The Injury Lawyer Blog

A 69-year-old woman on her daily walk was attacked by a neighbor's pit bull June 22, 2007; the dog tore into her face, head and arm. Lan Khanh Trinh was saved by neighbors who heard her screaming. After the attack, she underwent surgery at a local hospital for severe but not life-threatening injuries.

Twelve-year-old Payton Newell was walking the dog when Trinh came up to them and tried to pet the pit bull. The boy told her not to pet him and the dog started growling. The woman continued to reach to pet the dog; the dog then maneuvered out his collar and attacked her.

One of the neighbors who came to the woman' rescue was 37-year-old Robert Bailey, who heard his neighbor's screams outside his window just before 8:00 the morning of the attack. Bailey reported that the dog was biting and grabbing her face. Bailey yanked the dog off of Trinh and positioned himself between the dog and the victim; the 60-pound pit bull, named Achilles, was unfazed by neighbors hitting him with sticks and shovels.

The dog then attacked another neighbor, Spencer Alexander, one of the men hitting the dog with a stick to stop the attack. Alexander was bitten in the left arm. The dog then turned to attack another neighbor, Marc Del Santro, who approached with a .45 caliber pistol who shot and killed the dog with one bullet to the head.

The pit bull's owner, Glenda Newell said, her "heart goes out to this person; she's a very, very nice lady," but states she should have backed off when the dog started growling. Ms. Newell said her dog is very friendly but doesn't like to be touched by people. She is quoted as saying, "He was a very loving dog. Maybe she just scared him."

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury resulting in physical impairment and/or mental and physical pain and suffering in Atlanta or anywhere in Georgia, please visit the website of experienced Personal Injury Lawyers Robbins & Associates, PC.

The Nigerian government has finally taken the $7 billion negligence suit against Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company, the world's largest drug manufacturer, to court. The suit stems from alleged offenses the drug giant committed against nearly 200 Nigerian children when Pfizer administered an experimental antibiotic drug to the children in 1996. The Nigerian government is alleging that approximately 200 children either died or suffered deformities following trials of the drug Trovan to combat an epidemic of meningitis, measles and cholera. Of the 200 children affected, 11 died and 181 have suffered disabilities including deafness, paralysis, blindness, and brain damage.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Trovan for use in adults in 1997, but later it was associated with liver damage and death, prompting the FDA to restrict its use in 1999 to only very serious adult cases. Later that same year, the drug was eventually pulled from the market altogether.

The Nigerian government claims that Pfizer had no authorization or parental consent to carry out the trial in Africa's most populous country; Pfizer still insists they did have full approval for use of the drug on the Nigerian children.

The government's case just suffered an early setback when the court rejected a request to allow it to submit "additional facts" before the judge adjourned the trial to July 20, 2007. The government's lawyer hoped the introduction of additional documents to the court would make it impossible for Pfizer to invoke the statute of limitations, as the alleged offenses are more than ten years old.

If you or a loved one has suffered adverse side effects after taking a dangerous drug in Florida, please visit the website of the Dangerous Drugs Attorneys at The Glick Law Firm.\

Though there are many different types of life insurance policy options that can often be difficult to understand, life insurance is something most Americans must have. If you are married, especially if you have dependent children or if you have debts, your family could be in serious financial trouble if you should die suddenly and your income were no longer available. Spouses are often left unable to make all the payments, raise the children, educate them, etc. on a single income. Life insurance is your protection against the dramatic life changes that occur in the event of your death.

We tend to think that if we buy life insurance and pay the premiums, then upon our death, collecting the life insurance will be fairly quick and easy for our beneficiary, but that is often not the case. Life insurance claims are often denied. Apart from fraud in the policy on the part of the policy holder, the most common ground life insurers use to deny claims is that there was a "material misrepresentation" in connection with the insurance.

Misrepresentation may occur in the application for insurance or in a later amendment to the application. Insurance companies misrepresentations are made in the applicant's work history, age, income, whether or not they smoke, and whether or not they have other insurance in force. The most commonly charged misrepresentations involve the applicant's heath and medical history.

Many life insurance claims are paid without much fuss on the part of the insurer, but there are times when claims are delayed and denied. The claims that are subject to the most suspicion are the ones filed in the first two years the policy is in force. During this period, if the person named in the policy dies, the insurance company has a right to investigate the death.

