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Archive for the ‘Product Liability’ Category

FDA Adds New Warning to Multaq

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

Multaq (dronedarone) is a widely-prescribed drug for patients with heart arrhythmias.Yesterday, the FDA announced a new warning about risks associated with Multaq.You can read the entire FDA warning here. A study found that in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation, use of Multaq doubles the risk of stroke, heart failure, and cardiovascular death. The FDA warning goes on to recommend that doctors should monitor all patients using Multaq by performing an electrocardiogram (ECG) at least once every three months. The FDA determined that for patients with nonpermanent atrial fibrillation, Multaq use is still safe and beneficial. If you are a patient using Multaq and have questions about the FDA’s recent findings you should contact your healthcare professional. If you or a loved one have been injured by your prescribed use of any pharmaceutical, you can contact Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter for a free evaluation of your potential claim. Call us or visit us on the internet at www.thefloridafirm.com

Posted in Personal Injury, Product Liability, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Instant Soup Cups Pose Real Danger

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

Doctors in burn units around the country report treating severe burns several times a week which were caused by instant soup cups. The soup cups in question are usually noodles in broth, served in styrofoam cups which the consumer either microwaves or fills with already-boiling water. NPR reported earlier this week that they called 12 hospital burn units around the country, and 8 out of 12 of them see burns caused by instant soups multiple times every week. The burns are usually to children or toddlers, and the numbers of these cases tend to go up in the wintertime. The burn unit of a hospital in Washington D.C. reported treating an average of 5 or 6 noodle soup burn injuries per week.

A study in 2007 showed that noodle soups are uniquely able to deliver serious burns, since the noodles cling to skin and result in more severe burns than hot liquid would alone. Another factor in these burn cases is the packaging of certain noodle soups. Those in slender styrofoam cups with a small base, such as Nissin Cup Noodles (one of the cheapest and most popular of these products) tend to be top-heavy and tip over easily.

You can read, or listen to, the NPR report “Why Burn Doctors Hate Instant Soup” here.You can also protect your children from such avoidable injuries by taking precautions and not serving hot soups in unstable containers. Make the soup and then mix in some cool water and pour the soup into a regular bowl with a wide base where it can be cooled by the air and less prone to spilling. Anytime you or a loved one are injured by a product that has a flawed design or unsafe elements, whether automobile tires or cribs, hip replacements or toys with lead paint, call Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter for a free case evaluation. Product liability law can be confusing, and we are always glad to help you determine if you have a viable legal claim for damages that result from unsafe products.

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Doctors Accept Kickbacks, But Don’t Pay the Price

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Since 2008, major pharmaceutical companies have paid $6.5 billion to settle accusations of paying kickbacks and engaging in marketing fraud. The doctors who accept these kickbacks, in return for widely prescribing a particular pharmaceutical (or advocating that it be prescribed for off-label uses) have been named as co-defendants in many of these lawsuits. In the lawsuits that settled in the past 3 years against pharmaceutical companies for this type of marketing fraud, 75 doctors were named as co-defendants. A recent investigation by ProPublica found that not one of these doctors has been disciplined for the instrumental role they played in these fraudulent practices.

The practice of acting as a paid spokesman is one we are all familiar with. Michael Jordan tells us that Hanes makes good underwear, but we all realize that he is being paid by Hanes to do so. For a doctor to use the respected position they enjoy in our society to influence how patients make decisions about their health is to be expected. However, for them do so based on which pharmaceutical company is paying them the biggest kickback, without disclosing those transactions to the patient, is verging on criminal.

