Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

December 15, 2008

Family Sues Disney Over Defective Product Death

The family of a child who died in a Winnie the Pooh bassinet has sued the Walt Disney Co., alleging the company allowed sales of the bassinets despite a flawed design that had been linked to another baby’s death.

The bassinet had a drop-down side for easy access, but the design created a gap where babies could slide through and hang to death. The child was 6 months old when she was strangled.

Shortly after the child’s death, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission directed retailers to stop selling the bassinets, which were manufactured by Simplicity Inc. Disney’s consumer products division licensed its Winnie the Pooh name and image to Simplicity.

The suit, filed in California state court in Los Angeles, raises questions about a common practice in the nursery products industry: Are companies that license their names and characters to other manufacturers responsible when those products turn out to be deadly?

December 14, 2008

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Hanford Contractors

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An appeal by Hanford contractors, has been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court clearing the way for a settlement with almost 2,000 people exposed to radiation during the Manhattan Project and the early years of the Cold War.

The contractors – E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., General Electric Co. and UNC Nuclear Industries Inc. – were challenging a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last spring that sided largely with the plaintiffs.

The people exposed to radiation lived in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and Idaho, down wind of the Hanford nuclear reservation, as the U.S. government was developing the first atomic bombs in the 1940s. They have spent nearly two decades trying to win compensation for thyroid cancer and other conditions that they say were caused by the exposure.

December 13, 2008

Texas Court Orders New Vioxx Trial

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Merck is considering an appeal after a Texas state appeals court reversed its own prior dismissal of a $7.75 M judgment in a Vioxx personal injury lawsuit against the drugmaker.

A three-judge panel of the Texas 4th Court of Appeals ruled there should be a new trial in the case. The plaintiff, a longtime smoker with a history of heart disease, died of a heart attack in 2001 after taking Vioxx briefly.

The three judges sent the case back to the original trial court, where a jury in 2006 had awarded $32 million to the man’s widow. That amount was cut to about $7.75 million under a Texas law limiting damages.

December 12, 2008

Doctor Awarded $11.4 M For Wrongful Termination

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Los Angeles jury has ordered Kaiser Permanante to pay $7.5 million in punitive damages to a radiologist who was forced to resign from one the company’s hospitals in 2006 after complaining about patient care.

The jury’s decision means Kaiser owes the doctor a combined $11.4 million. The same panel earlier in the week awarded the doctor $3.9 million in compensatory damages.

Kaiser says it will appeal the decision, saying it was “shocked and disappointed by the verdict.”

December 11, 2008

Florida Med-Mal Case With Punitive Damages Claim

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Florida man, who is suing two Broward County doctors for malpractice in a rare case allowing a punitive damages claim.

The man claims his plastic surgeon later lied about his detached role in the botched surgery, created two sets of medical records to hide the truth and still billed his insurance company for performing surgery.

The Broward Circuit Judge issued an order in July putting punitive damages in play, and Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal on Sept. 29 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari on the issue. The trial is set for March 2.

December 11, 2008

Texas Medical Board Temporarily Restricts Doctor’s License

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A panel of the Texas Medical Board temporarily restricted the license of a doctor based in Conroe, after determining that the doctor’s unrestricted practice of medicine presents a continuing threat to the public welfare.

The action was based on the panel’s findings that the doctor was responsible for violations in the standard of care, nontherapeutic prescribing, prescribing to persons who were known or should have been known to be engaged in substance abuse or diversion, and his failing to adequately supervise the activities of persons operating under his supervision. These findings were made as the result of a criminal investigation involving patients who had obtained narcotics prescriptions from clinics under the doctor’s medical direction.

December 10, 2008

Scott AFB Doctor Liable in $8.6 M Judgment

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The U.S. government must pay $8.6 million in damages because a military doctor at Scott Air Force Base failed to diagnose a case of flesh-eating bacteria according to a federal magistrate judge’s ruling.

The former wife of an Air Force captain, testified that she sought treatment at the base hospital emergency room for pain and swelling in her right arm in 2002.

According to court documents, the doctor was concerned the woman was a drug addict wanting a prescription, advised her to go home and take Motrin.

A month later, the situation got progressively worse and the woman was taken to the emergency room. The woman was then diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a strep infection that decays soft tissue.

December 9, 2008

State Medical Boards Want Transparency

by Dr. Shezad Malik

More than a decade ago, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate its medical board to post physician profiles online. Patients could find a physician’s hospital affiliations, hospital and medical board disciplinary actions, medical malpractice payments and other data.

The Massachusetts board’s idea to display physician data on an easily accessible Web site was novel in 1996. Many physicians were skeptical in the beginning, resulting in a heated debate of how to post information that was useful to the public and fair to doctors.

“It has worked out reasonably well,” said Massachusetts Medical Society President. “It is an opportunity for patients to step up and see information such as where a physician has received training, whether they are board certified, whether they have malpractice suits against them and whether or not the suit falls in what one might expect in that specialty.”

December 8, 2008

Wal-Mart Sued by Family of Trampled Man

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of a man killed in a stampede by holiday shoppers filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc, seeking unspecified damages.

Shoppers on New York’s Long Island broke down doors and surged into the Valley Stream Wal-Mart, the day after Thanksgiving, known as “Black Friday,” traditionally the busiest retail shopping day of the year.

The 34 year old man, was knocked to the ground and trampled to death. He had been assigned to cover security as an independent contractor.

December 7, 2008

Medtronic Lawsuit Over Spinal Implant

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. said it did not encourage the unapproved use of its spinal implant, which a new lawsuit is blaming for the death of a California woman.

The lawsuit, filed by the woman’s family in Los Angeles, said her death was caused by use of the Infuse spinal graft in her neck. The device is approved only for use in lower-back surgery and some oral and dental procedures.

The woman’s surgery took place in August, a month after the Food and Drug Administration warned that use of Infuse for neck surgeries had led to problems swallowing, breathing and speaking.