More Women, Families Filing Yaz & Yasmin Lawsuits

July 31st, 2009. By LucyC

The media has been full of reports of lawsuits filed against Bayer recently, all related to the company’s oral contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin.

This week alone six lawsuits were filed in Toledo. The allegations in these suits focus on misrepresentation of the adverse effects associated with the pill. Those adverse effects would include stroke, embolism and other life-threatening events. According to the suits, Bayer did not advertise proper warnings and did not adequately disclose the potential risks. One of the suits was brought by the family of a 25-year old mother who died from a stroke in 2006, allegedly while taking Yaz. 

Between the first quarter of 2004 and the third quarter of 2008 reports indicate that more than 50 Yasmin- or Yaz-related incidences of death were filed with the FDA, one involved a 17-year old woman. The causes of death allegedly involved pulmonary embolisms, stroke and cardiac arrests.  Read the rest of this entry »

Chinese Drywall: Rad-i-o, Rad-i-o, Radioactive?

July 30th, 2009. By AbiK

Radioactive.

I’m betting that word conjures up 1 of 3 things:

• the movie Silkwood
• Three Mile Island (et al)
• “I’m not uptight, not unattracted, turn me on tonight, ’cause I’m radioactive…”

Not Chinese drywall.

A report in the LA Times (7/4/09) that potentially connected Chinese drywall with a radioactive substance got a lot of folks attention—with good reason. In referencing the challenges investigators have been faced with to get to the root of the problem, the Times article stated that “some Chinese experts, however, suspect that the culprit is a radioactive phosphorus substance—phosphogypsum—that is banned for construction use in the U.S. but has been used by Chinese manufacturers for almost a decade.”

Before anyone goes crazy (as if there isn’t enough to make a homeowner with Chinese drywall crazy already), officials so far have not found any evidence of this. But the Times goes on to report that copies of Chinese customs reports (obtained by the Times), along with interviews, “indicate that drywall made with phosphogypsum was shipped to the U.S. in 2006 by at least 4 Chinese-based manufacturers and trading firms.” Read the rest of this entry »

What is Statute of Limitations?

July 30th, 2009. By AbiK

Recently one of Lucy’s blog posts mentioned the statute of limitations for Avandia. “Statute of limitations” is a phrase that’s thrown around a lot—and it can be confusing. So that’s what we’re talking about in Pleading Ignorance today.

What does Statute of Limitations mean?

To put it in the simplest terms, it’s an expiration date that you have on the time allowed for filing a lawsuit. After that date, you generally can’t file the lawsuit anymore.

But here’s what the handy-dandy Barron’s Law Dictionary says: it’s any law which fixes the time within which parties must take judicial action to enforce rights or else be thereafter barred from enforcing them.

Ok—so basically get filing before the timer bell goes off.

Being mindful of the statute of limitations is important because it varies by state and by type of legal claim. For example, many states have a one year statute of limitations for personal injury cases—but some have a two year limit. NJ is a perfect example: the statute of limitations for a personal injury case is 2 years; the statute of limitations for damage to personal property is 6 years. That’s why attorneys will typically tell you to see a lawyer sooner than later if you think you might have a case—or even question whether you might. Also, keep in mind, it takes time to collect all the relevant evidence and supporting documents in a personal injury case—and time is of the essence. Read the rest of this entry »

Shoulder Pain Pump Delivers More than Physical Damage

July 29th, 2009. By janem

Imagine having shoulder surgery to make you better and instead, it makes you worse. In fact, it ruins your career–forever. That’s what is happening to some people who have been given a shoulder pain pump after surgery who now have to deal with dead cartilage.

Intra-articular pumps were designed to be placed in the shoulder tissue for pain relief. Before these pumps existed, patients were given pills or injections to ease the pain under the watchful eyes of medical staff. But hospital beds are scarce and most medical facilities want you out ASAP, so patients would go home earlier to recover with these pain pumps.

But some people didn’t recover-in fact the pain pumps have harmed them irreparably. Doctors began to see their patients develop chondrolysis, which is severe damage to the shoulder cartilage. Many patients suffer shoulder injuries because they use their shoulders in their careers-athletes for instance. So not only do they suffer extreme pain and loss of motion from these toxic pain meds destroying cartilage, now they’re also out of work, no doubt with spare time to file a lawsuit against the manufacturer.

SJS: to Screen or not to Screen?

July 29th, 2009. By LucyC

In March of this year, the FDA announced that it would be investigating the anti-epileptic drugs phenytoin and fosphenytoin in connection with their potential to cause Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). (fyi, Phenytoin is marketed as Dilantin, Phenytek and generics. Fosphenytoin sodium is marketed as Cerebyx and generics.)

One of the factors that may have played into the FDA investigation is a reported higher incidence of SJS in Asian patients taking these drugs, specifically Asians who test positive for the human leukocyte antigen allele HLA-B*1502. 

While the FDA reports that as much as 15 percent of the population in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines may have this allele, they don’t believe there’s enough information to warrant testing for the allele in the US for patients of Asian ancestry—yet. Read the rest of this entry »