Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

June 15, 2009

Texas Medical Board Disciplines 71 Doctors

Since its April board meeting, the Texas Medical Board has taken disciplinary action against 71 licensed physicians.

The actions included 15 violations based on quality of care; 11 actions based on unprofessional conduct; two nontherapeutic prescribing violations; six agreed orders based on inadequate medical records violations; one action based on impairment due to alcohol or drugs or mental/physical condition; four actions based on other states’ or entity’s actions; one action based on failure to properly supervise or delegate; two actions based on peer review actions; two actions based on violation of probation or prior order; one agreed order modifying a prior order; and five voluntary surrenders. Twenty-one physicians entered into administrative orders for minor statutory violations.

At its May 28-29 meeting, the board issued 526 physician licenses.

June 14, 2009

Family of Deceased VA Sailor Wins $1.2M judgment

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of a retired Navy sailor who died of cancer triggered by asbestos fibers he inhaled on the job decades ago has won $1.2 million in its lawsuit against a ship-parts manufacturer.

Gerald Gray died in April after suffering from mesothelioma. His death, at age 75, came five weeks before the trial was to begin against John Crane Inc., an Illinois maker of gaskets and other parts used on ships Gray repaired.

The Newport News Circuit Court jury ruled against five manufacturers for a total of $4 million, assigning a percentage of blame to each. John Crane fought the case, and was apportioned 30 percent, or $1.2 million.

June 13, 2009

F.D.A. Warns Against Use of Popular Cold Remedy

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Federal drug regulators warned consumers to stop using Zicam, a popular homeopathic cold remedy, because it could damage or destroy their sense of smell.

The Food and Drug Administration received 130 reports from consumers and doctors of people losing their sense of smell after using one of the Zicam nasal products, which include Zicam Cold Remedy and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs. The reports date to 1999, when Matrixx Initiatives of Scottsdale, Ariz., first introduced the products.

In 2006, Matrixx paid $12 million to settle 340 lawsuits from Zicam users who claimed that the product destroyed their sense of smell, a condition known as anosmia. Hundreds more such suits have since been filed.

June 12, 2009

SC Jury Awards $9M Settlement Wrongful Death Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Darlington County SC jury returned a verdict of $9 million after finding Progress Energy responsible in the wrongful death of 21-year-old Allen Toney of Hartsville.

According to a press release, the jury awarded Mary Washington, the victim’s mother, $3.5 million in actual damages and $5.5 million in punitive damages. Toney died as the result of being electrocuted by a downed power line.

According to testimony, on May 2, 2003, a storm in the Hartsville area caused a utility pole, owned and maintained by Progress Energy, to fail. The pole, fell at approximately 6:30 p.m., leaving a live power line carrying 13200 volts hanging chest high across the driveway. According to witnesses, at around 9:20 p.m. Toney arrived at the home where he came into contact with the energized power line.

June 11, 2009

Wife of Congressman Loses Accutane Acne-Drug Suicide Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Eleventh Circuit ruled on Wednesday on an interesting and provocative case. In an unpublished opinion, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in a case in which the mother of a 17 year-old who committed suicide in 2000 sued Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. The plaintiff alleged that Accutane, an acne drug made by Hoffman-LaRoche caused the suicide. Click here for reports from BNET Pharma and the Drug and Device Blog, respectively.

June 11, 2009

Hayward CA Police Harassment Lawsuit Settled For $5 M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Attorneys for 14 female Hayward police officers who said they had faced systematic harassment based on their gender or sexual orientation announced today the case has been settled for nearly $5 million.

The officers had been seeking unspecified damages for discrimination that they said went back to 1982 and continued up through early 2008, said attorney Stan Casper.

Hayward officials said attorneys will determine how the money will be divvied up among the officers.

The lawsuit was settled through the city’s insurance companies, which are responsible for paying it.

June 10, 2009

Family Sues Louisville Zoo Over Train Accident

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Louisville Zoo train “started to go really fast” through a tunnel, picked up more speed around a curve, “rocked” at the next turn and finally tipped over at the last curve, according to a passenger in the June 1 derailment.

Bamforth and his wife, Amy, and their 2-year-old son filed a lawsuit in Jefferson Circuit Court against the zoo over the derailment that sent 22 people to the hospital, claiming the zoo was “grossly negligent” in its maintenance and operation of the train.

June 9, 2009

Victory for Sick Ground Zero Worker

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Ailing Ground Zero worker Daniel Arrigo can finally breathe a little easier.

After a year-long struggle, the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board ruled in Arrigo’s favor for a third time, forcing insurance giant Zurich North America to finally pay up.

The married father of three received a check last week for nearly $20,000 in back payments from Zurich, after the Daily News highlighted his plight last month.

He called himself a poster boy for thousands of sick 9/11 responders caught between the slow-moving state compensation board and insurance firms that skillfully game the system to fight claims.

June 8, 2009

Texas Hurricane Rita Bus Fire Settlement

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Nearly four years after 23 Bellaire nursing home residents died in a fiery bus while evacuating from Hurricane Rita, their families have reached a settlement awarding them $80 million.

In the chaotic week leading up to Hurricane Rita, Brighton Gardens, a Bellaire nursing home owned by Sunrise Senior Living Services of McLean, Va., quickly ordered buses for its residents and staff so they could evacuate to a sister facility in Dallas. As Rita churned through the Gulf of Mexico on Sept. 23, 2005, nursing home residents and staff boarded two buses provided by Global Limo Inc. of Pharr, Texas.

June 8, 2009

Victoza for Diabetes: Better Than Byetta?

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A new diabetes drug — to be called Victoza if approved — works better than Byetta, a head-to-head clinical trial shows.

Byetta is the first of the class of type 2 diabetes drugs called GLP-1 analogs. The drug takes advantage of the body’s own signaling system to increase insulin output in response to meals.

Byetta is a popular drug, and it’s helped many patients. But liraglutide — soon to be called Victoza if approved by the FDA — works better, says Lawrence Blonde, MD, director of the diabetes clinical research unit at Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans.

“Our direct comparison study shows patients who took liraglutide once a day had a greater reduction in [average blood sugar levels] at the end of the 26-week study than did [Byetta] twice a day,” according to Blonde . “Obviously, once-a-day injections would be preferred by many patients because of the convenience — and it is not tied to meals. Liraglutide can be taken any time as long as you take it the same time each day.”