Personal Injury Law News & Recall Articles

New York Times, "Bone-Growth Proteins Show Risk in New Study"

Patients who received a bioengineered protein during spinal fusion procedures to correct neck pain had far more complications than patients who did not get it, according to a study released Tuesday. More...

Arizona Republic, "Matrixx faces Zicam lawsuit"

In what could be the opening salvo in a new wave of lawsuits against the Scottsdale-based maker of Zicam, lawyers on Monday filed a lawsuit on behalf of 117 people who claim they have suffered loss of smell after using the popular nasal spray. Among those suing Scottsdale-based Matrixx Initiatives Inc. include one dozen Phoenix-area residents as well as the chef of an upscale Las Vegas-area restaurant who no longer can smell or taste food. More...

Wall Street Journal, "Medtronic List Omits Name"

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley expressed concern that a list of consultants provided to him by Medtronic Inc. doesn't include a doctor accused of falsifying data in a favorable study of the company's Infuse bone-graft product. The medical-device maker has said surgeon Timothy Kuklo was a consultant, but his name isn't included on a list of 22 consultants provided to Sen. Grassley as part of a request for information he made in October.

Read the full article on the Wall Street Journal website.

ABC News, "Chrysler Bankruptcy: Consumer Groups Object, Say 10 Million Vehicle Owners Will Be Left in the Lurch"

Chrysler car owners will be left in the lurch after the automaker's bankruptcy, consumer groups are charging. On Tuesday evening, a host of consumer groups, along with liability attorneys, filed an objection in bankruptcy court to the Chrysler deal. They say the way the deal is structured, the "new" Chrysler would be absolved of liability for any Chrysler car sold prior to the bankruptcy. So if you own a Chrysler vehicle and have an accident that you believe was caused by a manufacturing defect, you would be out of luck. You could not sue Chrysler for damages, they say. More...

Associated Press, "FDA to dieters: Don't use supplement Hydroxycut"

Government health officials warned dieters and body builders Friday to immediately stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold supplement linked to cases of serious liver damage and at least one death. The FDA said the company that makes the dietary supplement has agreed to recall 14 Hydroxycut products. Available in grocery stores and pharmacies, Hydroxycut is advertised as made from natural ingredients. At least 9 million packages were sold last year, the FDA said. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Magnetix: Delays in product recall tempt tragedy"

Canada's Mega Brands Inc., maker of Mega Blox and other popular playthings, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1.1 million last week in connection with a defective toy that caused the death of a toddler in November 2005 and intestinal injuries in 25 others. Mega Brands didn't actually own the company that made the toy until after the toddler was killed, yet it was legally on the hook for some of the problems. More...

Daily Journal, "Magnetix Magnetic Toys' Legal Troubles Mount"

Although MEGA Brands has twice recalled its popular Magnetix magnetic toys after numerous lawsuits, plaintiffs' attorneys said parents are still suing the company over swallowed magnets. Today, federal regulators will join the fray by making an announcement about the toys, which were blamed for the 2005 death of a 2-year-old. More...

Sacramento Business Times, "Genentech pulls troubled Raptiva"

Genentech Inc. said Wednesday it is withdrawing psoriasis drug Raptiva from the U.S. market because of an increased risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, a rare and usually fatal disease of the central nervous system. More...

Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Did artificial flavoring hurt woman's lungs? Popcorn factory worker in Cincinnati court today"

After spending nearly a decade working at an Ohio popcorn factory, Kathryn Rayburn developed an incurable lung disease. Doctors say her lung capacity is just a third of what it's supposed to be because of her workplace exposure to a butter flavoring called diacetyl. Rayburn, 48, faces off in a Cincinnati courtroom today against makers of the flavorings she believes hurt her lungs. At the same time, the Obama administration is kick-starting a long-stalled effort to develop workplace standards for the food ingredient that federal officials have linked to lung damage when it is inhaled. More...

New York Times, "Medtronic Links 13 Deaths to Faulty Heart Device"

Medtronic said Friday that at least 13 people might have died in connection with a heart device that it recalled in 2007 but was still in widespread use, including four patients whose deaths were related to efforts by doctors to surgically remove the product. More...

Law 360, "Jury Hands Deceased Popcorn Worker $7.5M"

A federal jury rendered a $7.5 million verdict in favor of an American Pop Corn Co. employee one day after the man died of lung and heart failure related to the condition he had claimed was caused by working with buttery flavoring used to make microwave popcorn. More...

Daily Journal, "U.S. Justices Rule Federal Drug Approval Doesn't Bar State Law Claims"

Trial lawyers can breathe a sigh of relief because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that federal drug labeling laws don't prevent patients from filing product liability claims under state laws. In one of the major cases of the court's current term, the justices ruled 6-3 that plaintiffs can file suit against drug companies in state court over pharmaceutical products if U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved labels fail to adequately warn consumers of the products' dangers. That had been the case for decades, but in recent years the Bush administration, supported by the pharmaceutical industry, had argued that certain federal consumer protection laws trumped state law claims. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Supreme Court ruling says patients can sue drugmakers"

In a resounding victory for consumers over the pharmaceutical industry, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that patients harmed by medication can sue the drugmaker for neglecting to list known dangers on the label even if federal regulators haven't required them to do so. The 6-3 decision upheld $6.7 million in damages to a musician from Vermont who lost an arm to gangrene after being injected in 2000 with an anti-nausea drug manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. More...