We applaud the decisions that have forced drugmakers to pay for the fraudulent marketing schemes they have pursued. However, this fraudulent marketing only works when there are two sides involved: the pharmaceutical company and the doctor. As long as the doctors implicated in these frauds are not disciplined or held accountable, the pharmaceutical companies will continue paying doctors kickbacks to push their products for uses not approved by the FDA, or to patients who would be better served by other medicines. The Justice Department usually pursues these claims based on information provided by “whistleblowers” from the pharmaceutical companies. The drugmakers settle these cases for huge amounts of money, although the sums involved are negligible when compared to the revenues generated by the drugs they are marketing. The doctors, although they seem to be the “small fish” in a case like this, are equally culpable and should be held accountable whenever they are complicit in these fraudulent practices. Without such a precedent being set, the pharma companies will look at these settlements as an acceptable cost of doing business, and find another doctor willing to accept kickbacks. The only way to stop this cycle of fraud is to hold ALL of the guilty parties responsible.

Posted in Insurance and Consumer Rights, Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect, Product Liability | Comments Off

Hot Coffee: New Documentary Exposes the True Story of Tort Reform

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

Recent Supreme Court decisions have chipped away at the right of consumers to seek justice in class actions when they are wronged by corporations. They have granted big businesses the ability to donate unlimited sums of money, anonymously, to political campaigns. They have protected corporations from facing consequences for polluting the environment. And they have ensured that the makers of generic pharmaceuticals cannot be held liable for damages caused by their products. The last two terms of the Supreme Court have rightly been called the most big-business friendly period in the history of our country’s highest court. The decisions mentioned above have certainly done damage to the rights of consumers in America. However, sometimes the most serious damage to consumers’ rights has been done with a little help from the consumers themselves. A fascinating new documentary by a former plaintiffs’ attorney tells the story of how this came to be.

“Jackpot Justice”, “Runaway Juries”, and ”Frivolous Lawsuits”. These phrases came to be the rallying cries of what seemed to be a grassroots movement in the 1990s and early 2000’s. These slogans were repeated endlessly in the name of “tort reform”, in what was essentially a corporate ad campaign for the wholesale re-shaping of the American civil justice system. Have you ever heard the one about the little old lady who spilled McDonald’s coffee on herself while driving, and won millions of dollars by suing the company? Of course you have. A very specific version of her story was repeated thousands of times, like a children’s fable designed to impart a moral lesson through repetition.  Comedians joked about it. News anchors repeated the myth in mocking tones. And the narrative was accepted and agreed upon. Our civil justice system was out of control. People were trying to get rich by pursuing frivolous lawsuits, and runaway juries were granting that wish. If anyone questioned those notions, one could just mention the little old lady who became a millionaire because her coffee was hot. Argument over.

The problem, it turns out, is that not many people knew the real story. The little old lady was not driving. She was parked. She was sitting in the passenger seat. And the coffee? It was kept at 190 degrees, 70 degrees hotter than any normal coffee maker would get to, and hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns on contact. Which, in fact, it did. The burns required skin grafts. Over 700 people had already been burned similarly by McDonald’s coffee. The little old lady did not become a millionaire. She had not even wanted to go to court, but for McDonald’s to cover her medical bills. They refused, and insisted on litigation. The facts of this case are so different from the popular perception of what happened that it makes one wonder how we were all so deceived.

“Hot Coffee” is a new documentary airing on HBO which explores the infamous McDonald’s coffee claim, and 3 other cases, to show how big business interests have manipulated public perception to support a drastic transformation of our nation’s civil justice system. Large corporations spent enormous sums of money to bombard the media with messages from seemingly grass-roots organizations devoted to so-called “tort reform”. By repeating buzzwords endlessly, and presenting a decidedly one-sided narrative of an out-of-control justice system, these corporations were able to effectively re-arrange the landscape of civil justice in America. These political “spin” techniques were so effective that millions of Americans bought into the idea of “tort reform”, “runaway juries”, and “jackpot justice”. The problem is, when one of those Americans is now suffering as a result of corporate negligence or wrongdoing, they find their ability to seek justice through the court system has been significantly diminished.

