Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

Wyeth, which set aside more than $21 billion to resolve lawsuits over the fen-phen diet combination, must pay $3 million to a woman who contracted a lung-destroying disease from the drugs.

The New Jersey jurors deliberated about two hours before finding that Wyeth's Pondimin drug was a cause of the woman's primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). The trial loss was Wyeth's first in four years in a case involving the often-fatal illness.

The ruling comes as the New Jersey-based Wyeth seeks to wrap up more than a decade of litigation over fen-phen, which combined the company's Pondimin and Redux with the generic phentermine. This medication combination was taken by patients as a weight reduction method to suppress their appetites.

Continue reading " Fen-Phen $3M NJ Verdict " »

A $4 million award to the family of a woman misdiagnosed with cancer and then given a lethal dose of painkillers was upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The patient's daughter brought a wrongful death suit against Hospice Ministries and Dr. William Causey. The hospice settled during the trial for the maximum $1 million in insurance coverage.

The daughter said a simple lab test could have prevented the entire thing. The 66 year old patient was diagnosed in 2001 with pancreatic cancer at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and sent to Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland in June 2001. She died about a month later.

Continue reading " Medical Malpractice Judgment Upheld " »

A panel of the Texas Medical Board suspended the license of Harold Clay Henderson, M.D., of Dallas, license number G3937, after determining that Dr. Henderson’s continuation in the practice of medicine presents a continuing threat to the public welfare.

The temporary suspension hearing took place Monday, October 27, under the Board’s authority, granted by S.B. 104 of the 78th Legislature, to suspend or restrict a physician’s license without notice when it determines the physician’s continuation in practice would constitute a continuing threat to the public welfare. The suspension is effective immediately.

The action was based on the panel’s finding of Dr. Henderson’s inability to safely practice medicine due to intemperate use of drugs or alcohol, or mental or physical disability. The panel also found that Dr. Henderson had aided and abetted the unlicensed practice of medicine by employing a physician in his office whose licensed was suspended.

The length of a temporary suspension is indefinite and it remains in effect until the board takes further action.

Also on Monday, a panel of the board temporarily restricted the license of Donald Delmer Pope, M.D., license #F4386, of Brownwood.

The action was based Dr. Pope’s guilty plea to a felony charge of aggravated sexual assault of a female under 14, and his receiving eight years of deferred adjudication as a sex offender. The restriction requires that Dr. Pope have no contact with any female patient under 17 and that he have an independent medical evaluation, follow the evaluating psychiatrist’s recommendations and submit the treating psychiatrist’s reports to the board.

The temporary restriction is effective immediately and remains in effect until the board takes further action.

If you have been subjected to a TMB Inquiry Letter or TMB Disciplinary Process, then please contact the Doctor Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik of Southlake, Texas. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.

Parents are worried about a chemical substance found in the popular sealants that are painted on children’s molars to prevent decay.

The chemical is bisphenol-A, or BPA, which is widely used in the making of the hard, clear plastic called polycarbonate, and is also found in the linings of food and soft-drink cans. Most human exposure to the chemical clearly comes from the food supply. But traces have also been found in dental sealants.

Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reassured consumers that the chemical appears to be safe, it has received increasing scrutiny in recent months from health officials in the United States and Canada. See earlier post

Continue reading " BPA In Dental Sealants " »

A Nevada doctor has been accused of causing the deaths of three patients and has numerous examples of alleged prescription drug malpractice.

Investigations of the doctor are on going, but the Nevada State Medical Examiners Board has not suspended his license or taken any steps to force him to curtail his prescribing of large quantities of narcotic painkillers.

The medical board has the authority to summarily suspend the license of a doctor who is putting patients in imminent harm.

Continue reading " Nevada and Narcotic Painkillers " »

A new medical study out recently shows that Medtronic's new drug-coated stent was associated with more heart attacks and blood clots than a rival stent made by Johnson & Johnson.

Results from the cardiology study named Sort Out III, which included more than 2,000 patients, showed that heart patients who received the Medtronic device, called Endeavor, had more heart attacks and blood clots and needed repeat procedures more often than those treated with the J&J stent, known as Cypher.

Continue reading " Study Shows Problems with Medronic's Heart Stent " »

A college freshman was killed in a dormitory elevator accident two years ago at Ohio State University.

Ohio State has taken safety measures, such as installing video cameras in all its high-rise elevators this year, in case someone gets trapped and as a way to help identify causes of mechanical malfunctions.

One other student (Morris) was in the elevator when the freshman was crushed between the ceiling of the elevator and the third-floor lobby. The fatally injured student was trying to get off the overloaded elevator when it unexpectedly descended with its doors open.

Continue reading " Elevator Failure Led to Student's Death " »

Ovarian cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to diagnose, making it one of the most deadly. The ovaries are not accessible for examination, and the symptoms that are associated with ovarian cancer are vague and can be confused with other less life-threatening conditions.