If your you would like to learn more about what you can do if your life insurance claim has been delayed or denied in New York or New Jersey, please visit the website of the Insurance Litigation Attorneys at Trief & Olk.

A teenage girl's feet were severed just above the ankles June 21, 2007 at a Kentucky amusement park after a cable snapped and broke loose on a ride called the Superman Tower of Power. The specific cause of the accident is still being investigated. According to park supervisors, the girl was riding the Superman Tower of Power ride, which is 177 feet tall and drops riders at 54 mph. People on the ride and onlookers said that as the ride came down, the wire swung left and struck the girl. The young girl was immediately transported to an area hospital, and the ride has been shut down until the investigation is completed. A spokesperson for the amusement park, Six Flags, said the company has shut down similar rides in other parks as a safety precaution.

This recent tragic accident has brought much scrutiny to the theme park industry, and many questions about amusement park ride safety regulations have arisen. Amusement park rides in the United States are regulated through a system of federal, state and local laws riddled with holes and special exemptions. Amusement park rides and water slides are exempt from all federal safety oversight. Carnival rides, go-karts and inflatables are regulated under the Consumer Product Safety Act. Some amusement rides are subject to safety regulation at the state or local level, and consumer protection laws vary from state to state, ride to ride and venue to venue. A significant percentage of U.S. amusement park thrill rides operate without any government safety oversight.

State and local government regulatory programs keep track of individual rides and the way they're operated within a specific jurisdiction. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission looks at safety problems on carnival rides, go-karts and inflatables and can track problems that occur multiple times. The CPSC monitors incident data on non-exempt rides across the U.S. and looks for patterns that may indicate a safety problem or potential hazard. Some state and local governments hire and train amusement ride inspectors to audit the industry's performance of safety functions.

In the United States, no official source is keeping a complete record of theme park accidents, and in many states (e.g. Florida), theme parks are not even legally required to report accidents involving injury to anyone. The CPSC does survey hospitals to collect information about product injuries including those at amusement parks and estimated there were approximately 3,400 accidents in our country' amusement parks in 2004. According to a June 2005 report by ABC News, there have been approximately 10 deaths in amusement parks and at least 2 deaths in water parks since 2002.

There are accident-reporting websites for various states where consumers can go to
report incidents to help alert others to potential amusement park ride hazards.

If you or a loved one has been injured on an amusement park ride in Orlando or anywhere in Florida, please visit the website of experienced Theme Park Accident Attorneys Wooten, Honeywell, Kimbrough, Gibson, Doherty & Normand, P.A.

A federal jury in Florida has awarded $5.5 million to the father of a man who died while wearing a drug patch; the patch, made by two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, is designed to release controlled doses of the strong painkiller fentanyl. The jury found that Janssen Pharmaceutical Products and ALZA Corp were liable in the death of the 28-year-old man who died in 2003 while wearing the Durgesic patch.

Adam Hendelson had suffered chronic hip pain after a car accident and wore the patch on his arm. Hendelson's father, Lee, filed the lawsuit on behalf of his son's estate. Fentanyl is approximately 100 times stronger than morphine.

The Food and Drug Administration announced in 2005 that it was investigating the 120 deaths of fentanyl patch users and warned patients using the patch to use the powerful narcotic properly, according to doctor's instructions to avoid accidental overdose. The FDA is also investigating to see whether there were also other factors related to the product's quality.

The patches were first approved in 1990 under the brand name Duragesic and a generic version hit the market in 2005. According to reports, deaths have occurred using both the brand and generic patches.

One of the nation's leading drug manufacturers, Pfizer, already facing criminal charges in Nigeria eleven years after an experiment on children suffering from meningitis, now faces new criminal charges and $7 billion in civil claims brought by federal authorities in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. Pfizer is being charged with forgery, possessing an illegal drug, and unauthorized practice of medicine. The criminal charges carry sentences of up to seven years per charge.

These charges, along with the charges announced in late May, stem from a 1996 drug trial in which Nigerian children suffering from meningitis were given the drug Trovan, which had not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the United States. Many of the children died after taking the meningitis drug, and several others suffered a range of disabling injuries.

Pfizer officials claim that Trovan saved the lives of nearly 200 Nigerian children suffering from meningococcal meningitis. Trovan was approved in the United States one year after the experiment in Nigeria; however, it has since then been discontinued due to FDA warning about possible liver damage from the drug.

