Personal Injury Law News & Recall Articles - Second Quarter 2006

Pioneer Press, "FDA Ups Risk of Guidant Defects"

          A potentially deadly short-circuiting problem with implantable defibrillators made by the former Guidant Corp. More...

Associated Press, "More defibrillators, pacemakers recalled"

          Boston Scientific Corp. on Monday said it is recalling some defibrillator and pacemaker models that could fail because of an electrical flaw. The recall is the latest in a string of product problems Boston Scientific inherited when it bought Guidant Corp. in April for $27 billion. More...

Salt Lake Tribune, "Fosamax lawsuit brings risks to light"

          Pamela Hines went from an active lifestyle of running five miles a day and working full-time to being unable to eat most foods and feeling constant pain. The 52-year-old Sandy woman was diagnosed last year with osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), a disfiguring condition that leads to the breakdown of the jawbone and loss of teeth. After having a tooth extracted, she became deeply concerned when her mouth failed to heal. After visiting several doctors, one told her she might have ONJ - and that it could be linked to her taking the popular osteoporosis drug Fosamax, for stronger bones. More...

Associated Press, "Lawyer: Merck Scrapped Study on Vioxx"

          Merck & Co. scrapped a planned study of the cardiac safety of Vioxx once it knew U.S. regulators were going to tone down their warning about heart risks for patients taking the painkiller, a plaintiff's lawyer argued Friday in a product liability trial. More...

Reuters, "Connecticut urges probe into Jeep Grand Cherokee"

          Connecticut urged federal regulators on Tuesday to probe possible acceleration flaws in late-model Jeep Grand Cherokees after a 52-year-old man was run over and killed by one in a car wash. More...

Associated Press, "Guidant Weighed Warning Doctors"

          Newly unsealed court documents show that Guidant Corp. drafted a letter warning doctors of a dangerous electrical malfunction in some of its devices designed to restore a normal heartbeat, but the letter was never sent. More...

Bloomberg News, "Fen-phen maker is aiming to settle 4,000 Texas claims"

          Wyeth is settling thousands of Texas fen-phen diet drug cases, including one that resulted in a $1 billion verdict, the company and lawyers for the plaintiffs said Thursday. More...

11Alive.com (Atlanta, GA), "'Defect' Blamed in Toddler's Death"

          A toddler was killed Tuesday night in front of his Cobb County home when a minivan, with its engine off, rolled over him. According to police, another child had been able to shift the minivan out of "park" setting the vehicle in motion. More...

Chicago Tribune, "New warning for canned tuna; Mercury risk for pregnant women too high, Consumer Reports says"

          The chance that canned tuna will contain high levels of mercury is great enough that pregnant women should never eat it, according to new recommendations from a leading consumer group. More...

New York Times, "Merck Admits a Data Error on Vioxx"

          In an admission that could undermine one of its core defenses in Vioxx-related lawsuits, Merck said yesterday that it had erred when it reported in early 2005 that a crucial statistical test showed that Vioxx caused heart problems only after 18 months of continuous use.
          That statistical analysis test does not support Merck's 18-month theory about Vioxx, the company acknowledged yesterday. More...

Baltimore Sun, "Flavoring perils get harder look -- Probe grows; chemicals linked to lung disease"

          A federal health agency says it is "greatly expanding" an investigation of the potential hazards of diacetyl and the butter flavoring that contains it and other flavoring chemicals that have been linked to nearly 200 cases of lung disease among factory workers who make or use the chemicals. More...

New York Times, "Drug for Bones Is Newly Linked to Jaw Disease"

          In the last 10 years, millions of patients have taken a class of drugs that can prevent agonizing broken and deteriorating bones. The drugs once seemed perfectly safe and have transformed life for patients with cancer or osteoporosis. But recently there have been reports of a serious side effect: death of areas of bone in the jaw. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Chemical in Plastics Is Tied to Prostate Cancer"

          Linking prostate cancer to a widespread industrial compound, scientists have found that exposure to a chemical that leaks from plastic causes genetic changes in animals' developing prostate glands that are precursors of the most common form of cancer in males. More...

The Oregonian, "Popular painkiller [Acetaminophen] can be a killer itself"

Experts warn against [Acetaminophen] overdosing, now the No. 1 cause of death in poison-control cases and acute liver failure

          Plagued by nagging colds, sore backs, throbbing heads and life's other aches and pains, millions of people reach for Tylenol. And if one dose doesn't stop the pain, maybe two or three will. If you do that, you're courting trouble: An overdose of acetaminophen, the popular painkiller in Tylenol and other brands, sends thousands of U.S. residents to the hospital each year, killing hundreds. More...