“Hot Coffee” is a sobering look at what has been happening to civil justice in America over the past decade. Plaintiffs’ rights attorneys like Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter fight every day to help average citizens seek justice when they are harmed by the negligence or wrongdoing of enormously powerful corporate interests. It is one of the most admirable qualities of our justice system that all litigants- powerful or weak, rich or poor- are on equal footing in the eyes of the law. This level playing field has been increasingly tilted in recent years, to protect powerful interests from liability for their own actions (or failures to act). The fact that average Americans have been duped into supporting measures which restrict their access to the justice system is regrettable. The information presented in “Hot Coffee” makes a huge first step towards educating the public on what so-called “tort reform” has actually accomplished. 

“Hot Coffee” is showing now on HBO. For those without premium cable, many good video clips and interviews of the people involved can be found here.

Posted in Insurance and Consumer Rights, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Consumer Product Safety Takes Step Forward

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has taken a step toward creating a new database that is a giant step forward for consumer safety. A new rule has approved a product safety complaint database accessible to the consumers. For the first time, manufacturers will no longer control the reporting of consumer complaints and safety information related to their products. Now consumers will be able to report complaints and research complaints of others relating to specific products on the internet. The available information will include reports of injuries, manufacturers’ comments on those reports, and recall information. This database should revolutionize the advancement of product safety by involving the consumer in directly reporting to a database available to the public at large.

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Meridia Recall

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

At the request of the Food & Drug Administration, Abbott Laboratories has withdrawn the diet drug, Meridia from the U.S. market. Studies have shown that the use of the diet drug for weight loss increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes based upon clinical data. The FDA had recommended patients stop taking Meridia because the modest weight loss attributed to successful use of the drug did not outweigh the risks of heart attacks and strokes. Abbott still claims it believes the risks are outweighed by the benefits of the drug but has agreed to comply with the FDA’s request that the drug be removed from the  market. Meridia has been under scrutiny by consumer groups for some time.  Prescription diet pills have often been the subject of drug safety debates.  A diet drug combination known as fen-phen was removed from shelves in 1997 because it was proven to cause heart valve damage.

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Diabetes Drug – Avandia – Restricted by FDA

Friday, September 24th, 2010

The Food & Drug Administration announced Thursday that it was placing tough new restrictions on the diabetes drug, Avandia, to allow it to remain on the market. There have been concerns about Avandia increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The FDA concluded that there was significant evidence that the risk of heart attack and strokes outweighed the medicine’s benefits for most patients. In the U.S., patients will only be allowed to take Avandia as a last resort if other drugs aren’t effective in controlling their blood sugar.

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Johnson & Johnson Hip Replacement Implants Recalled

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Recently, the DePuy Orthopaedics division of Johnson & Johnson recalled hip replacement implants because many patients required a second hip replacement operation when the original devices failed. The ASR XL Acetabular System, used in traditional hip replacement surgery, and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing Platform, used for partial hip replacements, were both recalled by Johnson & Johnson. Studies show that about 13 percent of ASR total hip replacement patients required revision surgery. The August 2010 recall followed numerous complaints to the Food & Drug Administration since the use of the products began in 2005.

If you or a loved one has suffered from failure of a hip replacement device, one call to CGWC does it all.

Tags: Defective Hip Replacement Devices
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New Study Finds Contaminants In Health Supplements

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Tags: Product Liability, Wrongful Death
Posted in Product Liability, Wrongful Death | Comments Off

Accutane Acne Drug Has Adverse Reactions

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

Accutane, a drug prescribed for acne, can have serious adverse reactions for which patients can and should be compensated. Some of the adverse reactions associated with Accutane use include: suicide, psychosis, lupus, severe birth defects, fetal death, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). If you or a loved one has taken Accutane and experienced any of these side effects, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact CGWC to find an experienced Accutane lawyer.

Tags: Choosing the Right Lawyer, Product Liability
Posted in Choosing the Right Lawyer, Product Liability, Uncategorized | Comments Off

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