Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

The European Medicines Agency is investigating whether there is a link between the swine flu vaccine and narcolepsy, a rare disorder that causes people to fall asleep suddenly. (AP London, 8/27). The agency says its investigation is in response to a “limited number of narcolepsy cases,” mainly in Sweeden and Finland. Those individuals got the Pandemrix shot manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

Additionally, French officials are now stating that they have been notified of six cases of narcolepsy after being vaccinated. However, at this point, the European Medicines Agency is unsure if the vaccine caused the disorder, or if it is merely coincidental.
The vaccine, Pandemrix, was approved by the Agency in September and has since been used to vaccinate about 30 million Europeans.

As a Chicago area products liability attorney, I am hopeful that the United States counterparts to the EMA are likewise investigating the potential connection between the Swine Flu vaccine and narcolepsy.

Recently, A federal advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration “voted narrowly to recommend allowing Eli Lilly to market its blockbuster antidepressant, Cymbalta, for some chronic pain conditions affecting millions of Americans, particularly lower back pain.” (Duff Wilson, AP, 8/19). However, although the panel voted in favor of the drug’s effectiveness for lower back pain, it declined to endorse the drug’s use for osteoarthritis.

Advisory committee votes are often, but not always, followed by the FDA in approving a drug. FDA officials have indicated that if the drug is approved, the agency will “caution against the overuse of Cymbalta for pain.”

As a products liability attorney, I am hopeful that the FDA takes seriously any and all potential side effects to using an antidepressant as a drug for other ailments.

Potentially putting controversy surrounding it’s antipsychotic drug to rest, AstraZeneca said Monday, “it has paid out to around 17,500 claimants in an amount totaling $198 million regarding allegations the drug causes diabetes in some users.” (AP London, 8/9).

These settlements, however, follows a “July order from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the London-based company stop using a promotional letter for Seroquel XR - an extended release version of the medicine - that doesn't carry a diabetes warning.” After its Drug Nexium, Seroquel is the company’s biggest revenue generator.

As a products liability lawyer in Chicago, I am hopeful that any and all necessary steps are taken so that future consumption of Seroquel XR is safe.

According to a recent report released by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we are in an obesity crisis. With obesity rates reaching 30 percent in nine states last year, in stark contrast to only three states in 2007, it appears as though America is getting fatter and fatter. (D. Grady, NY Times, 8/3). Sadly, between 2007 and 2009, “2.4 million more people became obese…bringing the total to 72.5million or 26.7 percent of the population.” Even more worrying is the fact that these rates came from an anonymous phone survey in which 400,000 participants were asked their height and weight.

In recent decades, obesity rates have doubled in adults and tripled in children, establishing a consistent and ominous trend that is increasing faster than anyone could have predicted. What people do not readily understand is that obesity has serious health consequences including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Increasing obesity rates only means increasing deaths due to obesity-related health problems.

Not only is obesity deadly, it is costly as estimates of the medical costs of obesity are as high as $147 billion a year. Conscious food and exercise choices are low cost solutions for many, but old habits die hard. As a medical malpractice and personal injury attorney, my best advice is to make health conscious decisions and develop good habits. However, I think we will be facing the consequences of the obesity crisis for decades.

We may be on the frontier of a drastically new and improved approach to diagnosis and treating Alzheimer’s disease. As a medical malpractice attorney with experience in Nursing Home litigation, I am hopeful that we can better understand Alzheimer’s disease; however, I am a proponent of thorough testing of new drugs before they are put on the market, and am hopeful that any new drugs will be tested adequately.

Alzheimer’s is a “degenerative brain disease with no treatments or clear guidelines for diagnosis before its end stages.” (G. Kolata, NY Times, 8/4). Often confused with dementia, Alzheimer’s is almost unrecognizable until it is too late for treatment, and, therefore, potential drugs are tested only once it is too late for them to have a real impact.

Researchers are hopeful that one day Alzheimer’s disease will, like heart disease, have early risk indicators that will predict who is likely to get the disease and allow for preventative treatment. New guidelines proposed by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association are aligned with this goal. A main goal of the proposed guidelines is to be able to discern signs of the disease at a much earlier stage, as “researchers now agree that Alzheimer’s is smoldering in the brain a decade or more before people have any symptoms of memory loss or diminished ability to think and reason.”

Skeptics, however, are rightfully concerned that pharmaceutical companies will use this as an opportunity to maximize profits and try to get expensive drugs on the market quickly before their true validity can be tested. As such, thorough testing is an absolutely a necessity prior to releasing any new drugs for consumption.