If you or a loved one has had adverse side effects after taking a dangerous drug in Florida, please visit the website of the Dangerous Drugs Attorneys at The Glick Law Firm.

A Bronx, New York jury has awarded the mother of a convicted drug dealer $10 million for the wrongful death of her son at the hands of a New York police officer. According to the jury's verdict, Officer Louis Rivera was "100% responsible" for the shooting death of an unarmed man who was shot in the left temple during a struggle with the office in March 2000.

The six-person jury determined that the officer used excessive force during a scuffle with 23-year-old Malcolm Ferguson. Officer Rivera was canvassing a building in the Bronx in plainclothes when the scuffle occurred. At the time of the shooting, Ferguson had six bags of heroin on his person and was on parole for a 1995 conviction for selling drugs. Ferguson's arrest record showed at least eight other arrests.

If a loved one has died due to the negligence or wrongdoing of another, please visit the website of Chicago's experienced Wrongful Death Attorney Harvey L. Walner & Associates, LTD.

The world's largest drug manufacturer, Pfizer Inc., is facing criminal and civil charges in Nigeria. Nigerian officials brought the charges in early May 2007 because of a study eleven years ago in which Pfizer gave children an experimental drug for meningitis called Trovan. Pfizer says its decision to give Trovan to children saved many lives during a meningitis epidemic in 1996. However, the drug was unapproved at the time.

Nigerian officials claim that Pfizer illegally used the children as test subjects without parental consent; some of the children who took Trovan later died. Pfizer asserts that Nigerian officials knew that the Trovan study introduced a new treatment for meningococcal meningitis and claims that the treatment saved almost 200 young lives.

A year after being used in Nigeria, Trovan was approved in the United States to treat hospital-acquired infections but has since been discontinued due to FDA warnings about possible liver damage from the drug.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to a drug's adverse side effects in the Denver area or anywhere in Colorado, please visit the website of Andrew T. Brake, P.C.

On May 22, 2007, Orlando firefighter Bob Flamily died due to cardiac problems and complications from hepatitis C after a several-year battle with these illnesses. In 1996, Flamily retired from firefighting when he was diagnosed with work-related cardiac problems. At the time of his retirement, he signed an agreement with the city to receive a little over a $100,000 in workers' compensation and full-disability pension.

However, at the time he signed the agreement, he did not know he also had the blood-borne virus hepatitis C; Flamily had had abnormal blood test results during his annual physicals with the city but was not told about those results. Flamily and other firefighters sued the city and the city settled with the group for $600,000.

Flamily then challenged his workers' compensation agreement claiming he entered into it under false pretenses in 1996, and therefore, was entitled to get more money. A trial court agreed, and the city was ordered to pay an additional $140,000 to Flamily. However, the city appealed that decision and won. Now his widow is fighting in the Florida Supreme Court; but the judges have not yet ruled on the case.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to a work-related injury or illness and feel you may be entitled to a settlement, please visit the website of the experienced Workers' Compensation Attorneys at the Glick Law Firm, P.A.

After analyzing three decades of research, a law professor at the University of Missouri at Columbia has concluded that juries in medical malpractice cases tend to sympathize with the doctors being sued rather than the patients suing them. For years, President Bush's administration has pushed to reform the current tort system, citing an epidemic of frivolous malpractice cases and jury verdicts that force doctors out of practice due to huge monetary awards to the patients that contribute to astronomical malpractice insurance premiums.

The study reveals that juries treat physicians favorably, perhaps unfairly so. The author of the study, Philip Peters, found that doctors win about half of the cases that independent experts who review them believe should result in a victory for the plaintiff (the patient). Injured patients only win about 27% of all cases that go to trial; this is the lowest percentage of any category of tort litigation.

Some possible reasons noted for the number of rulings in favor of the physicians are the defendants' superior social standing and economic resources and the jurors' inclination to give the physician the benefit of the doubt when the evidence is complicated and difficult to understand.

One proposed solution is to have malpractice cases heard in specialized health courts, where malpractice plaintiffs fare better in front of judges than in front of juries. Currently, there is legislation pending in Congress to transfer medical negligence to administrative health courts.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice or negligence in Pennsylvania, please visit the website of experienced Medical Malpractice Attorneys Pomerantz Perlberg & Lewis LLP.