Because of its hidden nature, ovarian cancer often is not caught in time to save the patient. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, three of every four ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, after the malignancy has spread beyond the ovary.

Continue reading " Ovarian Cancer Update " »

Pfizer Inc. said it agreed earlier this week to pay $894 million to settle most Celebrex and Bextra claims.

Pfizer said in a statement that it is taking an after-tax charge of $640 million against profit in the quarter to cover the settlement sum.

Pfizer said it plans to settle most lawsuits involving the painkillers Bextra and Celebrex. The large size of the settlement heightens the pressure to cut costs, because Pfizer's blockbuster cholesterol drug, Lipitor, is losing market share and sales growth of its once-promising antismoking drug, Chantix, has slowed because of safety concerns.

Continue reading " Pfizer to Settle Bextra and Celebrex Lawsuits " »

The FDA is "evaluating" new adverse-event reports for 20 drugs, the agency announced in September. A 2007 federal law requires the FDA to disclose all its investigations into reports of possibly drug-related adverse events.

The reports on the list come from the FDA's early-warning system for drugs already on the market. This Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) collects reports from patients, hospitals, doctors, and drug companies about suspicious problems that might be related to a medication.

Continue reading " 20 Drugs on FDA Watch List " »

The Texas Medical Board has named Alan T. Moore, M.D., as interim medical director of the agency.

Dr. Moore graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin and received his medical degree from the U.T. Southwestern Medical School, where he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He completed his anatomic and clinical pathology residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where he served as chief resident during his fourth year. He also completed a hematopathology fellowship at Parkland.

Dr. Moore is board certified in anatomic pathology, clinical pathology and hematopathology. He has practiced in Austin for more than 20 years and has served as president of Clinical Pathology Associates as well as on the board of Clinical Pathology Laboratories; medical director of Seton Medical Center Laboratory; chief of Staff at Seton Medical Center; and president of the Texas Society of Pathologists. He has also served as the transplant pathologist for the Seton Medical Center Cardiac Transplant Program.

The board also named Mari Robinson, J.D., interim Executive Director of the agency following the retirement of former executive director Donald W. Patrick, M.D., J.D. Robinson began her career at TMB as a litigation attorney in 2001 and has served as Director of Enforcement since 2006.

State law requires that, if the agency executive is a non-physician, a medical director be hired.

If you have been subjected to a TMB Inquiry Letter or TMB Disciplinary Process, then please contact the Doctor Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik of Southlake, Texas. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is planning to rewrite a wide array of federal rules with changes or additions that could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.

The administration has written language aimed at pre-empting product-liability litigation into 50 rules governing everything from motorcycle brakes to pain medicine. This year, lawsuit-protection language has been added to 10 new regulations, including one issued Oct. 8 at the Department of Transportation that limits the number of seatbelts car makers can be forced to install and prohibits suits by injured passengers who did not get to wear one.

Continue reading " New Rules Could Block Product Liability Suits " »

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is failing to stem the pollution washing into waterways from cities and suburbs, the National Academy of Sciences reported this week.

According to the report's authors, there needs to be "radical changes" in the way the federal government regulates stormwater runoff so that all waters are clean enough for fishing and swimming.

Stormwater runoff is the toxic brew of oil, fertilizers and trash picked up by rain and snowmelt as the water flows over parking lots, roofs and subdivisions.

Continue reading " EPA Messed Up Water Pollution Controls " »

BRUSSELS - European scientists warned that many teenagers across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week.

The risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time.

Continue reading " MP3 Players Can Cause Permanent Deafness " »

A New York jury has awarded nearly $11 million to a woman who suffered a stroke after waiting two hours for a hospital brain scan.
New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens was found by the jurors to be negligent in the medical treatment of a 71 year old woman after she fractured her skull in a fall in 2004.

The hospital denies liability for the woman's resulting medical condition and is appealing the Oct. 3 decision awarding her $10.7 million.

Continue reading " Lawsuit for Delayed Brain Scan " »

GlaxoSmithKline PLC agreed to pay $40 million to settle claims in a class-action lawsuit that it improperly marketed the antidepressant Paxil for use in children. The suit claimed Glaxo had withheld information that the drug was neither safe nor effective in this age group.

The money will be used to reimburse health plans that paid for Paxil use by children younger than 18. During litigation, Glaxo claimed that Paxil was safe and effective, and denied promoting it for children and concealing information. Glaxo denies any wrongdoing or liability.

Other health plans are suing drug makers on similar grounds, alleging they withheld information that led the health plans to unnecessarily pay for drugs. The Paxil case is the first time a drug company has agreed to pay a settlement in such a case.

Eli Lilly & Co. has agreed to pay $62 million to some states, to settle claims it improperly marketed Zyprexa, its top-selling drug, to patients who did not have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, its only approved uses.

