Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

October 24, 2014

Jury Finds for J&J DePuy In Texas Pinnacle Hip Trial

Johnson & Johnson was found not liable for personal injuries and product liability by a Texas jury in the first case to go to trial.

Jury Found For Johnson & Johnson DePuy

The Dallas federal jury ruled unanimously against the plaintiff Kathleen Herlihy-Paoli, who said the two metal-on-metal Pinnacle hips she received in 2009 were defective and that the company failed to warn patients and doctors about the device’s risks.

October 21, 2014

Metal on Metal Defective Hip Metallosis Settlement Update

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The slow moving train wreck that we call the Metal on Metal Hip debacle continues to grind on. For the thousands of patients who were promised the latest and greatest hip technology but instead were sold a pile of scrap metal, and the significant risk of metal poisoning, there maybe light at the end of the tunnel.

There has been some success in resolving the lawsuits involving thousands of defective metal on metal hips. Some of the lawsuits have been settled and thousands more are still pending against the metal hip manufacturers including Zimmer (now the new proud owner of Biomet), DePuy, Stryker, Wright Medical and Smith and Nephew that sold the metal-on-metal hip implants.

The defective hip replacement lawsuits share similar allegations that there is premature catastrophic hip implant failure caused by metal cobalt and chromium release. The artificial hips are made of cobalt chromium alloy and the grinding action of the hip joint in daily activity causing the metal components to rub together, leading to the release of these toxic heavy metal particles.

October 18, 2014

Levaquin Peripheral Neuropathy Lawsuits Heat Up

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Johnson & Johnson faces the first product liability personal injury lawsuit over side effects of Levaquin that caused peripheral neuropathy for Karyn Grossman, from Maryland. According to Grossman, she developed the severe and often permanent form of nerve damage after using the popular antibiotic.

The lawsuit was filed in September in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, against Johnson & Johnson, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals subsidiary and the drug distributor, McKesson Corp. as defendants.

FDA 2013 Warnings

October 15, 2014

Cook IVC Filter MDL Litigation Heading to Southern Indiana

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), all pending federally filed Cook inferior vena cava (IVC) filter lawsuits will be consolidated and centralized before U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young in the Southern District of Indiana, for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

This order by the JPML establishes a nationwide federal Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) in one courthouse. This MDL will include all product liability and personal injury lawsuits involving side effect complications with Cook IVC filters.

What are Cook IVC Filters?

October 11, 2014

J&J Janssen’s Xarelto Anticoagulant Side-Effects

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Anticoagulation therapy is necessary in several serious medical conditions including a common heart rhythm abnormality, known as atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and in certain genetic blooding clotting diseases.

The medications reduce the incidence of blood clots and reduce the rate of strokes as in the case of atrial fibrillation and to prevent catastrophic injuries from pulmonary embolism including death.

Untreated deep vein thrombosis (blood clot in the leg) can result in a pulmonary embolism when the blood clot in the leg breaks off and travels in the venous system to the lung.

October 9, 2014

Johnson and Johnson Hysterectomy Morcellation Sarcoma Cancer Risk

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to a new Columbia University medical study, one in about 370 women who have the morcellation procedure to remove uterine fibroids have undiagnosed and unrecognized sarcoma cancer.

This hidden danger can be spread throughout the body during the invasive procedure, leading the cancer staging to be upgraded from stage 1 (local) to stage 4 (metastastic spread). The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on September 24.

What Are Power Morcellators?

October 7, 2014

AMS Settles Transvaginal Mesh Cases

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Encouraging news for some women who have been injured by the transvaginal mesh debacle. Endo International Plc, the owner of AMS, has agreed to settle its product liability transvaginal mesh lawsuits that allege its line of vaginal-mesh implants caused personal injury by eroding through the vagina in some women and left them in pain and exposed to serious infections.

According to Endo, they settled “substantially all” the remaining U.S. lawsuits against its American Medical Systems Holdings unit over the Perigee, Apogee and Elevate mesh implants. Endo announced that the company was adding $400 million to its $1.2 billion liability reserve for the devices. These vaginal mesh devices were designed to support pelvic muscles and treat incontinence.

The deal settles more than 10,000 lawsuits. Endo agreed earlier this year to pay about $830 million to settle an additional 20,000 suits over the implants. That settlement was announced after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said vaginal-mesh inserts should be subject to stricter safety requirements because they are high-risk devices.

October 6, 2014

Takeda Actos KO’D in Bladder Cancer Trial $2M Verdict

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Philadelphia jury spoke loud and clear. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., the manufacturer of the popular diabetic medication, was ko’d by the jury, and ordered to pay more than $2 million to a plaintiff who claimed that Actos caused her bladder cancer. This was the latest Actos trial over bladder cancer claims from the medication.

Last week, jurors in state court in Philadelphia found that the Japan-based Takeda failed to properly warn Frances Wisniewski’s doctors about Actos’s cancer risk. Jurors found that Actos is linked to severe injuries and in some instances of death by causing bladder cancer in some unsuspecting diabetic patients who took the popular medications.

According to Wisniewski’s attorney, Mike Miller, the jury found Takeda “clearly failed to warn, and it clearly caused her damage. She’s got a life of bladder cancer; it’s a fair verdict,” he added.

Takeda Knew in 2004 of Cancer Link

October 3, 2014

Report: Cook IVC Filter Lawsuit MDL Centralization Hearing

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, earlier this week, considered the application for all Cook Celect and Gunther Tulip IVC filter lawsuits filed nationwide in U.S. District Courts. The application was brought by the plaintiffs and they requested that the litigation be centralized before one judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings, as part of an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation.

Cook Medical 27 IVC Filter Lawsuits

Currently, Cook Medical faced at least 27 different IVC filter lawsuits pending in 11 different districts. Plaintiffs have requested that the litigation be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana as part of the MDL.

September 30, 2014

Illinois Xarelto Bleeding Death Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Bayer Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, the manufacturers of the novel oral anticoagulant (NOACS) Xarelto, are exposed to several Xarelto product liability personal injury lawsuits, filed nationwide.

These have brought by folks who suffered a catastrophic injury or death due to uncontrollable bleeding side effects while on the popular anticoagulant drug.

Illinois Xarelto Wrongful Death Lawsuit