Personal Injury

October 28, 2010

Chromium and Cobalt Poisoning With DePuy ASR Hips

As a Dallas DePuy Recall attorney I am concern about the risks of Cobalt and Chromium poisoning, resulting from the metal on metal grinding of the DePuy ASR Prosthetic Hips.

In August of this year, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., recalled the ASR metal-on-metal hip replacement system, admitting that about one out of every eight patients who receives the hip implant may experience early hip failure within five years. The actual ratio of defective hips may be as high as one out of five or 20%, or even higher.

Structeral design and manufacturing problems with the DePuy metal-on-metal hip replacement system allow the toxic release of chromium and cobalt to be absorbed into the blood-stream.

October 26, 2010

DePuy Hip ASR And Metallosis

by Dr. Shezad Malik

As a Fort Worth DePuy Hip Product Liability attorney I took an interesting potential client inquiry. The woman had hip replacement and she has noticed that her hair is falling out in clumps, suggesting toxic metal ion poisoning., which is described below.

DePuy XL ASR Prosthetic Hips are unique, in that they involve metal on metal grinding during a patient’s ambulation. While the metal design may have have sounded good in theory, they have turned out horribly bad in clinical practice.

Patients then develop 2 types of problems. The repetitive grinding motion, leads to microscopic wearing down of the articular surfaces and the release of metallic ions, particularly cobalt and chromium, into the tissues surrounding the hip. The metal becomes fatigued and leads to early failure.

Also there is the resultant loosening and dislocation of the device resulting in the need for early hip revision surgery and/or the release of metal debris causing tissue damage.

This absorption of metallic ions in the tissues, leads to an inflammatory reaction, resulting in pain, swelling and immobility. The absorption of metallic ions into the bloodstream leads to cobalt and chromium toxicity. Polyneuropathy is caused by cobalt–chromium metallosis after total hip replacement. Read the article here.

artificial hip joint; biopsy; metal intoxication; polyneuropathy; toxic neuropathy

October 25, 2010

Fort Worth Artificial Hip With DePuy ASR Replacement?

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Today as a Fort Worth DePuy ASR Hip Lawsuit attorney, I took in a case for DePuy ASR product liability lawsuits that we are filing.

Johnson and Johnson acknowledged in August, with the withdrawal from the market their artificial hips, that there are problems with high failure rates, metal on metal grinding and release of metal ions into the joints.

Now class actions lawsuits are being filed across the nation.

Approximately 30,000 DePuy hips have been implanted in the US alone. There is a Fort Worth orthopedic group that has implanted 800, over the past 6 years.

DePuy is paying orthopedic doctors $50 to hand over their patients medical records and grabbing the artificial joints when they get removed. Both of these acts should be resisted at all costs. This is unethical, and you risk the loss of key evidence of a defective product. We are storing our clients DePuy artificial hips in storage bottled containing formalin.

I would encourage all patients who have had a DePuy hip implanted to seek legal advice, and to safeguard their legal rights. If you have one of the DePuy ASR hip systems, you have the potential of a legal claim. Potential recoveries include compensation for your medical bills, lost wages and your pain and suffering.

October 21, 2010

Fort Worth Texas Benzene Lawsuit Attorney

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Not a day goes by when one reads of a story of an accidental oil and gas spillage or leakage into the ground, our water ways or the ocean. The BP Oil Spill is one major example. All over the United States, on a daily basis there are folks who are getting exposed to toxic chemicals.

As a Fort Worth Benzene Lawsuit attorney, my job is to provide to the public education, knowledge and help to help folks who have been exposed to these toxic chemicals. I hope to write a series of blog articles to highlight the various poisons that we are releasing, knowingly or accidentally into our environment.

The first is on Benzene Toxic Exposure.

Benzene is a known carcinogen in humans and causes cancer. Breathing benzene vapors can cause immediate death and chronic exposure to Benzene causes various forms of leukemia, especially Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML).

Dr Shezad Malik law firm has expertise in occupational and environmental Benzene exposure litigation.

If you or a loved one have been exposed to Benzene and developed leukemia, you should contact us immediately. You may be entitled to compensation and we can help.

Benzene is a highly flammable colorless liquid, and Benzene occurs naturally in crude oil, gasoline, and a component in many industrial and consumer products.

Benzene is commonly found in: asphalts, charcoal lighter fluid, cigarette lighter fluid, gasoline, glues, kerosene, hydraulic fluids, inks and ink markers, lacquer thinner, rubber cement, solvents, and vinyl thinners among others.

