liable for false advertising if the misstatement led to an injury or illness. If it did, you could be eligible to receive financial compensation for your medical bills, future medical expenses related to the injury, lost wages and loss of economic advancement, and costs incidental to those losses. You may be eligible to receive compensation for your pain and suffering as well. Additionally, a jury could award punitive damages against the company for putting the public’s health at risk.
Call Parker Waichman LLP today to speak with one of our e-cigarette attorneys to see if you qualify for a financial award. Our product liability lawyers have substantial experience recovering economic awards from product manufacturers on behalf of our clients. To date, we have recovered over $2 billion in damages for our clients.
In addition to the unparalleled success we have achieved for our clients, our peers have bestowed numerous accolades and awards upon us for our unfailing commitment to achieving justice for our clients and our lawyers’ professionalism.
Taking on an e-cigarette manufacturer could be tricky for all, including attorneys, except those who dedicate their practice to pursuing justice for their clients against corporate entities who place greater emphasis on their balance sheet than the safety of the public. You will not save money by confronting e-cigarette companies alone. Remember, Parker Waichman LLP never changes a fess unless we successfully recovered financial compensation for you.
The Time to Act is Now
The time to file a claim against e-cigarette companies is limited. Most vape companies are not established corporate entities. They are companies that could be fly-by-night operations. Therefore, any delay in pursuing your claim could hurt your case.
Consultations with Parker Waichman LLP’s lawyers are always complimentary. Call 1-800-YOURLAWYER (1-800-968-7529) to schedule yours today and learn what we can do to maximize your wet lung e-cigarette claim.
