Health Law

Stolen Human Egg Cases Revived; News Coverage Didn’t Notify Plaintiffs

A California state appeals court has revived tort claims by eight fertility clinic patients against the university hospital where doctors reportedly implanted eggs stolen from unsuspecting women into other infertile patients. Although the University of California at Irvine promised to notify those affected, once the scandal broke, it never did…

Apr 24, 2008 8:36 PM CDT

Whirlpool Plant Suspends 39 Employees Caught Smoking

A Whirlpool Corp. plant in southern Indiana has suspended 39 workers, claiming the employees were in fact smokers even though they claimed on their health insurance that they had kicked the habit. Whirlpool requires its employees who smoke to pay $500 more in insurance premiums, the Evansville Courier & Press…

Apr 23, 2008 11:17 AM CDT

Claim: VA Failing to Address ‘Epidemic of Suicides’

A class action suit claiming the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs isn’t doing enough to prevent suicide or providing adequate medical care for vets is scheduled for trial today in San Francisco. Filed in July, the suit alleges the VA has inadequately addressed a host of mental health problems, particularly…

Apr 21, 2008 11:30 AM CDT

New York’s Second Effort to Require Fast-Food Calorie Listings Is Upheld

New York City has revised its fast-food calorie posting rules to the satisfaction of a federal judge. The new regulations upheld yesterday require calorie counts to be posted next to prices in any restaurant chain with more than 15 outlets nationwide, the New York Times reports. U.S. District Judge Richard…

Apr 17, 2008 12:26 PM CDT

Merck Ghostwriters Behind Favorable Vioxx Articles

Documents unearthed in lawsuits against the painkiller Vioxx show the drug’s maker, Merck, wrote article drafts about the drug’s performance but found outside physicians to be listed as authors. Two studies published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association show the company apparently manipulated dozens of publications to…

Apr 16, 2008 11:52 AM CDT

N.Y. Schools Lawyer-Pay Probe Expands to All Professionals in Gov’t Work

An ever-expanding state probe by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of possible pension irregularities now extends far beyond lawyers in private practice who worked for the state’s 700-plus school districts. It now potentially encompasses, seemingly, virtually every professional who has worked for a state agency, and may also involve…

Apr 15, 2008 6:37 PM CDT

Fen-phen Lawyers Awarded $412M in Fees, Applauded for ‘Herculean Effort’

A federal judge has awarded $412 million in additional fees to lawyers who sued the maker of the fen-phen diet-drug on behalf of thousands of plaintiffs. Chief U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III of Philadelphia awarded the fees for more than 578,000 hours of work that he called “nothing short…

Apr 10, 2008 2:00 PM CDT

Christians Sue Over U.K. Human-Animal Embryo Licenses

A Christian group that includes lawyers and doctors says it will sue to try to overturn licenses granted to academics at two United Kingdom institutions to create human-animal hybrid embryos for medical research purposes. One such embryo reportedly has already been created under the licenses granted by the Human Fertilisation…

Apr 9, 2008 8:39 PM CDT

Celebrity Medical Files Breached at UCLA

A rogue employee reportedly peeped into confidential medical files of 32 celebrities, politicians and other high-profile patients at UCLA Medical Center, as well as 29 noncelebrities, in 2006 and 2007. Among those whose confidentiality was violated: television personality Maria Shriver, who is the wife of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The unauthorized…

Apr 7, 2008 4:43 PM CDT

$2M Award Tossed; Woman Claimed Fiance’s Parents Were Part of AIDS Coverup

A woman who won a $2 million jury verdict in part because she claimed her fiance’s parents failed to let her know their son was dying of AIDS is not entitled to the award, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled. The woman, identified as “Jane Doe,” won the $2 million…

Apr 3, 2008 10:16 PM CDT

Court of Public Opinion Sways Wal-Mart in Battle Over Legal Winnings

A Missouri man, who lost a son in Iraq and whose wife suffers from debilitating memory loss because of an auto accident, couldn’t convince his wife’s former employer to back off its claim to the money the family recovered for her accident. At least not until his plight made prime-time…

Apr 2, 2008 6:52 PM CDT

Legal Gender-Bender: Dad-to-Be Pregnant

How does the law relate to a pregnant dad? Some folks in a central Oregon resort town are about to find out. Originally born female, a transgender man in the city of Bend is now legally Thomas Beatie, married to Nancy. Because his wife had her uterus removed, however, and…

Mar 27, 2008 9:16 PM CDT

Drug Companies Beware: FTC Commissioner Kovacic Gets Promoted

William Kovacic, a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, has been named chairman of the agency. He will replace Deborah Platt Majoras, who is leaving to join the legal department at Procter & Gamble. Kovacic is former general counsel of the agency, the Associated Press reports. He also taught at…

Mar 27, 2008 1:33 PM CDT

Informed Consent: Doc’s Eye Surgery ‘Success’ Can Be Anything But, to Patient

Doctors who perform Lasik surgery to improve patients’ eyesight to the point where they no longer have to wear glasses say their work ordinarily turns out just fine. But some patients considered a success by their physicians see the situation differently. A reporter who writes a lengthy New York Times…

Mar 13, 2008 9:44 PM CDT

Autism Settlement Based on Special Circumstances

The government has agreed to compensate the family of a girl who claims a vaccine caused her autism, but the settlement is not precedent-setting because of the special circumstances surrounding the case, experts told the Associated Press. The girl, Hannah Poling, now 9, received five vaccines when she was 18…

Mar 7, 2008 2:17 PM CST