Health Law

In Lengthy Legal Saga, Pa. Doctor is Licensed, Then Loses Practice Privileges

Richard Brown never seemed like a great candidate for a physician’s license. A lackluster student in high school and college, he attended several foreign institutions before getting a medical degree. Criticized in sometimes-scathing evaluations by the physicians in charge of hospital programs for whom he worked as in clinical rotations,…

Nov 11, 2008 8:08 PM CST

Obama Mulls 200 Changes He Could Make Using Executive Authority

Barack Obama’s lawyer-laden transition team has prepared a list of 200 possible regulatory and policy changes he could quickly adopt using his executive authority. They include hot-button issues such as funding for stem cell research and abortion counseling. Obama has already indicated he plans to reverse a Bush administration limit…

Nov 10, 2008 12:34 PM CST

Mass. Jury Gives $13.5M to Family of ‘Cured’ Woman Who Died of Treatment

Experimental bone cancer treatment cured a 40-year-old Massachusetts woman, as an autopsy determined after she died of side effects from the treatment. So a Suffolk Superior Court jury awarded $13.5 million yesterday to the family of Amy Altman, finding that the mother of two would have survived if doctors at…

Nov 6, 2008 9:35 PM CST

How an Obama Presidency May Benefit Lawyers

Lawyers in diverse practice areas ranging from labor law to bankruptcy are likely to benefit from legal changes that could be made during the Obama administration. Lawyers can expect more regulations in banking and health care, fewer restrictions on lawsuits, more real estate lending and a pro-labor tilt, according to…

Nov 6, 2008 2:26 PM CST

UK Community Council Bans Smoking By Foster Parents

Citing the health risks posed by secondhand smoke, a community council in London has banned the placement of foster children with foster parents who smoke, unless exceptional circumstances apply. The action yesterday by Redbridge Council will take effect in 2010, which gives current foster parents who smoke a chance to…

Nov 5, 2008 5:28 PM CST

Court Ruling in Drug Labeling Pre-Emption Case Expected to be Narrow

Justices’ questions during oral arguments yesterday suggest the U.S. Supreme Court may issue a narrow ruling in a case that asks whether federally approved drug labels protect pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits over failures to issue adequate warnings. Mayer Brown partner Andrew Tauber told Legal Times the court’s opinion is unlikely…

Nov 4, 2008 2:16 PM CST

Deaf Patient to Get Record $400K from N.J. Doc Who Didn’t Provide Interpreter

Not providing the sign language interpreter requested by a deaf patient has cost a New Jersey doctor a $400,000 jury award. And it may cost Jersey City rheumatologist Robert Fogari personally, since his malpractice carrier has denied coverage, as well as a defense, reports the New Jersey Law Journal. The…

Oct 17, 2008 9:15 PM CDT

Trial Lawyer Fred Baron to Get Experimental Cancer Drug

Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron has obtained an experimental cancer drug in an effort to fight late-stage multiple myeloma. Baron’s son, Andrew, told the Associated Press that his 61-year-old father obtained the drug Tysabri through the Mayo Clinic. The famous trial lawyer has been told he has only days to…

Oct 17, 2008 2:27 PM CDT

MRI May Show Nothing, Even If Patient is Injured

Just because an MRI shows nothing wrong doesn’t mean the test is right. So patients who are in significant pain should seek a second opinion regardless of whether an initial magnetic resonance imaging test indicates they are fine, physicians tell the New York Times in an article that should be…

Oct 14, 2008 10:32 PM CDT

J&J Paid $68M to Settle Lawsuits Over Birth-Control Patch, News Agency Says

It has cost the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company an estimated $68.7 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits alleging that users were injured or, in 20 cases, even died as a result of using the company’s Ortho Evra birth-control patch. Complaints filed in state and federal court on behalf of…

Oct 10, 2008 5:59 PM CDT

Newly Unemployed: Thousands of Texas Fish Used in Banned Pedicure Practice

Worried about the potential risks of fish nibbling at customers’ tootsies, the state of Texas banned the pedicure practice yesterday. “Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation spokeswoman Susan Stanford said the agency was concerned about salons using the same fish to clean the skin of multiple customers, leaving them open…

Oct 9, 2008 7:09 PM CDT

Jury to Decide Why Sandy Morgan Died, in Jail and Mentally Ill

If jail authorities had checked her vital signs, they should have known that something was seriously wrong with Sandy Morgan in addition to her obvious mental illness, experts say. But despite checking her every 15 minutes, as part of a suicide watch, they didn’t realize the Pennsylvania woman needed emergency…

Oct 7, 2008 10:19 PM CDT

Calif. Judge Bans Anna Nicole Smith Breast Surgery Videotape

In the latest ruling in a steady stream of medical privacy cases, a California judge has nixed a Texas doctor’s claimed right to distribute videotapes of the 1994 breast augmentation surgery he performed on celebrity Anna Nicole Smith. After granting a preliminary injunction against Dr. Gerald Johnson last year, Los…

Oct 6, 2008 9:10 PM CDT

New Legal Frontier: Defining the Rights of Frozen Human Embryos

Thanks to today’s reproductive technology, the interrelated questions of when life begins and who has the right to make decisions about someone else’s body and children are becoming increasingly complex. The latest wrinkle: Whether frozen embryos belong to the couple (usually married) who asked a medical clinic to fertilize their…

Oct 6, 2008 6:20 PM CDT

Justices Blame FTC for Misleading Consumers about Light Cigarettes

During oral arguments today, two U.S. Supreme Court justices blamed the Federal Trade Commission for misleading consumers about the dangers of light cigarettes. The arguments did not bode well for smokers suing tobacco makers for making misleading advertising claims about the cigarettes’ lower levels of tar and nicotine. SCOTUSblog reports…

Oct 6, 2008 4:28 PM CDT