Los Angeles Times, "U.S. Reviewing Bridgestone's Steeltex Tires"

          Steeltex tires from Bridgestone Corp. are being reviewed by U.S. auto safety regulators after a Pasadena lawyer claimed they were linked to accidents that killed 57 people. More...

Associated Press, "Doctor Sues Hospital Over Wife's Death"

          A hospital company is being sued by one of its own doctors, an anesthesiologist who says hospital staff failed to perform emergency surgery to save his wife. More...

Press Release, "Connecticut Corneal Transplant Patient Files Lawsuit Against Bausch & Lomb For Injuries In New York Court"

          Signaling an expansion of the litigation against Bausch & Lomb over its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution and following the global recall of the product on May 15, 2006, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, announced that Martin Rivera today filed a personal injury lawsuit for damages suffered against Bausch & Lomb in state court in New York City. More...

HealthDay News, "30% of Eye-Infection Cases Have Required Corneal Transplants"

          Thirty-seven of 120 people with a severe fungal eye infection linked to a popular Bausch & Lomb contact lens solution have had to have corneal transplants, U.S. officials reported Thursday.
          That's 31 percent of the Fusarium keratitis cases examined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; eight corneal transplants had been reported by government officials earlier this month.
Experts expect that percentage will climb even further, to perhaps 50 percent. More...

New York Times, "From Asia to America, How Bausch's Crisis Grew [ReNu MoistureLoc Contact Lens Solution]"

          Early in March, Bausch & Lomb received a troubling phone call from a New Jersey eye doctor. Dr. David S. Chu, a specialist in cornea diseases, alerted the company that three of his recent patients had been afflicted with a microbe that caused a potentially blinding eye infection.
          All three, Dr. Chu said, had used Bausch & Lomb's ReNu brand lens cleaners. More...

Reuters, "Report: Vioxx risk seen with short-term use; Data showed all patients who took painkiller faced increased heart risk"

          Merck & Co. Inc. has provided new data to U.S. regulators showing that all patients who took the arthritis medicine Vioxx were at increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and other complications, National Public Radio reported Wednesday. More...

Bloomberg News, "Bausch Delayed Case Reports, FDA Says"

         The company did not tell regulators about eye infections in Asia within the required 30 days.
          Bausch & Lomb Inc. delayed telling U.S. regulators about 35 cases of a blinding eye infection in Singapore linked to its recalled ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens cleaner, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. More...

South Carolina Lawyers Weekly, "Man injured in Montero Sport SUV rollover accident wins $7M verdict against Mitsubishi"

          A former Furman University soccer player has won a $7 million verdict against Mitsubishi Motors over a sport utility vehicle that rolled when the driver swerved to avoid a slow-moving truck. More...

Associated Press, "Bausch & Lomb Pulls Lens-Solution"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc. said Monday it has permanently removed from the market a contact-lens solution that has been linked to an outbreak of fungal eye infections that can cause blindness. More...

LA Times, "Kaiser Halts Kidney Venture"

          Kaiser Permanente announced Friday that it was indefinitely suspending its kidney transplant program in Northern California after revelations that it had endangered hundreds of patients. More...

New York Times, "Follow-Up Study on Vioxx Safety Is Disputed"

          Two prominent medical researchers are taking issue with Merck's conclusion that a follow-up study of patients who took the painkiller Vioxx shows that the drug posed no "statistically significant" risk to the heart once people stopped taking it. More...

Associated Press, "Number of Fungal Eye Infection Cases Rises"

          The number of confirmed cases of a rare fungal eye infection that can cause blindness has climbed to 122, most of them contact-lens wearers who reported using Bausch & Lomb Inc.'s newest lens cleaner, federal authorities said Friday. More...

Learn more about ReNu contact lens solution injuries and lawsuits.

San Francisco Chronicle, "FDA Warns of Suicide Risk for Paxil"

          The antidepressant Paxil may raise the risk of suicidal behavior in young adults, GlaxoSmithKline and the Food and Drug Administration warned Friday in a letter to doctors.
          The warning letter was accompanied by changes to the labeling of both Paxil and Paxil CR, a controlled-release version of the drug, also called paroxetine. More...

