Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

February 10, 2009

Yaz Birth Control Pill and Advertising

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals has just introduced a new $20 million advertising campaign for Yaz, the most popular birth control pill in the United States.

But the television ads, are not typical spots promoting the benefits of a prescription drug. Instead, they warn that nobody should take Yaz hoping that it will also cure pimples or premenstrual syndrome.

As part of an unusual crackdown on deceptive consumer drug advertising, the Food and Drug Administration and the attorneys general of 27 states have required Bayer to run these new ads to correct previous Yaz marketing.

February 10, 2009

Texas Medical Board Disciplines 33 Doctors

by Dr. Shezad Malik

At its February 5-6 meeting, the Texas Medical Board took disciplinary action against 32 licensed physicians; in addition, the board has issued one temporary suspension since its last meeting.

The actions included 11 violations based on quality of care; seven actions based on unprofessional conduct; one mediated agreed order modifying a prior order; three actions based on other states’ actions; four actions based on inadequate medical records violations; two actions based on impairment due to alcohol or drugs or mental/physical condition; one advertising violation; and four voluntary surrenders. The board also accepted the voluntary surrender of one surgical assistant’s license.

At its February 5-6 meeting, the Texas Medical Board issued 399 physician licenses.

February 9, 2009

Botched Abortion Leads to National Shock

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A woman aged 18, went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for the doctor to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.

Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated get her ready for the procedure.

The doctor did not arrive in time. According to the woman and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl.

What happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate: One of the clinic’s owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant’s umbilical cord. The woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

February 8, 2009

Aftermath of 9/11

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A new study finds that almost a quarter of a sample of people exposed to toxic dust after the 9/11 attack in New York City still suffer from diminished lung capacity.

The rate of lung problems is about 2.5 times more than would be expected in people who smoke, according to co-author Dr. Jacqueline Moline, director of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program Clinical Center.

February 7, 2009

Layoffs Lead To Employee Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

More workers are being let go as corporate layoffs have accelerated in recent weeks. And more often, people are looking around and complaining that they have been unfairly or improperly dismissed.

Former employees of Lehman Brothers, say they were not given the required 60 days’ pay before their jobs vanished, while Dell is being sued over allegations of age and sex discrimination against workers.

February 6, 2009

Emotional-Distress Suit Against GE Over Toxic Building

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A N.J., judge has blocked an attempt to dismiss a toxic-tort suit over a mercury-contaminated building, rejecting defense arguments that the plaintiff’s expert proofs of emotional distress were inadmissible net opinions.

In Schley v. General Electric Co., L-251-07, former owners and residents of 722 Grand St. in Hoboken, N.J., seek damages from GE, a previous owner. The plaintiffs claim physical injury and emotional distress allegedly caused by contamination so severe that authorities ordered them to evacuate the building.

February 5, 2009

Los Angeles to Pay $13 M to Settle May Day Melee Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The LA City Council agreed to pay nearly $13 million to people injured or mistreated in a May Day melee in MacArthur Park, bringing to more than $30 million the money spent over the last two weeks to settle lawsuits alleging LAPD misconduct.

For the LAPD, the $12.85-million payout — covering most of the claims by immigration demonstrators and bystanders injured May 1, 2007, in MacArthur Park — has a few strings attached.

February 4, 2009

Texas Workforce Commission Loses Suit For Wrongful Termination

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Travis County jury has awarded a woman $900,000 after finding that she was fired from her job at a state civil rights agency for complaining about discrimination against minorities at the agency.

The jury arrived at the verdict after a six-day trial in a lawsuit that Marilou Morrison filed against the Texas Commission on Human Rights and the Texas Workforce Commission.

The agency that is supposed to enforce civil rights is being hit with basically a million dollar judgment for violating the very statutes they are required to enforce.

February 3, 2009

Texas Peanut Plant Under Investigation

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A peanut processing plant in Texas run by the Peanut Corp. of America, which is being investigated for a national salmonella outbreak, operated for years uninspected and unlicensed by Texas health officials.

The Peanut Corp. of America plant in Plainview was never inspected until after the company fell under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration.

Once inspectors learned about the Texas plant, they found no sign of salmonella there. This finding raises questions; how it could have operated unlicensed for nearly four years and about the adequacy of government efforts to keep the nation’s food supply safe. Texas is among states where the FDA relies on state inspectors to oversee food safety.

February 2, 2009

More Toxins in River Near TVA Ash Spill

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Independent water quality tests conducted by environmental activists show high levels of arsenic and other toxins in river water near the site of a massive coal ash spill in Tennessee and several miles downstream.

The samples were collected about one to two weeks after 1.1 billion gallons of ash sludge and water breached an earthen containment area at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant, about 40 miles west of Knoxville. No one was seriously injured in the spill, but several residents were displaced.