Personal Injury

August 6, 2009

Parkinson Disease and Heart Disease linked to Agent Orange

An expert panel reported that two more diseases may be linked to exposure to Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the American military during the Vietnam War.

People exposed to the chemical appear, at least tentatively, to be more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease, according to the report. The report was written by a 14-member committee charged by the Institute of Medicine with determining whether certain medical conditions were caused by exposure to herbicides used to clear stretches of jungle.

The results, though not conclusive, are an important first step for veterans groups working to get the government to help pay for treatment of illnesses they believe have roots on the battlefield. Some other conditions linked to Agent Orange already qualify.

August 5, 2009

Yasmin / Yaz Defective Drug Lawsuit Consolidation

by Dr. Shezad Malik

It is common in defective drugs claims, when a large group of people file lawsuits against a drug maker to have similar allegations that an injury was caused by a side effect of a particular drug.

The plaintiffs are seeking to consolidate all Yasmin and Yaz birth control lawsuits in an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation, where the individual cases would be assigned to one judge and handled in a manner similar to how a Yasmin / Yaz class action lawsuit would be managed during pretrial litigation.

The Yaz / Yasmin lawyers are reviewing potential lawsuits involving serious and life-threatening injuries caused by these popular birth control pills, and support the formation of an MDL, as it will benefit the women who have experienced Yasmin / Yaz problems.

The motion was filed in July with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation asking that an MDL be formed for the Yasmin / Yaz litigation, and that all of the cases filed in different federal district courts throughout the United States be transferred to the Northern District of Ohio for coordinated handling.

August 5, 2009

Employer Must Pay $1.7 Million to Nurse Hurt in Hit-and-Run

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A district court jury in Hidalgo County has awarded $1,702,709 to a nurse who blamed her employer for the injuries she sustained in a hit-and-run collision.

On April 13, 2005, Andrea Davilla was driving on Chihuahua Road in Penitas on her way to a patient appointment when she was struck head-on by another vehicle, which fled from the scene.

Davilla fractured her pelvis and left leg, arm and ankle, and also needed hip replacement surgery. She hasn’t worked since the incident, and it’s unlikely she will ever be able to return to nursing.

Davilla sued her employer, Americare Nursing Services, and its owner, Martha Arango, alleging her work schedule was such that she had to drive a dangerous route frequented by drug and human traffickers to get to her appointments. She said Americare refused to change her schedule despite her requests.

August 5, 2009

$1.8 M Judgment in Wrong Diagnosis Medical Malpractice Claim

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A $1.8 million medical malpractice claim was paid last week following a jury’s verdict in late June that a doctor misdiagnosed a 25-year-old woman’s heart condition — causing her to need a heart transplant.

In a trial in Newport News Circuit Court, a jury awarded to Leslie Thorne a $4 million verdict against Dr. David Glick, who works for a group of emergency room doctors who once provided services at Mary Immaculate Hospital.

The judgment was later reduced to $1.8 million because of caps on medical damages in Virginia, said William E. Artz, Thorne’s Arlington attorney. An insurance firm paid the claim, he said.

Thorne initially sued three doctors — Glick, as well as William Hunter and Andrew B. Cole, both of Peninsula Emergency Physicians — claiming they were all negligent.

August 5, 2009

CBS News Investigation Finds 59 Deaths, Hundreds Of Injuries Linked To Yamaha’s Off-Road Vehicle

by Dr. Shezad Malik

In the swath of Kentucky called the Land Between The Lakes, the Turkey Bay Off-Highway Vehicle Area is a rugged expanse of hills and woodlands crisscrossed by 100 miles of trails. Test drivers came here in July, 2002, to try out the Yamaha Rhino, a new breed of off-road vehicle then in development, and had a mishap that would resonate years later.

