Personal Injury

November 5, 2008

A&M Settles Bonfire Law Suit

Texas A&M University has agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle a lawsuit resulting from the 1999 bonfire collapse that killed 12 people and injured 27.

The families of four students who died and three who were hurt had sued the university, school officials and construction contractors hired to help build the 59-foot-high stack of logs.

The settlement agreement, filed in state District Court in Brazos County, resolves all remaining claims against current and former A&M employees. Claims against the contractors are pending, and the university is a third-party defendant in those matters.

November 3, 2008

Florida Supreme Court OKs Anthrax Law Suit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling will help the widow of an anthrax victim claim that the government was ultimately responsible for her husband’s death.

The widow’s husband was a photo editor who was exposed to anthrax when it was mailed to the Boca Raton office of American Media Inc., in 2001. He was the first of five people who died and 17 others got sick in a series of similar attacks.

The Court ruled that the defendants had a duty under Florida law to protect the public against the unauthorized release of lethal materials. The law suit also alleges the government and Battelle Memorial Institute, a private laboratory in Columbus, Ohio, were the source of the anthrax.

The ruling on the defendants’ duty under Florida law was requested by a federal appeals court considering a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

November 2, 2008

Amputee Awaits Supreme Court Decision

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Diana Levine has a big fight coming up. In a drawing made by her daughter, based on Greek mythology there is an illustration of Diana the Huntress, her bow string drawn taut, an arrow ready to fly.

But the arm pulling at the bowstring was amputated below the elbow — just like Levine’s — and the target was labeled the “Wyeth monster.”

Levine blames Wyeth for a botched injection of the Wyeth-made drug Phenergan that led doctors to amputate her right arm in 2000.

Levine was awaiting a hearing Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court, where Wyeth is appealing a $6.7 million verdict in her favor.

The outcome of Levine’s case could have huge ramifications for drug makers and consumers. The court is expected to decide whether people can sue under state law — or are pre-empted from doing so — for harm caused by a drug approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Levine said the drug makers “are using my case … to get through this doctrine that will say that if it is FDA-approved, then we are not accountable, because FDA said it’s OK. … Mr. Pharmaceutical Company is not responsible and is not liable and doesn’t have to help the person who just lost her arm, or her life.”

Read the earlier post

October 14, 2008

Gadolinium Litigation Involves 391 Lawsuits in State and Federal Court

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to documents filed in federal court, the makers of gadolinium-based contrast agents currently face 391 lawsuits filed by individuals who allege that they developed a rare condition known as NSF, or nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, after an enhanced MRI.

Gadolinium contrast injections are commonly used during MRI and MRA tests to allow doctors to distinguish blood vessels from surrounding tissue by providing enhanced clarity to the images. However, in patients without properly functioning kidneys, side effects of the MRI contrast agents could lead to the hardening and thickening of the skin, which severely restricts movement and could be fatal.

October 9, 2008

Nuvaring Birth Control MDL Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

United States District Judge Rodney W. Sipple issued an order Wednesday designating lawyers in the recently formed NuvaRing birth control MDL to serve in leadership positions and to act on behalf of all plaintiffs during discovery and pretrial proceedings.

On August 22, 2008, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized all federal NuvaRing birth control lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri before Judge Sipple as part of a federal procedure which allows complex product liability cases to be consolidated and coordinated for pretrial proceedings.

August 26, 2008

Lilly, Amylin Disclose More Cases of Byetta-Related Pancreatitis

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Last week, the FDA said it had received reports of six new cases of pancreatitis – including two deaths – associated with the diabetes drug Byetta. Today, Amylin and Eli Lilly said that they had reported four additional deaths to the agency as well, which the FDA hasn’t yet made public.

The companies, which co-market the drug, chose to disclose the additional information in order to “provide context” about each of the cases, according to Amylin President and Chief Executive Daniel Bradbury.

August 18, 2008

FDA Receives 2 Reports of Death, 4 More Hospitalizations in Patients Using Type 2 Diabetes Drug Byetta

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The FDA today said it plans to strengthen warnings about life-threatening pancreas problems linked to the type 2 diabetes drug Byetta after getting two reports of deaths and four other hospitalizations in Byetta users.

Those patients had hemorrhagic pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas with bleeding) or necrotizing pancreatitis (in which the inflamed pancreas destroys itself).

All six patients were hospitalized, and their Byetta treatment was stopped. The four survivors were still recovering at the time that the FDA learned of their illness.

Byetta and other potentially suspect drugs should be promptly discontinued if pancreatitis is suspected and not restarted if pancreatitis is confirmed, notes the FDA. Byetta, given by injection, was approved by the FDA in 2005.

August 18, 2008

FDA and Byetta Pancreatitis Side Effects

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Byetta is an injectable therapy to improve blood sugar control in patients with Type II diabetes, which is most often prescribed for patients who have not been able to achieve adequate control on metformin and/or a sulfonylurea, two often prescribed diabetes medications that are taken orally. Byetta has been prescribed alone or in conjunction with other diabetes medicines.

Byetta has side effects that can be harmful. October 2007, the FDA first warned that Byetta may cause acute pancreatitis and reviewed 30 reports of pancreatitis. On August 18, 2008, the FDA announced that the Agency has received six new reports of patients developing severe hemorrhagic or necrotizing pancreatitis. All cases required hospitalization, with two patients dead and four still in recovery.

July 2, 2008

Defective Drugs: Digitek Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Two months after a Digitek recall was issued due to manufacturing problems that allowed double strength tablets to be commercially released, at least three lawsuits have been filed. A number of additional cases are expected to be filed in the coming weeks, as hundreds of potential cases are currently being investigated throughout the country by individuals who are trying to determine if they may be entitled to compensation through a Digitek lawsuit.

Many people have described problems that surfaced during the months around the recall, but some have reported problems consistent with a Digitek overdose as early as 2006. Since the manufacturer has released very little information about the extent of the Digitek problems, all cases are being reviewed to determine if injuries could have caused by the manufacturing problems.

April 18, 2008

Dallas VA Closes Psychiatric Wing After Suicides

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Dallas VA Medical Center has effectively closed its psychiatric wing after a fourth mentally ill patient this year committed suicide.

On April 4, a man fastened a bed sheet to the bottom corner of a door frame, draped a noose over the top, and hanged himself. Before that, a veteran hanged himself on a frame attached to his wheelchair. And in January, two men who met in the psychiatric ward committed suicide in Collin County days after being released.