An ATM that was not properly secured fell on a customer's foot in a CVS store recently. The suit claims the ATM became unsecured and came to rest on the customer's foot and that CVS failed to properly operate, manage and control the machine. Allegedly, screws were missing from the ATM. The plaintiff in this case is seeking over $50,000 in damages for the injuries he sustained.

In a separate premises liability suit also filed in the circuit court, a woman alleges that a Wal-Mart store negligently placed a cart near a plant display, leading to her fall. The woman is suing Wal-Mart for damages totaling more than $30,000. The suit specifically alleges that Wal-Mart failed to keep its aisles clear of anything that could cause a fall. The plaintiff claims the cart was in an unsafe area near a table of plants.

Premises Liability Law deals with the body of law which makes the person in possession of land responsible for injuries suffered by persons present on the premises. These cases are sometimes referred to as "slip and fall" cases and often require the advice of a lawyer.

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury due to a slip and fall or some other accident on someone else's property in Jacksonville or anywhere in Florida, please visit the website of the experienced Premises Liability Attorneys at Hardesty Tyde Green & Ashon, P.A.

Friday, June 15, 2007 is Elder Abuse Awareness Day recognized by healthcare professionals and associations around the world. The day is intended to raise awareness of abuse towards older adults. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse, elder abuse is the term used to refer to any knowing, intentional or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm to a vulnerable adult. Elder abuse comes in many forms with financial abuse being the most common in older adults.

Some warning signs of elder abuse are:

• Bruises, abrasions, burns, or broken bones
• Bedsores, unattended medical needs, and poor hygiene
• Strained or tense relationships and frequent arguments between the elder adult and his caregiver
• Sudden changes in financial situation
  

If you feel a loved one may be the victim of elder abuse in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Attorneys Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP.

Several people sickened by asbestos from a Washington state mine continue to hope for a trial as federal appellate judges consider the future of the government's case against mine operator, W.R. Grace & Company. Last year, a United States District Court judge decided to ban federal prosecutors' use of documents, studies and testimony by expert witnesses, and this decision derailed efforts to bring the mine and seven of its former and current senior executives and managers to trial last year.

Allegedly, the Grace company and its officials knew about devastating health effects tied to asbestos exposure but concealed this information; consequently, many residents in the mining town of Libby, Montana are dying or have already died from mesothelioma, asbestosis and other asbestos-related disease. The charges against the company and the officials include criminal conspiracy and knowing endangerment.

Assistant United States Attorney Kris McClean of Montana and Todd Aagaard from the Justice Department said the judge's rulings forbid the government from presenting information drawn from Grace's own asbestos testing. The judge also forbids the results of a government study that found more than 1,300 of 7,000 Libby residents tested had lunch abnormalities consistent with asbestos-related disease.

On June 4, 2007, federal lawyers asked the 9^th Circuit to overturn Judge Molloy's rulings and are awaiting the court's decision on whether or not the trial will move forward.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to asbestos-related disease, please visit the websites of experienced Asbestos Attorneys Peter C. Angelos and Heard Robins Cloud & Lubel LLP.

In June 2007, the United States Federal Claims Court in Washington D.C. will begin hearings on 4,800 claims filed by parents who believe pediatric vaccinations caused their child's autism. The lawsuits claim that thimerosal, a preservative that contains mercury and is used in vaccines, causes autism. After an extensive three-year investigation led by the Committee on Government Reform, it was concluded that mercury does not belong in vaccines and that thimerosal poses a very serious risk to those subjected to its toxicity.

As far back as 1982, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called for the removal of thimerosal from all over-the-counter products. But it was not until July 1999 that the FDA asked manufacturers to remove thimerosal from pediatric vaccines. When researchers looked carefully at the vaccine schedule, they found that if the schedule were followed, American children had been exposed to 30 times the minimum acceptable level of mercury from vaccines.

The number of children affected by autism has been drastically growing in recent years. In 1970, autism affected 1 in 2,000 children. In the year 2000, 1 in 250 were affected. According to the Autism Society of America, in 2006, a staggering 1 in 150 children were diagnosed with autism. Autism is currently the fastest growing developmental disability in young people. Even though vaccines with mercury have been proven to contribute to autism, learning disabilities, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurological conditions, clinics still use thimerosal because other products containing mercury have been phased out.