Many industrial workers are at risk for occupational exposure to this carcinogen. These include benzene production (petrochemicals, petroleum refining, and coke/coal chemical manufacturing), tire manufacturing, the printing industry, and storage or transport of benzene and petroleum products containing benzene to name some examples.

Other industrial workers at risk for exposure include those in the rubber industry, pesticides production, solvent production, paint/varnish production, waste management, oil refineries, chemical plants, leather manufacturers, petroleum processing industries, printers, and gas station employees.As you can see from these lists, Benzene is widely used in many industrial processes and frequent occupational exposure can occur.

There have been many instances of Environmental Exposure including Industrial discharge, disposal of products containing benzene, and gasoline leaks from underground storage tanks that have released benzene into our soil and water supplies.

There are Acute (short-term) and Chronic (long-term) side effects to a person being exposed to the chemical. Benzene has been linked to:

* Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)
* Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
* Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
* Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS)
* Myelofibrosis and Myeloid Metaplasia
* Aplastic Anemia
* Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL)
* Hairy Cell Leukemia
* Multiple Myeloma
* Thrombocytopenic Purpura
* Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
* Hematologic Cancers
The Dr Shezad Malik law firm focuses on the representation of plaintiffs in Benzene lawsuits. We are handling individual and group litigation nationwide and currently accepting new Benzene cases in all 50 states.

October 18, 2010

When Dangerous Drugs Happen to Good People: Drug Product Liability Attorney

by Dr. Shezad Malik

We are the Fort Worth Texas Fosamax Product Liability Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik.

The FDA found that in some cases two types of drugs that were supposed to be preventing serious medical problems were, in fact, causing them.

Bisphosphonates like Fosamax, Actonel and Boniva, will now have to carry labels saying they can lead to rare fractures of the thigh bone, a discovery that came after another finding that they can cause a rare degeneration of the jawbone called osteonecrosis.

The other is Avandia, a blockbuster drug which was prescribed for diabetics. Diabetics are at high risk because of the disease process, for heart attacks and heart failure. Now the F.D.A. and drug regulators in Europe are restricting Avandia’s use because it appears to increase heart risks, according to research studies. Talk about a double whammy.

In both cases, the respective drug companies continue to deny any liability to the disease processes associated with the usage of their drugs.

Read Article: The New York Times

October 17, 2010

Medtronic to Pay $268 M to Settle Law Suits Over Defibrillator Wire Defects

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Medtronic said it is resolving claims that wires connecting implantable Sprint Fidelis defibrillators to patients’ hearts were defective. In 2009, the company estimated that at least 13 people may have died because of the problem.

Medtronic said it has agreed to pay $268 million to settle U.S. lawsuits and claims related to its Sprint Fidelis family of defibrillation leads which it recalled three years ago.

The settlement “will provide an average payout of more than $33,000 to patients who have defibrillators with wires that have broken or are considered likely to break.” Company officials estimate “that 170,000 people worldwide still have defibrillators with the Sprint Fidelis leads inside them.” Read full story Bloomberg News.

October 16, 2010

Yaz Lawsuit Update: Plaintiff Mini Trials to Start Fall 2011

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The first Yasmin and Yaz Product Liability Federal lawsuit trials are underway according to the recent MDL Southern District of Illinois Court Order. Our Fort Worth Yaz Injury Lawyer law firm is currently handling many cases in the Federal Yaz MDL which is consolidated in Southern District of Illinois, based in East St Louis.

These Federal MDL product liability cases involve allegations that women who took the oral contraceptive birth control pills suffered serious medical problems. 10% of the injury cases are strokes, 40% are venous thromboembolism (VTE), which include deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) and the remainder are gallbladder injuries.

Bell Weather Trial Case Selection and Process
In Complex Class action or MDL litigation, bell-weather trials allow the parties to evaluate how jurors respond to evidence that will be presented in the upcoming individual litigation.

The Court’s order calls for the parties to each choose 25 cases. All of the injury cases will be either gallbladder injuries or VTE. Yaz and Yasmin stroke lawsuits will not be part of the bell-weather trials because of their low percentage of personal injuries.

After case-specific discovery on the 50 chosen cases, the list of cases will be reduced to 24. The parties will select four PE cases, four gallbladder cases and four other VTE lawsuits. Each party will be allowed to veto one of the other side’s cases from each injury group. The Court will then choose one case from each group to serve as the bell-weather trial. The two other cases are backups in the event the first case cannot be tried for some reason.

