Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

January 18, 2010

Katrina Negligence Lawsuit Has Implications for all Hospitals

Once the power blinked out, Althea LaCoste’s lungs were on their own.

She struggled to breathe without the help of a respirator, and even a team of nurses hand-bagging air into her ailing lungs couldn’t save her, according to court documents. LaCoste, 73, died before she could be evacuated from Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina.

LaCoste’s death 4½ years ago is at the center of a civil lawsuit being heard here that could have far-reaching implications for hospitals across the country. The lawsuit against Methodist Hospital is the first civil suit alleging negligence of a hospital staff in Katrina’s aftermath.

January 17, 2010

Athlete Who Lost Legs Files Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Against Hospitals and Doctors

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A student athlete and his parents are suing his doctors and hospitals nearly a year after a flesh-eating bacteria led to the amputation of his legs.

Steven Haxton, 19, and his parents have filed medical-negligence lawsuits against doctors for Ohio Health Corp., Riverside Methodist Hospital and Ohio State University Medical Center in the Ohio Court of Claims and Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

January 16, 2010

New Accutane Trial to Begin in New Jersey

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The maker of a popular treatment for severe acne will get a new trial, 10 months after the New Jersey Appellate Division struck down a $2.6 million verdict against it.

Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., maker of Accutane, is alleged to have caused inflammatory bowel disease in some of the drug’s users in a multi-district litigation proceeding in Atlantic County Superior Court. Andrew McCarrell was awarded $2.6 million in his lawsuit in 2007.

January 15, 2010

Harassment Lawsuit Filed Against Scientist on Mars Lander Project

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A member of the science team for NASA’s 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander mission has sued one of the mission’s co-investigators, Samuel Kounaves, alleging sexual harassment.

Research assistant Suzanne Young was part of a Tufts University group that helped build the experiments to analyze and characterize the chemical composition of the Martian soil during the NASA mission, led by the University of Arizona and housed in Tucson.

January 15, 2010

Byetta Lawsuit Update Dallas Texas Attorney

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Byetta (exenatide) is a type 2 diabetes drug that is used to control blood sugar levels. It is part of a class of medications known as incretin mimetics, which imitate natural hormones that lower blood glucose levels. Last month, the FDA expanded the use of Byetta to a stand-alone diabetes treatment, but insisted that warnings about the risk of pancreatitis from Byetta be added to the label and will require additional studies.

January 15, 2010

Yaz Side Effect Gallbladder MDL and Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

What happens to women after they get a cholecystectomy for gallstones after taking Yaz?
Bile is an important part of digesting fats, and following Yaz gallbladder removal surgery, problems can occur such as bloating and diarrhea. Bile is still produced by the liver, but now bile is continuously released in into the intestine. Problems can occur when eating a meal that is high in fat content since there may not be enough bile in the intestine to adequately handle the normal absorption process.

January 15, 2010

Fed Appeals Court Sends Ark Prempro Cases Back to Minn

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A federal appeals court reinstated more than 100 lawsuits against drug companies filed by women or their surviving relatives who claimed that hormone replacement therapy caused breast cancer.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned a 2008 district court ruling that had blocked almost all of the suits from being sent back to state court in Minnesota and dismissed most of the lawsuits that were being heard in Little Rock.

January 14, 2010

FDA Calls Byetta Claims Misleading Dallas Byetta Attorney

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The FDA has warned Amylin Pharmaceuticals that they have made false and misleading statements about the diabetes drug Byetta.

The FDA letter was sent to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, alerting the company that federal regulators were aware of statements made by representatives that provided misleading or false information about the benefits of their product.

Download the FDA Warning Letter here.

Download file

January 14, 2010

Amgen’s, J&J’s Anemia Drugs Face FDA Advisory Review on Dose

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson face a review of their top-selling anemia drugs by an advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA will ask its advisers to evaluate whether lower doses would avoid increased risks of blood clots and heart attacks in patients with chronic kidney disease. The panel was announced in a New England Journal of Medicine commentary.

January 14, 2010

MA Lawsuit Claims HP was Negligent in Laptop Fire

by Dr. Shezad Malik

For John Norrie, the recall of his HP Pavilion Notebook computer came too late.

The laptop allegedly overheated, causing a fire that ripped through Norrie’s Plymouth MA home in November 2006 while he was sleeping. The house was destroyed and Norrie suffered serious injuries in the process of escaping.