Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

July 2, 2008

Defective Drugs: Digitek Lawsuits

Two months after a Digitek recall was issued due to manufacturing problems that allowed double strength tablets to be commercially released, at least three lawsuits have been filed. A number of additional cases are expected to be filed in the coming weeks, as hundreds of potential cases are currently being investigated throughout the country by individuals who are trying to determine if they may be entitled to compensation through a Digitek lawsuit.

Many people have described problems that surfaced during the months around the recall, but some have reported problems consistent with a Digitek overdose as early as 2006. Since the manufacturer has released very little information about the extent of the Digitek problems, all cases are being reviewed to determine if injuries could have caused by the manufacturing problems.

June 7, 2008

Texas Medical License and LIST

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Texas Medical Board implemented this month, the Licensure Inquiry System of Texas, (LIST), an online license application tracking system that is designed to reduce the time required to process and issue physician licenses in Texas.

LIST allows applicants to communicate with TMB via internet access and the system creates an easily accessible archive of all such communication between TMB and the applicant.

June 6, 2008

Mercury Fillings Harmful

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Years after claiming that mercury in fillings was safe, the FDA now says it may be harmful to pregnant women, children, fetuses, and people who are especially sensitive to mercury exposure.

The FDA now states that dental amalgams containing mercury, may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses.

June 5, 2008

Jail Death: $4 Million Award

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Rice, 24, died in 2006, while in Denver City Jail, 20 hours after she was released from a hospital. She had suffered a lacerated spleen and liver and bled to death from injuries she received in a drunken-driving crash.

The family of Emily Rice, who died while in custody at the Jail, reached a $4 million settlement with Denver Health Medical Center. Denver Health also agreed to significant changes in patient screening and treatment at both the medical center and the jail.

June 4, 2008

Secret Service Racial Bias Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

In this case, black Secret Service agents sued the Secret Service alleging racial bias and a glass ceiling mentality at the agency.

The judge presiding over the case, has already sanctioned the agency three times for dragging its feet in handing over racially charged e-mails shared by white Secret Service supervisors and for failing to search for documents as ordered by the court. She has also reprimanded government lawyers after they revealed that a paralegal may have burned some documents that were ordered by the court.

June 3, 2008

Baby Bottles With BPA

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An Arkansas woman filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a Connecticut company of making plastic baby bottles with a dangerous chemical linked to serious health problems.

The lawsuit by Ashley Campbell against Playtex Products is a challenge involving the industrial chemical bisphenol A.

June 2, 2008

Hospital Drowning: $5 Million awarded

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An Atlanta jury has awarded $5 million in damages to the family of a new mother who drowned in a bathtub at Gwinnett Medical Center.

The lawsuit alleged that nurses should have checked on Wendy Wyckstandt, 34, and should have realized that she was too weak to shower without assistance.

June 1, 2008

Fatal Liposuction $20.5 Million Award

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Philadelphia jury awarded a $20.5 million verdict to the parents of an 18-year-old college student who died from a botched liposuction procedure.

This case had been pending for seven years to the day of the elective liposuction for Amy Fledderman. The patient had liposuction for her chin, abdomen and flanks with plastic surgeon Dr. Richard P. Glunk on May 23, 2001.

In the Fledderman v. Glunk wrongful death and survival lawsuit, the jury awarded $15 million in punitive damages; $3.5 million under the Survival Act; $2 million for Glunk allegedly negligently inflicting emotional distress on Colleen Fledderman (patient’s mom); $20,000 under the Wrongful Death Act; and $5,000 for Glunk’s alleged failure to obtain Amy Fledderman’s informed consent.

May 30, 2008

Texas A&M officials can be sued in Bonfire case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The 10th Court of Appeals in Waco affirmed a district court ruling that allows for the case to go to trial in Brazos County court.

The Court ruled that Texas A&M administrators, acting in the course and scope of their jobs, can be sued individually for the events leading up to the 1999 collapse of the 59-foot-tall bonfire stack that killed 12 people and injured 27 others.

May 29, 2008

Blood Clots with Birth Control Patch

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group petitioned the FDA to pull the birth control patch, Ortho-Evra off the market, warning that it was far riskier than the pill.

Complaints about the Ortho-Evra weekly patch have risen since a 2005 investigation by The Associated Press found that patch users had higher rates of life-threatening blood clots than did women who took birth control pills.