New York Times, "Antidepressant May Raise Suicide Risk"

          After analyzing data from clinical trials, GlaxoSmithKline has sent letters to doctors warning that its antidepressant drug Paxil appears to increase the risk of suicide attempts in some young adults.
          The company said it had changed the labeling on the drug to reflect the finding of the study, which analyzed clinical trial data involving some 15,000 people. The study found that reported suicide attempts were rare but significantly more common in adults who took the drug for depression than in those who received placebo pills. More...

The Australian, "Tower block floors shut after brain tumour alert"

          The top floors of a Melbourne office building were closed down yesterday and 100 people evacuated after a seventh worker in as many years was diagnosed with a brain tumour. More...

New York Times, "More Eye Infections Tied to Bausch ReNu Contact Cleaner"

          An update yesterday from government health authorities on the outbreak of a potentially blinding fungal infection among contact lens users showed a sharp increase in the number of cases involving users of the ReNu brand of lens cleaners made at Bausch & Lomb's Greenville, S.C., factory. More...

Sun Sentinel, "Montero SUV Rolls Over and Kills Officier"

           A newly hired Miami-Dade police officer died Monday afternoon after she crashed her SUV into a concrete divider on Florida's Turnpike, police said. More...

LA Times , "Kaiser Slow to Transfer Patients"

          Kaiser Permanente launched its massive kidney transplant program in 2004 without holding basic discussions with regulators about how to safely transfer up to 1,500 of its patients from other programs to its San Francisco center, according to a Times investigation. More...

Associated Press, "Number of Rare Eye Fungus Cases Increases"

          The number of confirmed cases of a rare eye fungus that can cause scarring of the cornea has climbed above 100 in recent days, but the origin of the infection linked to contact lens cleaners remains a mystery, health authorities said Friday.
          Eye-care products maker Bausch & Lomb Inc. halted U.S. sales of its ReNu with MoistureLoc solution on April 10 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed it was investigating a flurry of Fusarium keratitis infections in Americans using the product. More...

Reuters, "Bausch Confirms Infections in Europe"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc., under pressure since authorities said its contact lens care products might be linked to a spate of serious eye infections in Asia and the United States, said a handful of cases of the infection had also been confirmed in Europe.
          But the company, whose shares fell 6.3% to hit an almost three-year low, denied analysts' suggestions that a large debt buyback announced Wednesday could leave it strapped for cash. Harris Nesbitt analyst Joanne Wuensch said the European cases raised new questions about the already beleaguered company. "They just can't get ahead of it," Wuensch said.

Learn more about ReNu MoistureLoc contact lens solution injuries and lawsuits.

LA Times, "Kaiser Denied Transplants of Ideally Matched Kidneys"

          Twenty-five Kaiser Permanente patients in Northern California were denied the chance for new kidneys that were nearly perfectly matched to them last year during the troubled start-up of the giant HMO's kidney transplant program in San Francisco, a Times investigation has found. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Kaiser Denied Transplants of Ideally Matched Kidneys; The HMO would not authorize some patients to receive organs from outside its new program"

          Twenty-five Kaiser Permanente patients in Northern California were denied the chance for new kidneys that were nearly perfectly matched to them last year during the troubled start-up of the giant HMO's kidney transplant program in San Francisco, a Times investigation has found. The patients missed this opportunity because they were in effect stranded between two transplant programs. More...

LA Times , "Kaiser Put Kidney Patients at Risk"

          In mid-2004, more than 1,500 Kaiser Permanente patients awaiting kidney transplants in Northern California got form letters that forced them to change the course of their treatment. More...

Associated Press, "Hospital mishap may have exposed 300 patients to HIV or hepatitis"

          [California] health officials are investigating a mishap at Scripps Memorial Hospital that may have exposed nearly 300 obese patients who underwent stomach-reduction surgery to hepatitis or HIV.
          Scripps officials said Wednesday the patients had a "very low" risk of infection because a registered nurse had knowingly violated operating room procedures. The female nurse, whose name was not released, failed to fully clean a gastroscope, which is used to retrieve other surgical instruments from the stomach. More...

The New York Times, "191 Reports of Eye Infection Linked to Lens Cleaners"

          The number of reports of a rare fungal infection linked to contact lens cleaners has edged up slightly in the last week, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
          The CDC said late yesterday that it had now received 191 reports of eye infections caused by a fungus called Fusarium keratitis, including 86 confirmed cases. That was up from 186 reports and 73 confirmed cases last week. More...