Attorneys general from several states had accused Lilly of marketing Zyprexa for off-label uses and inadequately disclosing the drug's side effects to health-care providers. Doctors are free to prescribe drugs for uses not approved by the FDA, but drug companies cannot market them for those situations.

But Lilly has settled more than 31,000 product liability claims against the drug since 2005, paying out more than $1.1 billion. The drugmaker still faces separate litigation with 11 other states, generally involving consumer protection issues or Medicaid reimbursement.

At its October 9-10 meeting, the Texas Medical Board took disciplinary action against 34 licensed physicians.
The actions included three violations based on quality of care; two actions based on unprofessional conduct; one action based on violation of probation or prior order; one action that terminated a prior suspension; two actions based on other states’ actions; one action based on inadequate medical records violations; two actions based on impairment due to alcohol or drugs or mental/physical condition; five actions based on non-therapeutic prescribing; two actions based on failure to properly supervise or delegate; two actions based on criminal convictions; three voluntary surrenders; and 10 licensees agreed to enter into administrative orders with the Board for minimal statutory violations. In addition, the board issued two cease and desist orders against unlicensed individuals.
At its October 9-10 meeting, the Texas Medical Board issued 276 physician licenses.

If you have been subjected to a TMB Inquiry Letter or TMB Disciplinary Process, then please contact the Doctor Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik of Southlake, Texas. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued new air quality standard for lead that is expected to have a major impact in Missouri, in the heart of the nation's lead belt.

The new standard is 10 times more tougher than the old standard for lead, a toxic metal which known to impair neurological development in children.

The new standard of 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter of air represents the first time the agency has revised airborne levels of lead since 1978, when the metal was phased out of gasoline. According to experts it is a good standard and EPA has got to enforce it.

The EPA was under a court order to revise the standard as a result of successful 2004 lawsuit.

Continue reading " EPA Issues New Standard For Lead " »

According to court recordsJohnson & Johnson has spent at least $68.7 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits filed by women who suffered blood clots, heart attacks or strokes after using the company's Ortho Evra birth-control patch.

Majority of users claimed that the patch caused deep-vein thrombosis, (blood clots in the legs), and pulmonary embolisms, (when the blood clots from the legs travel into the lungs). The complaints blamed Ortho Evra for the deaths of 20 women, strokes and heart attacks.

Continue reading " J&J Paid $68 Million to Settle Ortho-Evra Lawsuits " »

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.

Continue reading " Gadolinium Litigation Involves 391 Lawsuits in State and Federal Court " »

WAXAHACHIE, TEXAS -- An Ellis County jury awarded two men $1.5 million as compensation for injuries they received in an 18-wheeler accident.

The two men were driving northbound on Interstate 35E in Waxahachie when a northbound 18-wheeler banged their car, causing it to roll several times. One of the men received a fractured vertebra and the other man received injury to his right knee, which required several reconstructive surgeries.

Continue reading " Waxahachie Truck Accident Settles For $1.5M " »

The Federal government has agreed to pay a Utah family nearly $1 million to settle a medical malpractice case. The man was being treated for leukemia at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City in 2004 when he developed a severe infection and died. His survivors sued, claiming the hospital failed to give him antibiotics in time. He died of sepsis from a low white-blood-cell count.

The Government agreed to settle the case for $950,000 to cover general damages and future lost income.

Continue reading " Utah Medical Malpractice Case Settles for $1M " »

A Vermont woman was awarded more than $6 million when a jury ordered Wyeth, a pharmaceutical company, to pay her for failing to warn her about the risks of one of its drugs.

But this case was appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court and the Court is set to hear arguments this November.

This case concerns “Federal Pre-emption,” a legal doctrine that can prevent plaintiffs from suing in state court when the products that injured them had met federal standards.

Continue reading " Botched IV Injection Leads to Amputation " »

There was a Dallas North Tollway collision early last Saturday, when a man drove the wrong away. His car collided with two others, killing a female passenger in one of them.

A Dallas police officer noticed a Honda Accord driving north in the southbound lanes of the tollway about 1 a.m. Saturday. The Honda, continued north until near Walnut Hill Lane, where it slammed into a Lexus sedan. The Honda then collided with a Chevrolet pickup. The driver was unhurt.

Continue reading " Dallas North Tollway Collision " »

A new study claims that the most common global strain of HIV began spreading in humans around 1900 in sub-Saharan Africa.
This study, which is published in Nature, found that HIV began spreading between 1884 and 1924, around the same time urban centers in west central Africa were established.

Previous studies have shown that HIV spread from chimpanzees to humans in southeastern Cameroon.

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.

Continue reading " Nuvaring Birth Control MDL Lawsuit " »

California - A bus driver with a history of motor vehicle offenses and substance abuse was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence earlier in the week, hours after his casino-bound charter bus ran into a ditch. Eight people were killed and 30 people were injured.