Currently, lawsuits involving the makers of products containing thimerosal abound. These claims state the drug companies, for years, have failed to tell doctors how much mercury was contained in vaccines prior to the FDA being ordered by Congress to find out in 1997. Some of the large drug companies being sued are GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth-Ayerst and Eli-Lilly.

United States District Judge Eldon Fallon in New Orleans, who threw out a $51 million award against Vioxx maker Merck & Co., reversed his own decision recently and awarded $1.6 million to a former FBI agent who attributed his heart attack to taking the painkiller Vioxx. Judge Fallon oversees all Vioxx litigation in federal courts and said that the retired agent, Gerald Barnett, could accept the $1.6 million award or have a new trial on his claim that Vioxx caused the heart attack he suffered in 2002. The award includes $1 million in punitive damages and $600,000 in compensatory damages.

New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company Merck is the third largest drugmaker in the United States and faces over 27,000 lawsuits over Vioxx; the drug has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Vioxx was pulled off the market in 2005.

If you or a loved one has suffered a heart attack or stroke since taking Vioxx, please visit the website of experienced Houston Dangerous Drugs Attorneys Marc Whitehead & Associates.

As summer approaches, millions of Americans are spending more and more time enjoying recreational activities in and around water including boating, water skiing, and swimming. Unfortunately, with the increase in water sports and water activities also comes an increase in the number of drownings and water-related injuries.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 800 children ages 14 and under in the United States drown each year; an additional 2,700 children require emergency room treatment for water-related injuries. Statistics show that most toddlers drown in swimming pools whereas kids ages 5-14 most often drown in lakes, rivers and oceans. Drowning is the second leading cause of death among kids under 15 and the number one cause of death among children ages 1-3. A child will lose consciousness after being underwater for two minutes and will suffer irreversible brain damage within 4-6 minutes.

Surprisingly, 90% of young children who drown each year were being supervised by an adult at the time of their drowning. However, adults can become distracted, and all it takes is a second or two for adults to lose sight of the child they are watching.

Some safety tips to keep in mind while you and your loved ones enjoy water activities include the following:

• Keep children within arm's reach and keep your eyes on them at all times.
• If your child goes missing and you live near water, check immediately to see if he/she has fallen into the water.
• Select swimming areas carefully; know your surroundings and the water depth.
• Have your child wear a bright-colored swimsuit to make him easier to find in water.
• Use safety devices such as arm floaties when appropriate; use life preservers when boating.
• Don't depend on a lifeguard to watch your child.
• Cover backyard swimming pools when not in use.
• Keep a phone by the pool to call 911.
• Know CPR.

Drowning is usually preventable, and lives can be saved by following these suggestions.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a boating accident, please visit the website of Florida's experienced Boating Accident Attorneys Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just called for the toughest safety warning on two diabetes drugs, Avandia and Actos, whose health risks have now become a focus of Congressional concern. Avandia is manufactured by GlaxoSmith Kline and is the number one prescribed Type 2 diabetes medication in the world; Actos is manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly & Company and is Avandia's closest competitor.

FDA Commissioner, Andrew C. von Eschenbach, asked the makers of Avandia and Actos to carry the black box warning because despite the existing warnings about the cardiovascular risks associated with the drugs, they are still being prescribed to patients with significant heart failure.

A drug safety supervisor for the FDA said that she was reprimanded last year for advocating the exact same label change that Dr. von Eschenbach was now asking the drug companies to make. Avandia has been the focus of the most recent safety concerns based on the evidence that it can cause heart attacks and other serious, if not potentially-fatal, cardiovascular problems. Actos has also been seen as carrying some risk of problems, including heart failure.

Lawyers for GlaxoSmithKline said they are already getting calls from Avandia users and predict future lawsuits could run into the tens of billions of dollars; however, Glaxo Chief Executive, Jean-Pierre Garnier, has said it's much too early to tell if Avandia will be the subject of lawsuits and is confident about the safety of Avandia.

In recent years, women have been advised to avoid medications during pregnancy and while breastfeeding their infants; yet, at the same time, some conditions pregnant women suffer such as hypertension (high blood pressure), asthma, epilepsy and depression require long-term and continued medication management.