Keisuke “Casey” Yoshida, president of a U.S. subsidiary of Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd., was behind the wheel of a Rhino prototype. Ike Miyachi, a company vice president in charge of Rhino development, rode beside him in the passenger seat. After descending a long hill to flat ground, the Rhino tipped over, giving Miyachi a foot injury.

At a meeting weeks later, Yoshida raised a question that now seems prophetic. “Casey wants update on instability of vehicle for future liability cases,” according to minutes obtained by CBS News.

August 5, 2009

Defective Drugs: Neurontin Lawsuits and Suicide

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Pfizer Inc.’s Warner-Lambert unit created a list of 13 ailments that its epilepsy medicine Neurontin could treat as part of its promotion of the drug for unapproved uses, a former employee testified.

“I was trained from day one” to market the drug illegally, David Franklin testified. Franklin, who worked as a medical liaison at the Parke-Davis division of Warner-Lambert, said he encouraged doctors to prescribe Neurontin for uses beyond those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“My job was to promote Neurontin and motivate doctors to experiment” on patients, he said today in federal court in Boston. After being hired as a medical liaison, “I was selling drugs,” he said. The uses promoted were from the “snake-oil list” of 13 medical conditions, said Franklin, a microbiologist.

August 4, 2009

FDA: Arthritis Drugs Linked to Cancer Risk in children

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Federal regulators on Tuesday added stronger warnings to a group of best-selling drugs used to treat arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, saying they can increase the risk of cancer in children and adolescents.

After more than a year of review, Food and Drug Administration scientists said the drugs appear to increase the risk of cancer after they are used beyond 2 1/2 years. The agency studied several dozen reports of cancer in children taking the drugs, some of which were fatal. Half of the cases were lymphomas, a cancer that attacks the immune system.

The drugs are known as tumor necrosis factor blockers and work by neutralizing a protein that, when overproduced, causes inflammation and damage to bones, cartilage and other tissue. The drugs are prescribed to children with rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disorder and Crohn’s disease.

August 4, 2009

Yaz and Yasmin and Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Side Effects

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Four Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits have been filed in Pennsylvania state court against Bayer, claiming that the company failed to warn consumers that the birth control pills increase the risk of a variety of cardiovascular health problems.

The complaints were filed on July 29 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of plaintiffs Rae Anne Bailor, Felicia R. Hill, and couples Erin and Daniel Shae, and Heather and Chris Karabin. The plaintiffs allege that they suffered a variety of ailments after taking the birth control pills, including pulmonary embolisms and health complications that required gallbladder removal for two of the plaintiffs.

August 4, 2009

No Punitive Damages Against Merck in Fosamax Trial

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Merck & Co., facing more than 850 lawsuits over claims that its osteoporosis drug Fosamax may cause irreversible “jaw rot,” won’t face punitive damages in the first trial, a federal judge said.

U.S. District Judge John Keenan said at a hearing today in New York that he’ll release a decision as early as July 31 knocking out the possibility of punitive damages in the case. He’ll deny Merck’s request to rule in its favor on liability, which means the case will go to trial Aug. 11, he said.

Keenan has scheduled three so-called bellwether trials through January to show each side the other’s strategy and possibly point the way to settlements. The judge earlier denied the plaintiffs’ request to treat the litigation as a class, or group, lawsuit allowing them to ask for court-ordered medical monitoring of all Fosamax users.

August 3, 2009

Carcinogens and Poisons Found in Electronic Cigarettes

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday released an analysis of 19 varieties of electronic cigarettes that said half contained nitrosamines (the same carcinogen found in real cigarettes) and many contained diethylene glycol, the poisonous ingredient in antifreeze. Some that claimed to have no nicotine were found to have low levels of the drug.

E-cigarettes are promoted by their manufacturers as safer than traditional cigarettes because they do not burn tobacco. Instead, a lithium battery in the cigarette-shaped device heats a solution of nicotine in propylene glycol, producing a fine mist that can be inhaled to deliver nicotine directly to the lungs.