Health Law

Texas Judge Tells Medical Examiner to Help Mom Get Dead Son’s Sperm

Nikolas Colton Evans always wanted three sons. So, when he died after being punched and falling in a March 27 street assault in Austin, Texas, his mother, Marissa Evans, decided to try to harvest the 21-year-old’s sperm and arrange a posthumous pregnancy with the help of a surrogate mother. Now,…

Apr 8, 2009 4:58 PM CDT

The New Tarasoff? 6th Circuit OKs Hospital Suit Over Ax-Wielding Ex-Patient

Decades ago, the groundbreaking Tarasoff decision made the tort law casebooks after the California Supreme Court found that a treating psychotherapist had a duty to warn a third party of potential danger posed by his patient. The rule applied by the court was was later codified into state law, and…

Apr 7, 2009 8:49 PM CDT

Judge: Sperm Bank Can Be Sued for Product Liability

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled in a novel case that a sperm bank may be sued under product liability laws for failing to detect that a sperm donor had a genetic defect. The Legal Intelligencer, in an article posted today, reports that Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas N.…

Apr 2, 2009 2:58 PM CDT

Fen-Phen Lawyers Blame Cincinnati Class Action Atty for Mistakes

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating today in the second trial against disbarred Kentucky lawyers William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the fen-phen diet-drug case that was settled for $200 million in 2001. The two are accused of defrauding their clients…

Apr 2, 2009 2:40 PM CDT

After Insanity Win in Murder One Case, Lawyer Accuses DA of ‘Incompetence’

A lawyer who won a rare insanity acquittal from a Massachusetts jury last week for a client charged with the first-degree murder of his own mother has blasted the district attorney for taking the case to trial. Despite three expert opinions that his 37-year-old client, Lee Chiero, is insane, Worcester…

Mar 30, 2009 6:51 PM CDT

Late-Term Abortion Doc Acquitted of 19 Charges

A Kansas doctor known for being one of a very few in the U.S. willing to perform late-term abortions has been acquitted of charges that did so against state law. Jurors deliberated less than an hour Friday before reaching not guilty verdicts on all 19 counts against Wichita Dr. George…

Mar 30, 2009 4:28 PM CDT

Now is the Time for ‘Life Without Lawyers,’ Says Covington & Burling Partner

New York City-based litigator and legal reform activist Philip K. Howard has been waging a battle to reshape the U.S. legal system for 15 years. Now, with the collapse of Wall Street financial giants and the promise of new regulations by the Obama administration, the Covington & Burling partner says…

Mar 24, 2009 6:16 PM CDT

Judge: FDA Overstepped Bounds in Restricting ‘Plan B’ Contraceptive

A federal regulatory agency overstepped its bounds in limiting access to the so-called “Plan B” emergency contraceptive, a federal judge has ruled. In setting special requirements for the controversial contraceptive, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “departed in significant ways from the agency’s normal procedures regarding similar applications to switch…

Mar 23, 2009 8:13 PM CDT

Law Firm Revealed Study Suggesting Seroquel Risks

A law firm that represents patients who took the antipsychotic drug Seroquel has revealed documents about a hush-hush study showing patients who took the medicine had a risk of weight gain and diabetes. The so-called Study 15 was disclosed to the Food and Drug Administration but not to doctors or…

Mar 18, 2009 6:19 PM CDT

Panel Says La. Should Pay Katrina Doc’s $450K Defense Costs

As one member called a Louisiana doctor who at one point was accused of criminally euthanizing patients in her care a hero, a panel today recommended that the state should pay some $450,000 in legal defense costs for Dr. Anna Pou. After working at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans,…

Mar 17, 2009 9:06 PM CDT

Former Client Seeks Punitives, Claims Hogan & Hartson Aided Competitor

A former client of Hogan & Hartson has sued the law firm for malpractice, claiming that it aided a competitor. At issue in the dispute is two competing brands of over-the-counter mouthguards used by buyers to prevent their teeth from grinding while they sleep. Prestige Brands Inc. hired Hogan partner…

Mar 14, 2009 1:23 AM CDT

Supreme Court Rules Labels Don’t Shield Drug Companies from Suits

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that pharmaceutical companies aren’t protected from lawsuits because their warning labels are approved by the federal government. The court ruled in a 6-3 decision that approval of drug labeling by the Food and Drug Administration does not pre-empt state court lawsuits over insufficient warnings,…

Mar 4, 2009 3:50 PM CST

Group May Have Aided 130 Suicides; Four Members Arrested

Scores of death investigations may be reopened as Georgia authorities probe an Atlanta area group that helped others commit suicide with helium gas. A court document says the group Final Exit Network may have helped as many as 130 people around the country commit suicide, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Investigators…

Feb 27, 2009 6:51 PM CST

Octuplets’ Mom Tells Dr. Phil: Hospital May Think I Can’t Care for My Babies

An unemployed woman who along with her own mother, is already raising six children in a three-bedroom Whittier, Calif., home in pre-foreclosure, is worried that she may not be allowed to take her new octuplets home when they are well enough to be released from the hospital. In a Tuesday…

Feb 25, 2009 10:04 PM CST

Possible Dad Seeks Paternity Test re Octuplets, Amidst Medical Debate

A new contestant weighed in today in a controversial pregnancy that has ignited international legal debate. Saying that he had donated his sperm, at Nadya Suleman’s request, during the course of a three-year relationship, Denis Beaudoin announced today on national television that he might be the father of her octuplets…

Feb 23, 2009 9:30 PM CST