Personal Injury

April 15, 2008

Nightmare Conditions in Dallas VA Medical Center’s Psych Ward

The voices in Jack Edenburn’s head began soon after he returned from Vietnam. They told him to end it all.

He ignored them for almost 40 years, until the day he stood at the railroad tracks near his Lancaster home, fantasizing about stepping in front of a train. That’s the day he went to Dallas VA Medical Center. And some days, he says, he regrets that decision.

“Imagine hell,” he said of his five days in the psychiatric unit, “then think worse.”

Patients soiled with feces and soaked in urine wandered aimlessly, screaming, rolling delirious on the floor. One woman, he said, removed ceiling tiles and crawled into the space above the day room.

February 18, 2008

Dallas VA Hospital Blamed for the Suicides of Two Veterans

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Pat Ahrens knew something was wrong. The night before, he had dropped his friend Chris Demopoulos off at a Plano motel, promising to return in the morning, but Ahrens wasn’t sure he had done the right thing.

The two had met at the Dallas veterans’ hospital and had bonded over their wartime experiences, the depression that followed and the troubling thoughts of suicide they could not seem to shake. Ahrens was discharged on January 22; Demopoulos checked out the next day, he then gave Demopoulos money for dinner and put him up for the night in a La Quinta Inn at 1820 N. Central Expressway in Plano.

November 29, 2007

Acute Pancreatitis Warning From FDA About Byetta

by Dr. Shezad Malik

FDA has reviewed 30 postmarketing reports of acute pancreatitis in patients taking Byetta, a drug used to treat adults with type 2 diabetes. An association between Byetta and acute pancreatitis is suspected in some of these cases.

Healthcare professionals should instruct patients taking Byetta to seek prompt medical care if they experience unexplained persistent severe abdominal pain which may or may not be accompanied by vomiting. If pancreatitis is suspected, Byetta should be discontinued. If pancreatitis is confirmed, Byetta should not be restarted unless an alternative etiology is identified.

FDA has asked and the maker of Byetta, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has agreed to include information about acute pancreatitis in the PRECAUTIONS section of the product label.

August 11, 2007

Defective Drugs: Fentanyl Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Duragesic and generic fentanyl pain patches have been linked to hundreds of cases of overdose and death. Poor design, manufacturing defects, inadequate warnings and poor quality controls could result in excessive amounts of fentanyl entering the body.

Lawsuits have been filed throughout the United States for users who have died or entered a permanent coma from a fentanyl overdose.

Johnson & Johnson was the main manufacturer as well as a variety of generic fentanyl patch manufacturers.