Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

“U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of a drug label doesn't clear the manufacturer of claims that its warnings were inadequate, a judge ruled in a decision potentially affecting thousands of federal suits against Merck & Co. for the painkiller Vioxx. ‘The FDA's current view on the question of immunity for prescription drug manufacturers is entirely unpersuasive,’ U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon wrote in the opinion handed down Tuesday. Had Fallon sided with Merck, the drug company also could have challenged claims brought by thousands of other plaintiffs who say it is to blame for heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems. That ‘would have been like wiping the whole board clean and wiping out all possible victories’ against Merck, said David Logan, dean of the Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, R.I. But the judge rejected Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck's attempt to throw out lawsuits brought by two people who began taking Vioxx after April 2002, when the FDA approved a label warning that the drug might increase the chance of such problems.”

Janet McConnaughey, Associated Press 7/05/07
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/94-07032007-1372754.html

I am not aware of this being the law for medical malpractice cases in Illinois yet but based on this unanimous ruling in NY I think plaintiff's lawyers should ere on the side of full disclosure.

“Fairness dictates that all parties involved in a multi-defendant liability action must be notified when any one of them reaches a high-low agreement with the plaintiffs to cap their exposure in the event of an adverse award ruling, the New York Court of Appeals determined Wednesday. Garlock Sealing Technologies was ‘deprived of its right to a fair trial’ because it did not know its co-defendant in an asbestos exposure case, Niagara Insulations Inc., had reached a high-low agreement with the plaintiff, the court ruled unanimously in Matter of Eighth Judicial District Asbestos Litigation, 89. The court ordered a new trial for Garlock.”

Joel Stashenko, New York Law Journal, Law.com 6/28/07
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1182935160762

“Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence has conducted a detailed and thorough analysis of the acute care clinical information systems (CIS) market and finds that a major driver in the US is the demand for improvement in patient safety. Medical errors are the fifth-leading cause of deaths in the US, with up to 98,000 deaths annually. According to the new report entitled US Markets for Acute Care Clinical Information Systems, hospitals are adopting CIS to help them provide adequate, timely care and reduce the frequency of preventable errors.”

CBS3 Springfield 6/29/07
http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/health/8133207.html

“A judge says Guidant Corp. must face a trial over allegations it hid problems with its heart defibrillators and is responsible for injuries suffered by a California man who had one of the devices removed. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in Minneapolis on Tuesday allowed Leopoldo Duron to pursue his lawsuit and seek punitive damages over Guidant's failure to adequately warn doctors and consumers about problems with its defibrillators. The ruling clears the way for a July 27 trial. The lawsuit is the first of more than 1,400 over the implantable defibrillators to be set for trial. Indianapolis-based Guidant, which was acquired by Boston Scientific Corp. last year, has acknowledged that the defibrillators have been linked to at least seven deaths.”

Bloomberg, Indianapolis Star 6/13/07
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/
BUSINESS/706130428/1003/BUSINESS

When Krystina Brugh fell ill in January, her parents thought it was the stomach flu. They fed her crackers and her favorite sandwich, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, to give her strength. She didn't get better. Soon, the 11-year-old couldn't even keep down water, and her kidneys started to fail. Krystina's parents believe they know the cause of her illness _ salmonella-contaminated peanut butter _ and on Thursday, they filed a federal lawsuit against foodmaker ConAgra Foods Inc. They are seeking unspecified damages.”

Tom Murphy, Associated Press, Washington Post 6/15/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061500247.html

“In the wake of a new study linking the Type II diabetes drug Avandia to a 43 percent increase in the risk of a heart attack, the plaintiffs' bar is building its failure-to-warn case against GlaxoSmithKline, the drug's manufacturer. Although no personal injury suits had been filed at press time, a shareholder class action was filed on behalf of investors, claiming that GlaxoSmithKline issued multiple ‘false and misleading’ statements about the drug. Meanwhile, personal injury lawyers have been fielding a steady stream of calls since the study came out. Both Thomas Kline of Kline & Specter in Philadelphia and Karen Barth Menzies of Baum Hedlund in Los Angeles are currently evaluating cases. The potential for litigation is vast, because more than a million people have taken the drug in the U.S. alone - and 6 million worldwide. Like Vioxx, the major claims by Avandia plaintiffs will be failure-to-warn and aggressive marketing despite risks the drug maker knew or should have known existed.”

Reni Gertner, Lawyers USA 6/19/07
http://www.lawyersusaonline.com/subscriber/archives.cfm?page=usa/07/618071.htm