CNN, "FDA: Psoriasis drug could cause deadly brain infection"

The government is warning that taking the psoriasis drug Raptiva could result in serious brain infection and even death. The Food and Drug Administration cited three confirmed cases, and a possible fourth, of people diagnosed with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) after being treated with Raptiva. "Three of those patients have died," the FDA said in a public health advisory. "All four patients were treated with the drug for more than three years." None was receiving other treatments that suppress the immune system. Raptiva, a once-weekly injection for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, works by suppressing T-cells -- cells that help fight infection -- in the immune system. Those cells cause the skin inflammation associated with psoriasis. More...

New York Times, "Study Finds More Failure of Heart Device"

A widely used heart device recalled two years ago by Medtronic may be failing in patients at a rate significantly higher than previously known, a new report by two prominent cardiac specialists indicated. The Medtronic device, known as the Sprint Fidelis lead, is an electrical cable that connects an implanted defibrillator to a patient's heart. More...

New York Times, "Lawmakers Seek to Return Right to Sue Device Makers"

On the same day last month that a federal judge in St. Paul threw out hundreds of lawsuits against the maker of a faulty heart device, a man entered a nearby hospital to have one of those flawed products surgically removed. The risky operation went terribly wrong. As doctors extracted the device, a thin electronic cable, from the patient's heart, a vessel was punctured, causing extensive bleeding. The 33-year-old patient, Mark Turnidge, died two days later, leaving behind a wife and two young sons. More...

Associated Press, "FDA says 3 deaths associated with Genentech drug"

Three patients taking a Genentech drug are believed to have died of a rare brain infection, a known risk with the skin-clearing treatment, according to federal health officials. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday confirmed three cases and a possible fourth of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, which causes swelling of the brain and is usually fatal. All the cases were reported in the last six months. More...

Southeast Texas Record, "Galveston suit blames Yamaha Rhino ATV for boy's injuries from rollover"

A Santa Fe couple is seeking $3 million in damages from Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. after their son was injured in a Rhino ATV rollover more than a year ago. Warren and Terry Aldous filed a lawsuit on behalf of Brandon Aldous against Yamaha and numerous other businesses. Court papers say Brandon Aldous was riding a doorless Yamaha Rhino ATV near his parents' residence on June 2, 2007, when the vehicle rolled over as the boy made a turn. Brandon was pinned underneath the ATV, but his mother and a neighbor were able to pull him out. The boy was then taken to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where physicians determined he suffered severe injuries to his left leg. More...

New York Times, "Salmonella Was Found at Peanut Plant Before"

The Georgia food plant that federal investigators say knowingly shipped contaminated peanut butter also had mold growing on its ceiling and walls, and it has foot-long gaps in its roof, according to results of a federal inspection. More than 500 people in 43 states have been sickened, and eight have died, after eating crackers and other products made with peanut butter from the plant, which is owned by the Peanut Corporation of America. More than 100 children under the age of 5 are among those who have been sickened. More...

New York Times, "Soldier's Electrocution in Iraq Was Negligent Homicide, Army Concludes"

Army investigators have concluded that a Green Beret electrocuted in a shower in his barracks in Iraq was the victim of negligent homicide in a case involving the largest American contractor in Iraq, according to a written statement from one investigator. More...

Law360 (New York), "GAO Tells FDA To Toughen Class III Device Review"

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office is recommending that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ratchet up its review process for medical devices that are designated class III, or "high risk," in order to comply with legislation that is almost two decades old. According to the report, which was published Thursday, Congress expected the FDA to require all class III devices to undergo a stringent premarket approval process pursuant to the Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Osteoporosis drug Fosamax linked to serious diseases"

Studies suggest the drug could raise the risk of cancer of the esophagus and a bone-killing infection in rare cases

In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine published Jan. 1, a Food and Drug Administration official reported that since Fosamax was first marketed in 1995, 23 cases of esophageal cancer in patients taking the drug -- including eight deaths -- have been reported to the agency. And a USC study published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Dental Assn. reported that nine patients who were taking Fosamax suffered osteonecrosis of the jaw -- a bone-killing infection -- after having teeth extracted at USC dental clinics. More...

MSNBC.com, "Officials fear rise in monoxide poisonings; Experts say desperate families are turning to dangerous heat sources"

Severe winter weather and a stormy economy could combine to make one of the season's common killers, carbon monoxide poisoning, even worse this year, public health and safety officials say. Coast-to-coast snowstorms and power outages, paired with spiking rates of utility shutoffs spurred by record unemployment, are likely to increase the accidental exposures that typically send more than 20,000 people to the emergency room and kill nearly 500 each year. "I'm pretty sure we're going to see a big bump in carbon monoxide poisonings this winter," said Dr. Eric J. Lavonas, associate director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver. "This economy is the perfect storm." More...

Lawyers USA, "Suits over AMO contact lens solution move forward"

About 150 lawsuits are moving forward alleging that Complete MoisturePlus contact lens solution causes a nasty eye infection that can require corneal transplants and in some cases result in blindness. The majority of cases have been filed in a coordinated proceeding in state court in Orange County, Calif., where defendants Allergan and Advanced Medical Optics Inc. are headquartered. In one of the first bellweather cases, scheduled for trial on May 4, 2009, 34 year-old plaintiff Kellie Bataglia is alleging that she contracted an acanthamoeba keratitis infection after using the all-in-one Complete MoisturePlus product. More...