Medico-Legal News

March 3, 2009

Birth Injury in Jail Leads to Lawsuit

Chelsie Barker, now a 10-year-old girl, needs round-the-clock attention as a result of a lack of oxygen during birth in a Michigan jail.

Jail officers are being sued in federal court, for violating the girl’s constitutional rights by not getting her mother, an inmate, to a hospital for the delivery.

Their defense is Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision. Attorneys for the officers say they are not liable because the child had no 14th Amendment right before she was born.

The jail officers “had sufficient warning that the child was on the way and did not get her the medical care she needed immediately prior to, during, and after the birth,” according to the U.S. District Judge.

March 2, 2009

Seroquel Increased Risks of Diabetes

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to plaintiffs’ attorneys AstraZeneca PLC failed to warn physicians and patients about risks associated with its widely used schizophrenia drug Seroquel.

According to documents that were just unsealed in a U.S. federal court case showed AstraZeneca knew about the risk of weight gain and diabetes in 2000.

The company “not only failed to warn physicians and patients about the risk of diabetes but they also marketed them in a way that represented that there was no risk.”

March 1, 2009

FDA Requires Boxed Warning and Risk Mitigation Strategy for Metoclopramide-Containing Drugs

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A class of drugs to treat stomach disorders needs a strong warning about the risk of involuntary, repetitive movement on several parts of the body seen with long-term use or high doses, according to U.S. regulators.

The drugs contain the ingredient metoclopramide and are available in various forms including tablets, syrups and injections, the Food and Drug Administration said.

According to the FDA more than 2 million Americans use the medicines to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease and other stomach ailments.

February 28, 2009

Coppell Texas Mannatech to Pay Millions to Settle Diet-Supplement Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Dallas based dietary supplements seller Mannatech Inc. will return $4 million to customers and its founder will pay a $1 million fine for lying about the health benefits of its products, according to the Texas attorney general’s office.

Attorney General Greg Abbott said the Coppell-based company tricked people into thinking its products would prevent, treat or even cure diseases.

February 26, 2009

California Woman Infected With Herpes Wins Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A California jury has awarded nearly $7 million to a 56-year-old woman who was unknowingly infected with herpes by a 77-year-old man.

The lawsuit alleged that Thomas Redmond knew he had genital herpes for more than 25 years but did not disclose it before his sexual relationship began with Patricia Behr and did not use a condom.

The lawsuit claimed that Behr suffered unnecessary stress and humiliation as a result of the defendant’s conduct, which it called “outrageous and beyond the bounds of decency.”

February 17, 2009

California Surgeon Charged With Molesting Patients

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A California doctor accused of molesting female patients during medical procedures has been ordered to stop practicing medicine until further notice.

Dr. Peter Chi, has turned in his license, according to the Medical Board of California. He previously had been ordered by a San Joaquin County judge to stay away from the Beauty Renewed Laser Skin Center, where he served as the medical director.

Chi, a cosmetic surgeon, made his first court appearance and is out on $100,000 bail. He has been charged with seven counts of sexual battery by fraud, one count of sexual battery and three counts of rape by a foreign object.

A total of eight women, said that they were violated during cosmetic surgery procedures or postoperative exams at his clinic between September 2007 and December 2008. Most of the women, who were 25 to 39 years old at the time, were unconscious while the molestation occurred.

February 16, 2009

Dallas Doctor Ordered to Pay Man Who Lost Limbs $7.5M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

DALLAS — A Bedford infectious-disease specialist has been ordered to pay $7.5 million to a former maintenance man who lost his arms and legs to an MRSA infection.

Judge Jim Jordan ordered Dr. Meenakshi Prabhakar to pay David Fitzgerald after a Dallas County jury found in Fitzgerald’s favor in his medical malpractice lawsuit. Prabhakar treated Fitzgerald in 2003 when he developed an infection following surgery at RHD Medical Center in Farmers Branch. Photo courtesy of Dallas Morning News

February 10, 2009

Florida Doctor Loses License in Live Birth Abortion Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Florida doctor’s license was revoked in the case of a teenager who planned to have an abortion but instead gave birth to a baby she says was killed when clinic staffers put it into a plastic bag and threw it in the trash.

The doctor, Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique, was not present when the baby was born, but the Florida Medical Board upheld Department of Health allegations that he falsified medical records, inappropriately delegated tasks to unlicensed personnel and committed malpractice.

February 10, 2009

F.D.A. to Restrict Prescriptions of Narcotics

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to federal drug officials, many doctors may lose their ability to prescribe 24 popular narcotics as part of a new effort to reduce the deaths and injuries that result from these medications inappropriate use.

A new control program will result in restrictions on the prescribing, dispensing and distribution of extended-release opioids like OxyContin, fentanyl patches, methadone tablets and some morphine tablets.

February 10, 2009

Texas Medical Board Disciplines 33 Doctors

by Dr. Shezad Malik

At its February 5-6 meeting, the Texas Medical Board took disciplinary action against 32 licensed physicians; in addition, the board has issued one temporary suspension since its last meeting.

The actions included 11 violations based on quality of care; seven actions based on unprofessional conduct; one mediated agreed order modifying a prior order; three actions based on other states’ actions; four actions based on inadequate medical records violations; two actions based on impairment due to alcohol or drugs or mental/physical condition; one advertising violation; and four voluntary surrenders. The board also accepted the voluntary surrender of one surgical assistant’s license.

At its February 5-6 meeting, the Texas Medical Board issued 399 physician licenses.