Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

December 23, 2009

Columbia MO University Hospital Settles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

University Hospital doctors have settled a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a Lake of the Ozarks couple for $2.5 million.

Susan Martin, now 49, was treated at University Hospital in early 2005 for dehydration, which was the result of a gastrointestinal-related condition, her attorney, Morry Cole, said.

The lawsuit claims doctors infused her with nutritional supplements through an IV in her subclavian artery, just below the collarbone, instead of the subclavian vein, where it was supposed to go. According to the lawsuit, that erroneous placement caused fatty blockages to travel to her brain for five consecutive days, “causing severe and debilitating strokes and neurological and cognitive devastation.”

December 22, 2009

Jury Finds That Doctors’ Errors Led to Boy’s Wrongful Death

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Suffolk County jury found that two doctors at Children’s Hospital Boston – one of them the hospital’s former physician in chief – had caused the death of a 3-year-old Pennsylvania boy and voted to award his parents $15 million in damages.

The actual damage award will be less because of an agreement reached by the parties before the verdict.

December 21, 2009

Medical Malpractice Law Suit says Surgeons Left Gauze Behind

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A piece of gauze left behind in a patient after surgery required a follow-up procedure to remove it — and led to a lawsuit against Staten Island University Hospital and two doctors.

Adding insult to injury, Rossville resident Margaret Palombo contends she only learned through medical records obtained earlier this year — more than eight years after the initial operation was performed — that the material had been left in her abdomen.

December 21, 2009

Jury orders BP to pay $100 M for Exposing Workers to Toxic Substances

by Dr. Shezad Malik

BP must pay more than $100 million in damages for exposing contract workers to toxic substances at its Texas City oil refinery in April 2007, a federal jury in Galveston said in the latest setback for the troubled plant.

The mammoth verdict arose out of a case brought by a BP contractor who claimed the British oil giant’s failure to maintain equipment and provide adequate safety controls led to a poisonous chemical release that sent more than 100 workers to area hospitals on the evening of April 19, 2007.

The company said it was “shocked and outraged” by the jury’s decision and vowed to appeal.

December 20, 2009

Miami Beach Wrongful Death Drowning Victim Gets $5M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of a New York jazz musician who drowned trying to save a rabbi’s wife in treacherous riptides off Miami Beach has won $5 million in damages in a decade-old case that had raised serious liability issues for seaside communities that don’t provide lifeguards at public beaches.

U.S. District Judge Gold ordered Delaware-based Monticello Insurance Co. to pay damages to the wife of Zachary Breaux. The insurance carrier had refused to pay, even though the family’s lawyer and the city of Miami Beach had negotiated a settlement.

Gold also ordered the insurance company to pay $750,000 in damages to the husband of a New York school secretary, Eugenie Poleyeff, whom Breaux tried to save during a midwinter vacation in 1997. The city also negotiated that settlement, but the insurer had refused to pay.

December 19, 2009

Atherton Settles Sexual Harassment, Discrimination Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Atherton has agreed to payt $230,000 to settle a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit a former police officer filed against the town and one of its employees.

In the April documents filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, former Atherton police Officer Pilar Ortiz-Buckley accused Public Works Supervisor Troy Henderson of making salacious remarks and grabbing her in the police break room.

City Attorney Wynne Furth said that the town decided to settle early in the process to avoid costly legal fees. The three involved parties signed a settlement agreement in mid-November.

Ortiz-Buckley, 48, suffered back injuries during the alleged June 2008 attack, which prevented her from wearing her police duty belt and made it impossible for her to do her job, according to the lawsuit.

December 18, 2009

Prempro Litigation and Menopause

by Dr. Shezad Malik

American women in the 1990s were told they could help their bodies ward off major illness by taking menopausal hormone drugs. Some medical associations said so. Many gynecologists and physicians said so. Respected medical journals said so, too.

Along the way, television commercials positioned hormone drugs as treatments for more than hot flashes and night sweats — just two of the better-known symptoms of menopause, which is technically defined as commencing one year after a woman’s last menstrual cycle.

One commercial about estrogen loss by the drug maker Wyeth discussed research into connections between menopause and heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and blindness.

December 17, 2009

Santa Rosa Winery to pay $3 M to Teen Injured in DUI

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Santa Rosa winery has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a Sebastopol man who was permanently disabled in an alcohol-related car crash in 2006.

Paradise Ridge Winery was sued by Joshua Apodaca, the passenger in a car driven by a 19-year-old classmate, Sean Bradley, who allegedly was served beer at a wedding reception hosted by the winery.

A crash early the next morning left Apodaca with a serious brain injury and his family sought damages from Paradise Ridge, Bradley and the owners of a Sebastopol 7-Eleven store where Bradley bought additional alcohol.

December 16, 2009

Glaxo Said to Have Paid $1 Billion in Paxil Suits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has paid almost $1 billion to resolve lawsuits over Paxil since it introduced the antidepressant in 1993, including about $390 million for suicides or attempted suicides said to be linked to the drug, according to court records and people familiar with the cases.

As part of the total, Glaxo, so far has paid $200 million to settle Paxil addiction and birth-defect cases and $400 million to end antitrust, fraud and design claims, according to the people and court records.

December 15, 2009

Lawsuit Filed Against Talc Producers For Cancer Link,

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Sioux Falls woman is accusing Johnson and Johnson and two mining companies of failing for decades to warn consumers about a link between ovarian cancer and talcum powder.

Deane Berg, 52, applied talc-based body powder to her perineum each day after showering from 1975 to 2007, she says in a federal lawsuit filed last week. She contracted ovarian cancer in 2006.

Berg maintains that talc caused her cancer and that the companies selling the mineral knew there was a risk but failed to warn the public.