Associated Press, "Man Awarded $2.7 million for Popcorn Plant Injuries"

          A former popcorn plant worker who claimed his respiratory illness was the result of a harmful chemical used to make butter flavoring has been awarded about $2.7 million in damages. More

Associated Press, "GM to Recall About 40,000 Pickup Trucks"

          General Motors Corp. is recalling about 400,000 pickup trucks due to defective brake lights. The affected vehicles are the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon from the 2004-2006 model years and the 2006 Isuzu i-280 and i-350. More...

Trial, "Dangers of Birth Control Patch Come to Light"

          The Ortho Evra contraceptive patch is marketed as an easier alternative to oral contraceptives. But this convenience comes at a price: a greater risk of side effects, especially blood clots. The patch and the pill contain similar hormones, but studies have revealed that the patch delivers more estrogen and may be more dangerous than the pill. More...

Associated Press, "Bausch and Lomb Alerted to Infections in November [2005]"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc., which recently halted U.S. sales of a contact lens cleaner linked to an apparent outbreak of a severe fungal eye infection, said Thursday it was alerted last fall to a rise in infections among lens wearers in Hong Kong.
          The eye-care products maker suspended shipments of its ReNu with MoistureLoc solution in the United States on April 10 [2006] when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed it was scrutinizing a flurry of Fusarium keratitis infections in Americans using the product. More...

The New York Times , "Drug Safety Still Seen as Lagging"

          More than a year after the Food and Drug Administration announced it had strengthened its drug safety system, the agency still lacks a reliable system for keeping track of emerging problems, congressional investigators concluded in a report to be released today. More...

Associated Press, "More Cases of Eye Fungus Reported [Bausch & Lomb ReNu with MoistureLoc]"

          The number of confirmed or suspected cases of an eye fungus that can cause scarring of the cornea and blindness has grown to 176, health officials said Friday. The updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report lists cases of Fusarium keratitis in 28 states. As recently as April 9, health officials said they suspected 109 cases in 17 states. More...

OpEdNews.com, "Wanted by Pharma: Osteoporotic Bones [Fosamax]"

          The primary action of current osteoporosis drugs -- stopping bone "remodeling" or turnover -- may cause rather than prevent bones from breaking. And prevent bones from healing if they do break, causing the very condition it's supposed to cure.
          Then there's the scepter of jaw death. There have been 2400 documented cases of bisphosphonate-related jaw osteonecrosis since 2001, according to UPI, a potentially life-threatening condition often triggered by dental work. Class law suits have already been filed in two states alleging Merck, who makes Fosamax, hid the side effect for greater profit. (Some say renal toxicity is also a side effect.)

For more information on Fosamax jaw injury dangers and lawsuits, click here.

San Francisco Chronicle, "Carbon monoxide investigated in 4 deaths at motel"

          Three East Bay residents were among four people killed in a rural Nevada motel room, and investigators are trying to determine Monday whether they had been overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a heater. More...

The Associated Press, "Fungus has contact wearers groping for glasses"

          William Spadafora, of Malden, Mass., is among the dozens of contact lens wearers in the United States left groping for glasses thanks to blurred vision and pain from Fusarium keratitis, a nasty fungal infection. Health authorities say most of the victims in 17 states were using ReNu with MoistureLoc eye solution to cleanse their contacts. More...

MMN, "Fosamax Does More Harm Than Good"

          Although Fosamax may improve bone density, experts say when it comes to fracture prevention, its benefit is modest at best. In fact, some researchers say that when taken for more than ten years, Fosamax will actually make bones more brittle and thus, more susceptible to fracture. And even if patients stop taking the drug, doctors say it can stay in the body for up to 10 years.
          In a 2004 letter published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researcher Susan Ott, MD, of the University of Washington wrote: "Many people believe that these drugs are 'bone builders,' but the evidence shows they are actually bone hardeners." More...

New York Times, "Reaction Time of Bausch Is Questioned"

          The way crisis communications experts see it, Bausch & Lomb is like a student who wrote a good term paper, but handed it in too late to pass the course.
          The company's response mechanism has been in high gear since Monday, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it was investigating 109 reports of a rare fungal eye infection that seemed to appear with higher frequency among wearers of soft contact lenses who use Bausch's ReNu With MoistureLoc solution. More...