It appears as though pregnant women suffering from depression may be in a no-win situation because failure to manage depression with continued SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) medication may affect the health of both mother and child. However, in February 2006, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study indicating that mothers taking SSRI antidepressants after the 20^th week of pregnancy were six times more likely to give birth to an infant with a serious hearth defect than mothers not taking SSRI antidepressants.

Depression is a serious illness that often carries with it an increased risk of suicide in the sufferer and should be treated by your doctor(s). For decades, SSRIs have helped thousands of men and women fight depression. However, the statistics clearly show that there are serious risks involved with taking SSRI medication during pregnancy.

If you or a loved one has taken SSRIs and suffered adverse side effects, please visit the website of experienced Dangerous Drugs Attorneys Michael J. O'Connor & Associates, LLC.

A class action has commenced against Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. on behalf of users of the contact lens solution, Complete All-in-one MoisturePlus Solution, that was recalled in the United States and Canada after it has been linked to a rare but serious infection called Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK). The claim alleges that Advanced Medical Optics knew the solution caused AK but failed to recall the product in a timely fashion. It was only after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published their findings that AMO recalled the contact lens solution.

AK is a rare infection of the cornea and is characterized by extreme pain, eye redness, and light sensitivity. The infection can lead to blindness and may require cornea transplant surgery. The plaintiff in this case is a Toronto school teacher who has been diagnosed with AK and will require a cornea transplant. She developed an eye irritation and excruciating pain in November 2006 and is now legally blind as a result of the AK infection.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to a defective product such as AMO's contact lens solution, please visit the website of experienced Defective Product Attorneys Burg Simpson, Attorneys & Counselors at Law.

The Type 2 diabetes drug, Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, has recently come under fire for presenting serious cardiovascular risks in those taking the drug. After analysis of dozens of trials, it has been concluded that Avandia increases the risk of heart attack by 43% and cardiac-related death by 64%. GlaxoSmithKline is facing additional problems with these recent reports due to the fact that the company was warned seven years ago that Avandia showed a trend toward "cardiovascular deaths and severe adverse events," yet the manufacturer failed to adequately warn prescribing doctors and consumers about the potential risks of the drug.

Now, GlaxoSmithKline is facing additional scrutiny by the African-American community because the company has long placed a marketing focus on African-Americans, much more so than any other maker of diabetes drugs. Because Type 2 diabetes is a disease twice as likely to affect African-Americans as Caucasians in the United States, GlaxoSmithKline thought it prudent marketing strategy to hire a celebrity African-American as the Avandia spokesperson. Della Reese, legendary jazz singer and actress, who most recently starred in the television series "Touched By An Angel," has Type 2 diabetes and signed on with GlaxoSmithKline in 2004; Ms. Reese remained Avandia's spokeswoman until the end of 2006.

But now that Avandia has been shown to cause such serious adverse events, Glaxo's advertising strategy could certainly work against the drug giant. Avandia has been on the market for eight years and has been the world's best-selling diabetes drug at approximately $3 billion a year. Glaxo's marketing strategy has won the company praise in the advertising industry and from African-American doctors who state Glaxo put a friendly face on a drug for a disease that often goes untreated in the African-American community.

Although the makers of Avandia have allegedly known about the serious cardiovascular events associated with the drug for almost seven years, they have continued to sell the drug and target the African-American community in their advertising campaign. Lawyers for Glaxo sad they are already getting calls from Avandia users and predict future lawsuits that could run into the tens of billions of dollars. The Chief Executive of GlaxoSmithKline, Jean-Pierre Garnier, has said it is much too early to tell if these calls will lead to the company being sued, and Garnier is confident that the safety of Avandia will be vindicated.

Just four months before the sixth anniversary of the World Trade Center attack in New York City on 9/11/01, the death toll of that fateful day has just climbed by one after New York officials announced the first reported death blamed on dust from the terrorist attack.

Felicia Dunn-Jones of Staten Island, New York died February 10, 2002; at the time, the cause of death was determined to be sarcoidosis with cardiac involvement. The New York City Chief Medical Examiner has concluded that Mrs. Dunn-Jones' exposure to WTC dust on 9/11 contributed to her death, and her death has now been ruled a homicide.