The Yaz bell-weather trials will begin with a pulmonary embolism lawsuit on September 12, 2011, followed by a gallbladder injury lawsuit that has been set for trial January 9, 2012 and another VTE case that has been set for trial to begin April 2, 2012.

October 15, 2010

Dallas Fort Worth Texas DePuy Hip Implant Recall Lawyer

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Patients who received a DePuy ASR hip replacement made by a unit of Johnson and Johnson, face a high risk of hip failure or other complications due to problems with the design of the metal-on-metal hip implant.

DEPUY ASR LAWSUIT UPDATE: A recall for the hip implant was issued in August 2010, nearly a year-and-a-half after the first lawsuit over DePuy ASR hip problems was filed. The DePuy ASR Hip System is a metal-on-metal hip replacement device. Read the company’s information here for patients.

The DePuy ASR hip failure rate at five years is between 12% and 13% (one out of every 8 patients), and may be even higher among women and those who received a device with a smaller head (under 50mm).

DEPUY ASR HIP REPLACEMENT PROBLEMS: According to FDA Adverse Event Reports, more than 400 reports involving DePuy ASR hip problems have been received by the federal regulatory agency since the start of 2008.

The signs of a problem with the DePuy ASR Hip, are loosening of the hip implant, fracture of the bone around the implant, or dislocation of the two parts of the hip implant that move against each other.

Problems with metal-on-metal hip implants like the DePuy ASR have been associated with metal particles that could shed into the body as the hip implants wear down.The metallic debris could damage the tissue and bone surrounding the hip implant, potentially causing a loosening of the hip.

DEPUY ASR RECALL: On August 26, 2010, DePuy Orthopaedics announced the recall of DePuy ASR XL Acetabular Hip System and DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System implants, after confirming that they have an unreasonably high failure rate.

DePuy Orthopaedics did not acknowledge until March 2010 that there was a higher-than-expected failure rate with DePuy ASR hip implants, and did not recall DePuy ASR hip replacement implants until August 2010.

October 14, 2010

$6.4 M Awarded to Brain Injury Caused by CA MetroBus

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A CA man has been awarded $6.4 million in a lawsuit against the city of Roseville, Calif. and a Metro bus company for a brain injury he suffered while getting on one of the company buses in 2008.

The quadriplegic man was being lifted up into one of the buses when his wheelchair rolled back off the platform, causing his head to strike the pavement, according to the suit.

The man suffered severe brain injuries as a result. Read Article: The Washington Post

This man was already severely compromised as a result of his underlying medical condition involving quadriplegia. Now adding the insult to injury of traumatic brain damage, it looks like this man could not catch any breaks. All of the damage award will go to pay for his medical condition and increased medical needs.

October 13, 2010

DePuy Hip Replacement Lawsuit – Hip Recall Lawyer

by Dr. Shezad Malik

As a Fort Worth Texas Depuy Hip Recall law firm, we have begun evaluating and accepting Depuy Hip Product Liability claims for patients nationwide who are affected by the Depuy hip recall. The DePuy ASR hip replacements have been found to fail at a high rate and this results in the patient needing to have the device removed and replaced in a revision surgery.

Our investigation of the DePuy ASR Hip has revealed that the device causes high levels of metal ion release into patients implanted with the device.

Patients who have had a hip replacement since 2003 and are experiencing pain are urged to contact their orthopedic surgeons or the hospital where their hip surgery took place to find out if the DePuy ASR Hip was used in their hip replacement surgery.

DePuy Orthopaedics, made a voluntary recall for their ASR XL Acetabular System which was sold in the U.S. The recall was promted by the discovery that 12-13% of patient’s metal-on-metal implants failed within just five years time, prompting a painful revision surgery.

DePuy sent a letter to orthopaedic hip surgeons to alert them of the recall and in addition, they provided an informational packet and medical release form to be passed out to patients.

We at the Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm strongly advise anyone with a DePuy hip to not sign that release. You do not want to give DePuy the right to review at all your confidential medical records and to take possession of the defective implant after revision surgery.

DePuy pays surgeons $50 for each medical release they convince their patients to sign. Depuy will use that medical information against the patient during litigation. The defective hip implant is the most critical piece of evidence that a patient has in their claim