Drugs/Medical Legal News Articles & Interviews

Santa Clara, CA On the heels of its massive sleep apnea machine recall, Philips announced yet another recall but this time it involves a plastic component that can release cancer-causing chemicals into the user’s airway. Incredibly, a third and separate recall was announced on September 6, involving masks worn with the sleep machines.

Nashville, TN There was a flurry of reports and studies about five years ago that found routine price gouging in emergency rooms nationwide, and it was worse for the most vulnerable populations – poor and minority patients. It appears that, no matter how advanced medical technology gets, many emergency room patients are left in the dark, and left with an unexpectedly huge ER overcharges bill.

Santa Clara, CA Philips has been slammed with another Dreamstation lawsuit, alleging the company knew its sleep machines could cause cancers and other injuries years before the world-wide recall.

Chicago, ILIn an attempt to keep Similac baby formula lawsuits in federal rather than state court, Abbott tried to use a legal loophole known as “snap removal”, but a federal judge rejected it as “absurd” and kicked the four lawsuits back to state court. The plaintiffs claim that Abbott’s Similac PM 60/40 formula caused a deadly illness in premature infants.

Islip, NY A number of elements go into the calculation of emergency room fees. Apart from the cost of providing care, hospitals must factor in reasonable expectations that some bills will go unpaid and that insurance companies will try to negotiate certain charges down – sometimes because of suspicions of healthcare fraud. The net effect, however, is that patients pay more.

Clear Lake, CA On April 8, the DC Circuit Court, which has jurisdiction over Medicare cases, held that Medicare need not reimburse St. Helena Clear Lake Hospital for the cost of maintaining nonemergency room specialists on call. Without Medicare reimbursement, the cost of maintaining these doctors on call will ultimately be passed along to patients through higher emergency room charges.

Santa Clara, CAWith the FDA suspecting 124 deaths from recalled CPAP sleep apnea machines, more wrongful death lawsuits could be filed against Philips Respironics.

Pensacola, FL Lorna P., one of many hernia mesh victims, is hopeful that she will receive compensation after hearing that the jury in the second C.R. Bard bellwether trial awarded $255,000 to a man allegedly injured by C.R. Bard’s hernia mesh.

Santa Clara, CA The chances of developing an infection after cardiac surgery is slim – an estimated 1 in 5,000 patients who had heart valve surgery and even lower for other types of surgery. But that percentage is higher if a Stockert 3T Heater-Cooler was used during surgery. Rod says he hasn’t recovered from his heart surgery and Carol’s husband died from infection. Now they are pursuing a claim against Sorin, the heater-cooler device manufacturer.   

Glenside, PA Philips is hit again with a class action lawsuit, but this time medical device makers join thousands of consumers who filed complaints over the defective sleep apnea machines alleged to cause cancers and respiratory injuries. Baird Respiratory Therapy, Inc., filed in March 2022 a class action lawsuit against Philips in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, seeking to represent durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers nationwide who purchased Philips’ recalled breathing machines.