Merck is considering an appeal after a Texas state appeals court reversed its own prior dismissal of a $7.75 M judgment in a Vioxx personal injury lawsuit against the drugmaker. A three-judge panel of the Texas 4th Court of Appeals ruled there should be a new trial in the case.…
A Los Angeles jury has ordered Kaiser Permanante to pay $7.5 million in punitive damages to a radiologist who was forced to resign from one the company’s hospitals in 2006 after complaining about patient care. The jury’s decision means Kaiser owes the doctor a combined $11.4 million. The same panel…
A Florida man, who is suing two Broward County doctors for malpractice in a rare case allowing a punitive damages claim. The man claims his plastic surgeon later lied about his detached role in the botched surgery, created two sets of medical records to hide the truth and still billed…
A panel of the Texas Medical Board temporarily restricted the license of a doctor based in Conroe, after determining that the doctor’s unrestricted practice of medicine presents a continuing threat to the public welfare. The action was based on the panel’s findings that the doctor was responsible for violations in…
The U.S. government must pay $8.6 million in damages because a military doctor at Scott Air Force Base failed to diagnose a case of flesh-eating bacteria according to a federal magistrate judge’s ruling. The former wife of an Air Force captain, testified that she sought treatment at the base hospital…
More than a decade ago, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate its medical board to post physician profiles online. Patients could find a physician’s hospital affiliations, hospital and medical board disciplinary actions, medical malpractice payments and other data. The Massachusetts board’s idea to display physician data on an easily…
The family of a man killed in a stampede by holiday shoppers filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc, seeking unspecified damages. Shoppers on New York’s Long Island broke down doors and surged into the Valley Stream Wal-Mart, the day after Thanksgiving, known as “Black Friday,” traditionally the…
Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. said it did not encourage the unapproved use of its spinal implant, which a new lawsuit is blaming for the death of a California woman. The lawsuit, filed by the woman’s family in Los Angeles, said her death was caused by use of the Infuse…
The parents of a 7-year-old boy who died after contracting West Nile virus from a transfusion of tainted blood asked the Florida Supreme Court to restore an $8 million jury verdict against a blood bank. The Court have been asked to decide whether all blood banks are covered by Florida’s…
W.R. Grace & Co. has agreed to pay up to $140 million to settle a class action lawsuit from its use of an attic-insulating product that contained asbestos. The chemicals maker company will pay $30 million cash into a trust fund, an additional $30 million cash after three years, and…