Health Law

Jury Rights Wrong Wyeth Verdict

A Nevada jury that withdrew nearly $100 million in a compensatory verdict for plaintiffs who took Prempro and Premarin has now awarded about that much in punitive damages. Jurors yesterday agreed to award $99 million in punitive damages to three plaintiffs who claimed the drugs they took for menopause symptoms…

Oct 16, 2007 11:03 AM CDT

Oops! Jurors Revise $100M Wyeth Award

Nevada jurors confessed they made a mistake in setting compensatory damages against the maker of Premarin and Prempro, hormone replacement drugs alleged to have caused breast cancer in three women. Jurors originally awarded $134.5 million in what was supposed to have been compensatory damages against the drugmaker, Wyeth. Jurors later…

Oct 15, 2007 1:14 PM CDT

WA, Not Parents to Fund Child Mental Care?

In a ruling that could help struggling families, the Washington Supreme Court says the state must help some children who need mental health services even if their parents aren’t unfit. Ordinarily, parents must care for their children unless they abuse or neglect them. But after “Henry’s” parents paid some $200,000…

Oct 12, 2007 11:17 PM CDT

Menopause Drug Verdict: $134.5 M

Three Nevada women who claimed Prempro and Premarin caused their breast cancer have won a $134.5 verdict against the maker of the hormone-replacement drugs. The Reno jury delivered the verdict late Wednesday and will return to the courtroom today to consider punitive damages, the Associated Press reports. The compensatory damages…

Oct 12, 2007 12:57 PM CDT

Medical Privacy Gets Celebrity Billing

Movie star George Clooney has given the issue of medical privacy an unexpected boost. His treatment at a New Jersey hospital for a broken rib after a motorcycle accident may have prompted some 40 staff members, including doctors, at Palisades Medical Center to peek inappropriately into his medical file, according…

Oct 10, 2007 5:34 PM CDT

ACLU: Feds’ Drugging of Immigrants Torture?

In a motion filed yesterday in an asylum case, the American Civil Liberties Union calls for a halt to an admitted federal policy of forcibly injecting some immigrants with psychotropic medication and putting them aboard commercial airlines for deportation. It says the practice violates federal law and the Bill of…

Oct 10, 2007 4:10 PM CDT

14 Years, No Trial: Retarded Man Freed

Relatives expressed relief today after a judge ruled that a retarded North Carolina man who was never tried, yet had been held 14 years in a state mental institution concerning a crime it is doubtful he committed, would be freed. However it still isn’t clear exactly when Floyd Lee Brown,…

Oct 8, 2007 11:34 PM CDT

Doctors Drawn to ‘Friendlier’ Texas

In Texas, it can be a long wait for a doctor: up to six months. A “friendlier” malpractice climate in Texas is drawing more physicians to the state. In the four years after Texas voted for a constitutional amendment limiting awards in medical malpractice cases, doctors are flooding into the…

Oct 5, 2007 11:29 AM CDT

Stents Help Patients’ Hearts, Lawyers’ Bottom Line

Coronary artery stents are big business—not only for the companies that make them but also for lawyers. Litigation over patent rights may be hindering development of new products and forcing small companies to sell out to bigger competitors, experts told the New York Times. “The stent business is an unusually…

Oct 4, 2007 2:07 PM CDT

Judge Sanctions Lawyers Up to $5 Million

In a blistering rebuke of some of Philadelphia’s most prominent lawyers and law firms, a federal judge has sanctioned them—and their clients—for failing to cooperate with discovery in a medical insurance coverage class action. Among those being required to pay up to $5 million in plaintiffs costs by U.S. District…

Oct 3, 2007 5:15 PM CDT

Top Med Mag: No Vaccine-Autism Link

Although thousands of cases are being pursued alleging a link between childhood vaccines and autism (see “No Longer Immune” in the July 2006 ABA Journal), it’s doubtful that causation can be proven. In fact, a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes there is no causal…

Sep 26, 2007 10:33 PM CDT

Court Accepts Diabetes Drug Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether Michigan plaintiffs may sue the maker of the diabetes drug Rezulin despite a state law that restricts pharmaceutical suits. The Food and Drug Administration asked that the drug be removed from the market after concerns arose that it caused liver damage in some…

Sep 25, 2007 3:21 PM CDT

Dead, Cautious Clients May Spoil High Court Appeals

One client whose balloon catheter burst later died, but his lawyer sought a U.S. Supreme Court appeal without knowing it. Another client who sued the administrator of a 401(k) plan withdrew his money from the account at issue. And now Supreme Court appeals filed in their names could be tossed.…

Sep 20, 2007 11:59 AM CDT

Iowa Judge OKs Sperm Donation By Dying Man

An Iowa judge has OK’d a family’s plan to harvest sperm from a dying man so that his fiancée can later have his baby. The family sought the unusual ruling after the hospital at which Daniel Christy is on life support after a Sept. 9 motorcycle accident refused their request…

Sep 15, 2007 2:19 AM CDT

Legal Info Can Save Some Cancer Patients

Corrected: A little-known federal law entitles breast and cervical cancer patients under age 65 to Medicare treatment, even if they wouldn’t normally qualify for the federally funded health care program for the indigent. But in a number of states only some health care centers qualify for Medicare reimbursement under the…

Sep 13, 2007 9:37 PM CDT