Drugs/Medical Legal News Articles & Interviews

Salt Lake City, UT In 2016, the Utah legislature amended existing medical malpractice law to permit people who are not patients to sue a medical practitioner for medical negligence – but only in some circumstances. The amended law appears to codify the Utah Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in B.R. v. West, a particularly gruesome murder case.

New York, NY Another CPAP lawsuit has been filed against Philips, this time by a New York man suffering from mouth and tongue cancer and other injuries. This latest lawsuit joins hundreds of other former users of Philips CPAP devices diagnosed with cancer as part of an MDL in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Houston, TX Gabriel Assaad has filed lawsuits against 3M and Arizant Healthcare (3M acquired Arizant in 2010) on behalf of patients who developed periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) after undergoing joint replacement surgery where a Bair Hugger warming blanket was used. If you had a knee or hip replacement surgery, suffered an infection and required additional surgery on your implant, you may be entitled to compensation.

Boise, ID Shane Ackerschott hurt his back lifting freight at work, but that wasn’t what put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. An Idaho jury found that Ackerschcott became paralyzed from the waist down because of medical malpractice at the urgent care clinic he and his wife, Rebecca, visited. The jury in Ackerschott v. Mountain View Hospital awarded them $7.96 million.

Santa Clara, CA More than a year after Philips Respironics announced its CPAP recall, which led to the U.S. Justice Department investigating possible criminal violations, The New York Times reported that Philips and government attorneys are negotiating a settlement, which would include Philips to implement a plan that would prevent another product failure and recall gone wrong.

Santa Clara, CA 3M has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a review of the U.S. appeals court decision to reinstate close to 6,000 Bair Hugger lawsuits claiming the warming blanket used in surgery results in knee and hip infections. In August 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit revived the lawsuits.

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.