Officials said the bus had an invalid license plate, and they were unsure whether the driver had proper permits to operate the vehicle. The bus ran off the road while taking passengers to a northern California casino.

AP Photo: A rear view of the charter bus that overturned.

Continue reading " Passengers Gambled With Impaired Bus Driver Resulting In Deadly Crash " »

Texas Supreme Court earlier in September, declined to hear a case on whether or not medical malpractice damage caps violate state constitutional rights.

Attorneys for the hospital industry and the Texas Medical Association (TMA) had appealed the issue directly to the Supreme Court, bypassing the court of appeals. The attorneys claim when the Legislature in 2003 approved caps on non-economic damages, it allowed such direct appeals on constitutional questions.

The patient in the district court case had contended that the $250,000 cap violated constitutional provisions such as the right to due process, equal protection and jury trials.

Continue reading " Texas Medical Malpractice Fight " »

Nurses count sponges and surgical instruments when a procedure begins and ends, so that they are not left inside a patient. Cases of retained foreign objects are rare -- occurring once in every 5,000 surgeries -- discrepancies in counts happen in 13% of surgeries, according to a recent surgical study.

The mistake is one of the hospital-acquired conditions that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will stop paying for as a complicating condition later this year.

Continue reading " New Technologies for Counting Sponges " »

Medical peer review is an essential component of quality patient care. The Federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) of 1986 was promulgated by Congress to grant confidentiality and immunity from liability to those who conduct reviews in good faith.

All States, recognize a privilege that generally protects information generated during the review process from discovery during unrelated litigation, such as medical liability cases.

Continue reading " Medical Peer Review " »

New questions are being raised about the death of a Dallas man, who died after waiting 19 hours in Parkland Hospital's emergency room. See earlier story.

The questions come from another emergency room patient who sat with the dying man for ten hours. The woman says what she saw that night two weeks ago was, in her opinion, the unconscionable misdiagnosis and mistreatment of a man who suffered for 19 hours before dying.

The man complained of so much pain that according to Parkland records, on a scale of ten, he was a ten. The reason, a perforated hernia that he at one point showed to the stranger sitting next to him.

"And at that point I could see the intestines coming through his abdomen," she said.

Continue reading " Dallas Parkland ER Death " »

ARLINGTON, TEXAS -- A woman in her 40s was killed this weekend after she tried to push her car out of the middle of Interstate 20 in southwest Arlington.

A child was apparently steering the car while the woman pushed. The child was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries.

Continue reading " Arlington I-20 Car Accident " »

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has agreed to settle and pay $4.5M to the 27 year old lone survivor of a deadly collision of two helicopters over Torrance Municipal Airport in Cailifornia.

The FAA agency decided to settle with Gavin Heyworth, a former Marine who sued the FAA after the 2003 collision in front of the control tower.

Continue reading " FAA Liable in Helicopter Crash " »

A Dallas man, died at Parkland Memorial Hospital emergency room after waiting nearly 19 hours for treatment.

The 58 year old collapsed just as he was about to receive medical treatment. Doctors were unable to revive him, and the cause of death is not yet known. Apparently he was suffering severe abdominal pain, when his sister drove him to the emergency room.

Parkland Hospital officials said they are investigating the death.

Continue reading " Dallas Man dies While Waiting at Parkland ER " »

A panel of the Texas Medical Board suspended the license of Nancy Louise Anderson, M.D., license number F7350, after determining that Dr. Anderson’s continuation in the practice of medicine presents a continuing threat to the public welfare.

The action was based on the panel’s findings of violations of a 2008 Mediated Agreed Order, which required, among other provisions, that Dr. Anderson submit to random alcohol and drug screenings to ensure abstinence; participate in Alcoholics Anonymous programs and activities; obtain an independent medical evaluation within a prescribed time period; and cooperate with Board staff. The immediate suspension of Dr. Anderson’s license was based on her violations of the 2008 order by failing to submit to alcohol and drug screenings, failing to attend AA meetings, failing to obtain the medical examination, and failing to cooperate with the Board.

The action took place on Friday, September 26. The length of an automatic suspension is indefinite and it remains in effect until the board takes further action.

If you have been subjected to a TMB Inquiry Letter or TMB Disciplinary Process, then please contact the Doctor Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik of Southlake, Texas. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.

A class action lawsuit was filed in Utah federal court against insurance agencies who are alleged to defrauding Hispanic customers by intentionally not disclosing the availability, cost and purpose of buying uninsured and under-insured motorist protections.

The defendants are Florida-based United Automobile Insurance Company, and Utah agencies: El Sol Insurance, Amigos Insurance and Las Americas Insurance.

Continue reading " Hispanic Drivers Sue Car Insurers " »