Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

July 20, 2010

Court Files Indicate Settlement in Paxil Lawsuit

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed against a pharmaceutical company by a Watertown woman who linked her prescribed use of Paxil to the death of her infant son, according to court files.

Jennifer Berg of Watertown sued SmithKline Beecham, doing business as GlaxoSmithKline, in October 2007. The complaint said Nathan Berg died in 2004 because of a heart disorder caused by her use of the antidepressant Paxil while she was pregnant. WAYNE ORTMAN, AP , The Washington Post 07/20/2010
Read Article: The Washington Post

July 20, 2010

Paxil Birth Defect Dallas Attorney Update

by Dr. Shezad Malik

In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned doctors about a study showing that babies born to women who took Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy had a higher rate of major birth defects. The study, which involved 3,500 pregnant women, showed that those on Paxil were twice as likely to have a child with defects than women on other antidepressants.

The FDA put out a statement warning that “[h]ealthcare professionals are advised to carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits of using [Paxil] in women during pregnancy and to discuss these findings as well as treatment alternatives with their patients.”

At least 600 cases have been filed alleging that Paxil is responsible for congenital birth defects. GSK has also paid approximately $1 billion in settlements of Paxil-related cases not involving birth defects.

Read full story here.

July 20, 2010

Fatal Train Wreck In Illinois Prompts Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A lawsuit was filed against two northern railroad companies this week by the family of a Chicago woman who was hit by a train and killed.

Katie Ann Lunn died in the train accident earlier this year when an Amtrak train hit her SUV, which was stopped on the tracks in heavy traffic.

The lawsuit contends that the Illinois Central Railroad Co. and Wisconsin Central Ltd. failed “to ensure crossing-protection systems were functioning properly,” among other things, which would have prevented the accident. The suit is seeking unspecified damages. Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune 07/14/2010
Read Article: Chicago Tribune

July 19, 2010

Doctors Say It’s Already Over For Diabetes Drug Avandia

by Dr. Shezad Malik

In treating diabetes, it might not matter much whether the Food and Drug Administration halts sales of the drug Avandia.

An FDA committee of outside experts met last week to provide advice on whether any regulatory action — from stronger warnings to removal — is needed. The FDA has the final say on the committee’s recommendations and could decide within weeks.

Doctors already have given their verdict. Avandia prescriptions have plummeted since a study in The New England Journal of Medicine in May 2007 raised concerns about whether the drug increased heart attack risk.

Rule the full story here.

July 19, 2010

Texas Doctor Who Fought Nurses’ Grievances Faces TMB Complaint

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The trouble started in April 2009, when nurses, Anne Mitchell and Vickilyn Galle, sent an unsigned letter to the Texas Medical Board outlining concerns about Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr., including his alleged use of herbal remedies and attempt to use hospital supplies to perform at-home procedures.

Arafiles filed a harassment complaint with county officials, and the nurses were charged criminally with felony misuse of official information and fired from their jobs at Winkler County Memorial Hospital.

Now, the medical board has filed a complaint alleging Arafiles used “poor medical judgment” and “poor decision-making,” overbilled patients, prescribed nontherapeutic treatments and intimidated witnesses. Betsy Blaney, Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News 07/19/2010

Read Article: The Dallas Morning News

July 19, 2010

Driver and Caltrans, Responsible For Car Accident

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A San Mateo County jury has ordered Caltrans and a northern California woman to pay $12.2 million to a 21-year-old girl who suffered permanent brain damage during a car accident in 2006.

Gada Hassan hit Emily Liou with her car while Liou was crossing the street at a cross walk at the top of a small rise in the road.

The lawyers for the plaintiff argued also that Caltrans was responsible because they had done nothing to ensure the safety of pedestrians and drivers at that intersection, which has seen three similarly fatal accidents since 1991. Joshua Melvin, San Jose Mercury News 07/14/2010

Read the article here.

July 18, 2010

Dallas Texas Update: Pain Pumps & Arthoscopic Shoulder Surgery Risks

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Patients undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery have received pain pumps to assist in their recovery. Now a new study suggests these pumps may deliver too much medicine, destroying cartilage and leading to a condition known as Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis.

A study by The American Journal of Sports Medicine identified intra-articular pain pumps as the likely cause of Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis (PAGCL).

PAGCL only occurs in patients who received a shoulder pain pump filled with bupivacaine and epinephrine during their surgery.

Numerous lawsuits are pending against the companies that manufacture, market or distribute the pain pumps, including Stryker, DJO Inc., I-Flow Inc., BREG Inc. and others.

July 18, 2010

GSK to Take Charge of $2.36B Related to Paxil, Avandia.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The New York Times (7/16, B2, Jolly, Harris) reports that UK pharmaceutical maker GlaxoSmithKline announced on July 15 that “it would take a second-quarter charge of $2.36 billion related to legal cases involving its drugs Avandia [rosiglitazone] and Paxil [paroxetine].”

This announcement comes one “day after an American medical advisory panel recommended that Avandia, a controversial diabetes drug, should either be withdrawn from the market or be severely restricted in its sales because it increases the risks of heart attacks.” According to GSK, “the charge announced Thursday, which will amount to about $2.1 billion after taxes, ‘includes provisioning for settled cases and an estimate for those cases which we have received and are still outstanding.'”

Read the full story here.

July 18, 2010

Natural Gas Company’s Natural Gas Disclosure Decision Could Change Fracking

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Texas natural gas producer’s decision to voluntarily disclose the chemicals it injects into the ground could prompt other drillers to do the same, and pave the way for regulators to require such disclosure.

But Range Resources Corp.’s move also reflects the desire of industry to get out ahead of the issue to prevent federal regulation of the key drilling practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. MIKE SORAGHAN, Greenwire, The New York Times 07/16/2010
Read Article: The New York Times

July 17, 2010

FDA: Avandia To Be Restricted

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An FDA panel has made a recommendation to the agency that the controversial diabetes drug Avandia should either be taken off the market or its sales should be severely restricted.

Avandia and its maker, GlaxoSmithKline, have recently come under fire for trial results that reveal that patients taking Avandia are at an increased risk for heart attacks.

A majority of the committee decided that if Glaxo wants to keep Avandia on the market, it must complete another clinical trial to prove it is safe.

FDA officials said they will consider the recommendations of the committee and make an official decision as soon as possible. Gardiner Harris, The New York Times 07/14/2010
Read Article: The New York Times