This ruling on Mrs. Dunn-Jones is the first to be directly linked to the dust and certainly will incite further review of other similar cases. To date, there are thousands of people with 9/11-related illnesses, and for years, doctors have asserted the Ground Zero dust was extremely harmful and even deadly. As time goes by and cases are examined more closely, the death toll from the attacks of 9/11 will surely rise, perhaps into the hundreds of thousands.

Over 700,000 people have added their names to a registry of those who believe they were exposed to toxic substances; the actual figure could be smaller, or it could run into millions - 10,000 of them so far have filed court claims. In the year following the attacks, firefighters developed sarcoidosis at five times the rate they had done so before; 26 firefighters who were working at Ground Zero within 72 hours of the attack subsequently developed the disease, according to the findings of a study published last month in the medical journal Chest Physician.

The first 34 floors of the twin towers contained asbestos sprayed on beams, floors and ceilings as fire retardants. More than 2,500 other contaminants were released into the air on 9/11, including fiberglass, mercury, cadmium, lead, dioxin, crystalline silicon and benzene - substances which, when breathed in, can cause cancer, cardiac, kidney, liver and neurological diseases, and pulmonary disorders such as asthma.

If you or a loved one has suffered or been killed due to the inhalation of toxic air, please visit the website of experienced Mesothelioma Litigation Attorney Peter G. Angelos.

We often hear about doctors being involved in multimillion dollar lawsuits, but it is rare that the physician is actually the one suing rather than the one being sued. A Connecticut physician sued the anesthesiologist and hospital where his wife died during routine face-lift surgery for a total of $3.1 million and won.

Dr. Alan J. Malitz sued for gross negligence after his wife, Susan, died just two hours after entering Manhattan Eye Ear & Throat Hospital on February 16, 2004. Fifty-six-year-old Susan Malitz died of cardiac failure caused by an overdose of local anesthetic. While in surgery, the alarms that monitor the patient's blood oxygen levels were turned so far down that they were inaudible.

The Malitz's settlement was reached after just four days of trial and requires that the hospital pays $400,000 and the anesthesiologist pays $2.7 million. However, this was not the first time the hospital has been sued. In 2004, just five weeks before Susan Malitz died there, Olivia Goldsmith, author of the book First Wives Club (later made into the movie of the same name), died during a routine cosmetic procedure, also. Later that same year, a 61-year-old mother of two suffered brain damage after a face-lift and was awarded $7 million.

While doctors constantly complain about paying the huge medical malpractice insurance premiums they must pay, Dr. Malitz must have been extremely relieved that malpractice insurance does exist and payment is awarded to deserving victims of medical malpractice or negligence.

The world's largest drug manufacturer, Pfizer Inc., is facing criminal and civil charges in Nigeria. Nigerian officials brought the charges in early May 2007 because of a study eleven years ago in which Pfizer gave children an experimental drug for meningitis called Trovan. Pfizer says its decision to give Trovan to children saved many lives during a meningitis epidemic in 1996. However, the drug was unapproved at the time.

Nigerian officials claim that Pfizer illegally used the children as test subjects without parental consent; some of the children who took Trovan later died. Pfizer asserts that Nigerian officials knew that the Trovan study introduced a new treatment for meningococcal meningitis and claims that the treatment saved almost 200 young lives.

A year after being used in Nigeria, Trovan was approved in the United States to treat hospital-acquired infections but has since been discontinued due to FDA warnings about possible liver damage from the drug.

One of the world's largest drug manufacturers, GlaxoSmithKline of Great Britain, is in trouble again, this time with their antidepressant drugs Paxil and Paxil CR, the controlled-release version of the drug. Still reeling from the recent FDA announcement that their diabetes drug, Avandia, causes life-threatening cardiac problems, GlaxoSmithKline just learned that parents who bought Paxil for their children can begin seeking reimbursements under a $64 million deal to settle consumers' claims.

The lawsuit alleges that GlaxoSmithKline promoted Paxil for use in children yet failed to provide pertinent information regarding the harmful side effects, including increased suicidal behavior. A United States spokesperson for GlaxoSmithKline did take responsibility on behalf of the drug company but refused to admit any wrongdoing.

Of the $64 million in the settlement fund, plaintiffs' attorneys can claim over $16 million in fees, and the remaining money will be paid out to victims and their families. Any money left over after all victims have been reimbursed will be returned to GlaxoSmithKline. In addition to this class-action lawsuit, the parents of teenagers who killed themselves while taking Paxil can still sue GlaxoSmithKline as can government agencies and insurance companies.

