Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

August 1, 2009

Arlington Texas Asbestos Litigation

The asbestos lawsuits filed in the United States over the past fifty years constitute the longest running mass tort in the country’s history. A tort is defined as a civil action taken based on a negligent or intentional harm done that is not based on contract law.

A Rand Corporation research says that by the end of 2002, about 730,000 individuals claiming physical harm from asbestos exposure had filed suit against about 8,400 corporations and businesses. At that point, about seventy corporations had filed for bankruptcy protection over their asbestos liability.

Today, in 2009 the number of bankruptcy filings has reached one hundred. The number of lawsuits since 2002 are several hundred thousand in number and they have increased each year. Because the diseases caused by asbestos exposure have latency periods of up to fifty years, many people who were exposed to asbestos decades ago are just now getting sick.

August 1, 2009

Hepatitis C Medical Malpractice Claims Can Proceed

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The central figure of an investigation into the hepatitis C outbreak might have been impaired by a stroke a year ago, but he is competent enough to face medical malpractice charges, according to the state Board of Medical Examiners.

Based on results from an examination performed by Dr. Thomas Kinsora, a clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Dipak Desai is “borderline” in regards to his ability to assist defense attorneys in his medical board licensing hearing.

August 1, 2009

$11 M Medical Malpractice Cerebral Palsy Settlement

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An $11 million settlement has been reached between a suburban hospital and the family of a Chicago girl, now 4, whose birth injuries were so profound she can’t speak, walk or even eat.

Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood agreed to the payout this week, something Stacie Burek said will ensure her daughter receives the medical help necessary to deal with her severe cerebral palsy, a condition that has left the girl in a wheelchair with a feeding tube through her stomach.

August 1, 2009

Defective Drugs: Yaz and Yasmin Birth Control Lawsuits and Increased Risk of Strokes

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Yasmin and Yaz are birth control pills manufactured by Bayer Healthcare. The generic brand Ocella is marketed and distributed by Barr Laboratories, Inc. Yasmin and Yaz contain the same estrogenic compound, ethinyl estradiol, that has been used in the Pill since the 1970s, but the progestin in Yasmin and Yaz is new.

Yasmin and Yaz both contain drospirenone, a “fourth generation” progestin. No other birth control pills contain drospirenone, except for a recently approved generic version of Yasmin and Yaz, called Ocella.

August 1, 2009

Swim Club Lawsuit for Brain Damage Caused by Drowning

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Three years ago, James Becker was doing what many vigorous 15-year-old boys do – playing baseball, basketball and soccer.

Now he is severely disabled, must use a wheelchair and is under the constant care of his mother.

The accident that reduced James to such circumstances occurred at the Woodcroft Swim Club in Parkville on July 29, 2006, when, his family’s lawyer says, he almost drowned. His brain was apparently deprived of adequate oxygen for about 10 minutes.

His parents, William J. Becker III and Mary Becker, have filed a $40 million lawsuit in Baltimore County Circuit Court against the swim club and the company that runs it, D.R.D. Pool Management Inc., accusing them of failing to both “timely recognize and respond” to the struggling boy and to properly perform resuscitation efforts.

July 31, 2009

Las Cruces NM Man Gets $1M Settlement in Medical Malpractice Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A jury has awarded $1 million to a Las Cruces man who alleged a surgeon was negligent in repairing a colon perforation after a colonoscopy.

General surgeon Dr. David Friedman operated on Michael Salopek in February 2005, to repair a tiny perforation he had sustained during a colonoscopy, Las Cruces attorney Marci Beyer said.

However, Friedman did not find the perforation, which continued to leak into Salopek’s abdominal area for 11 days. Medical expenses just to find the perforation totaled $165,000, Beyer said.

July 31, 2009

Defective Drugs: Byetta Lawsuits and Acute Pancreatitiis

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Byetta which is used to treat Type 2 diabetes, has side effects that could increase the risk of serious and potentially life threatening pancreatitis.

Reports have found an association between Byetta and pancreatitis. Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly & Co., the manufacturers of the defective drug have failed to adequately warn about the risk of the serious and potentially fatal injury.

Byetta lawsuits are being investigated for users diagnosed with:

* Acute Pancreatitis
* Hemorrhagic Pancreatitis
* Necrotizing Pancreatitis
Potential cases are being evaluated throughout the United States.

July 31, 2009

Jury to Decide Negligent Deportation of Illegal Immigrant

by Dr. Shezad Malik

During the early hours of a steamy July 2003 morning, Martin Memorial Medical Center chartered a private plane and sent 37-year-old Luis Jimenez back to Guatemala without telling his relatives in the U.S. or Guatemala — even as his legal guardian frantically sought to stop the move.

The man’s guardian, also his cousin, is suing the hospital for essentially deporting Jimenez, who was an illegal immigrant. The hospital, which spent more than $1.5 million on his care over three years, says Jimenez wanted to go home.

July 30, 2009

Jury Awards $3.5 M in Elmore County Traffic Fatality

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A jury deliberated less than an hour before awarding $3.5 million to the family of a man who died when his van was crushed between two logging trucks in a January 2008 accident in Elmore County.

A Chilton County jury ordered Ken Gorum Trucking and Gary Fruge, the driver of the logging truck, to pay $3.5 million to the family of James Sanderson.

Attorneys Benjamin E. Baker and J. Cole Portis entered evidence that the Gorum truck was being operated at a high rate of speed and with defective brakes in violation of Alabama law.

July 30, 2009

Texas Investigating Scrub Tech in Hepatitis C Medical Malpractice Claim

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A surgery technician at the center of a hepatitis C scare in Colorado involving the alleged swapping of patients’ clean needles for her dirty ones is being investigated in Texas because she previously worked in a Houston-area hospital.

Kristen Diane Parker, who worked at Christus St. John Hospital in Nassau Bay from May 2005 to October 2006, was indicted in Denver last week on 42 criminal counts. Prosecutors allege 19 people contracted the disease after she swapped the needles.

The Texas and Harris County health departments launched an investigation earlier this month that is still in the early stages, according to officials of both agencies. They said the investigation began after they learned Parker worked in Houston.

Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas health department, said the focus is on whether Parker had hepatitis C while at Christus St. John. Only then would patients be notified, she said.