Associated Press, "Bausch & Lomb Asks Stores to Pull ReNu"

          ReNu with MoistureLoc was being pulled from U.S. store shelves at the request of Bausch & Lomb amid concern the contact lens solution may be linked to a fungal eye infection that can cause blindness.The company also began placing advertisements in newspapers Friday suggesting consumers use another lens care solution for the time being. More...

Bloomberg News, "Bausch & Lomb Ads Apologize to Consumers on Cleaner"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc. ran ads today urging that consumers use other contact lens cleaners made by the company, such as ReNu MultiPlus, rather than one withdrawn after being linked to an infection that can cause blindness. The company late yesterday said it was withdrawing ReNu with MoistureLoc in the U.S. and offering refunds to consumers. A full-page color advertisement in the USA Today newspaper also said the product had not been proven as a cause of the infection, only that there was a "disproportionate association" between it and "a small number of events." More...

Reuters, "Bausch suspends lens solution, faces lawsuit"

          A widely used Bausch & Lomb contact lens solution was pulled from major U.S. retailers' shelves on Thursday at the urging of the company, as a lawsuit was filed charging that it failed to disclose the product's link to serious eye infections among users in Asia. More...

Associated Press, "Suit Alleges Merck Negligently Promoted Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax"

          Merck & Co., which is already facing a raft of cases over its pain reliever Vioxx, may need to hire additional attorneys to fight a recently filed lawsuit alleging the company was negligent in promoting its osteoporosis drug Fosamax. According to a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, Fla., Fosamax is a defective product because it can cause osteonecrosis of the jaw, or a rotting of the jaw bone. The suit, which seeks class action status, alleges that Merck concealed and continues to hide Fosamax's potentially dangerous side effects from patients and doctors. More...

9News.com, "Lawsuits filed regarding Fosamax"

          Another big headache for drugmaker Merck. The company is facing more lawsuits: alleging it misrepresented the safety of its osteoporosis drug Fosamax. Reports link long-term use of Fosamax to a rare disease that can destroy a patient's jawbone. Suits, filed in Florida and Tennessee, claim Merck did not give enough warnings.
          Fosamax is taken by nearly 10 million men and women. Annual sales top $3 billion. Merck says jaw disease can be caused by a number of conditions. It added a warning notice to the drug's label last July after an FDA request. Merck is already facing 10,000 lawsuits due to its Vioxx painkiller.

Associated Press, "Jury Awards Vioxx Plaintiff $9M in Damages"

          A jury awarded $9 million in punitive damages on Tuesday to a man who blamed his heart attack on Vioxx, finding that manufacturer Merck & Co. failed to warn about the risks of its arthritis drug and misrepresented the risks to physicians.
          The damages are in addition to $4.5 million already awarded to John McDarby, 77, of Park Ridge, who suffered a heart attack after four years on Vioxx, a painkiller taken by 20 million Americans before being pulled off the market.
          In its only other loss in a Vioxx case, Merck was ordered last August to pay $253 million to the widow of a man who died after taking the drug for a short time. That amount will be reduced because the law in Texas, where the case was heard, limits punitive damages.
          The drug company said it would appeal.

For more information about Vioxx and the Vioxx lawsuits, please click here to visit our stand-alone Vioxx website.

Newsday, "Problems Cited with Drug Patches"

          About 12 million people use sleek medical patches that deliver medication through the skin. But despite the ease of use provided by the transdermal patches, serious side effects - ranging from blood clots to deaths - have been blamed on some of them. More...

Albuquerque Journal, "Ford Is Sued After Deadly Area Crash"

        The Explorer rolled over in the road and continued into the median between the northbound and southbound I-25 lanes. The Explorer came to rest on its roof. More...

The Associated Press, "Jury finds Merck failed to warn of Vioxx heart attack risk"

          A state jury found Merck & Co. liable on Wednesday for one of two former Vioxx users' heart attacks and ordered he receive $4.5 million in damages in a closely-watched trial involving two New Jersey men. More...

FindLaw.com, "Nebraska High Court Affirms $18.6 Million Verdict in Roof-Crush Case"

          The Nebraska Supreme Court has affirmed an $18.6 million verdict for the plaintiff in a roof-crush case involving a 1996 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer. The state high court rejected the contention of defendant General Motors Corp. that the jury was improperly instructed and improperly denied a fourth verdict form. More...

Appellate Court Affirms Jury Verdict Finding Ford Escort Defective

          The Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Knoxville upheld a Cumberland County trial court’s decision in Potter, et al. v. Ford Motor Company. More...