If you or a loved one has taken the antidepressant Paxil and you have questions regarding any of the serious adverse effects such as increased suicidal behavior, please visit the website of the experienced dangerous drugs lawyers at the Glick Law Firm, P.A.

Roche Holding AG, a Swiss drug manufacturer with U.S. operations in Nutley, New Jersey, has been ordered to pay $2.5 million in damages to a 36-year-old man who developed severe Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) after taking the acne medication Accutane.

IBD refers to chronic diseases that cause inflammation in the form of painful swelling and diarrhea. Other common symptoms of IBD are abdominal cramps, blocked bowels, bloody stool, fever, dehydration, and extreme weight loss. IBD is also considered to be a major risk factor for developing colon and/or rectal cancer. Once you have IBD, symptoms can flare up without warning leaving sufferers constantly worried about when the next episode of pain and diarrhea will strike.

Accutane is a very powerful acne medication that Andrew McCarrell took in 1995. After taking the drug, he developed chronic diarrhea and incontinence, and, after multiple surgeries, finally had to have his colon removed. McCarrell was awarded $2.5 million and an additional $119,000 to cover his medical expenses. To date, there have been approximately 400 lawsuits in the United States involving Accutane, which has been on the market since 1982.

If you or a loved one has taken Accutane and suffered the symptoms of IBD, please contact experienced Accutane attorney Robert W. Kerpsack CO., L.P.A.

Some New Jersey obstetricians and gynecologists have begun asking their patients to sign away their right to a jury trial in the event of medical malpractice. More than a dozen New Jersey obstetricians and gynecologists have joined Obstetricians & Gynecologists Risk Retention Group of America (OGRRGA), a new company based in Montana, that is reportedly reducing medical malpractice insurance premiums for its physician members by about 50 percent. The doctors in this group require their patients to sign agreements stating they will pursue any claims through binding arbitration only. Patients signing must also agree that pain-and-suffering awards will be capped at $250,000.

Dr. Ruth J. Schulze, a Ridgewood, New Jersey ob-gyn and spokesperson for OGRRGA, has been pushing for legislation to limit the size of malpractice awards for years, and in 2005, she even stopped delivering babies in order to reduce her malpractice insurance premiums.

Asking patients to sign away their rights to a jury trial has touched off quite a debate in the legal/medical arena. OGGRGA asserts that it is able to keep the insurance premiums lower for its physician members because of the binding arbitration requirement, but some wonder if a contract that calls for the signer to waive the right to a jury trial is enforceable at all. Some experts claim that these contracts are not enforceable and that patients who sign the agreement may not even fully understand what they are signing.

If the New Jersey physicians are successful in their efforts to avoid jury trials, expedite arbitration and lower insurance premiums, then it will not be long before other states follow suit.

If you would like to learn more about medical malpractice law or find out what is going on in the world of legal matters, please click here to visit the American Association For Justice website.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is now the leading injury sustained by United States armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; 20 percent of all troops have suffered a traumatic brain injury to some degree. TBI is defined as a jolt or blow to the head that disrupts normal brain function. A mild TBI may result in temporary changes in mental status, and severe TBI may result in an extended period of unconsciousness, memory loss, and leave the sufferer with long-term permanent problems.

Traumatic Brain Injury is taken a great deal more seriously now than in the past when commanding officers may have referred to a TBI as shell shock or battle fatigue and ordered their troops to shake it off. Now, soldiers who have suffered a brain injury are likely to be removed from combat because of the danger they pose to themselves and their fellow soldiers as even a mild TBI can result in impaired cognitive functioning and reasoning. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the most common cause of the TBIs suffered by our troops since 2001 have been explosive blasts.

Representative Michael H. Michaud, a Maine democrat, has sponsored legislation to increase treatment and research of traumatic brain injury and calls TBI the "signature wound of this war." Michaud asserts that there needs to be more understanding of the long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury.

TBI can also be associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); depending on the specifics of the brain trauma, some trauma may lead to PTSD. When TBI and PTSD occur together, they can be very difficult to spot as symptoms such as short attention span, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, and anxiety can overlap making detection of either diagnosis difficult.