North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog

Drug maker Allergan is being sued for failing to warn users of the dangerous side effects that can result when using Botox. The products liability lawsuit was filed on behalf of over a dozen Botox users and family members that have lost loved ones from Botox use.

Some of the plaintiffs claim that receiving Botox injections left them with certain disabilities, such as numbness, vision problems, flu-like symptoms, allergic reactions, breathing problems, and muscle weakness. Deaths allegedly caused by Botox use involved a 7-year-old girl that was given Botox injections to control limb spasticity, a 69-year-old nurse that used Botox for shoulder and neck pains, and a 71-year-old woman that was administered Botox for wrinkles around her mouth. All three alleged wrongful deaths involved use of Botox in ways that federal regulators had not approved.

The lawsuit claims that injuries occurred from both non-approved and approved uses of Botox and is calling the drug “a highly legal toxin with serious and life-threatening side effects." It question’s Allergan’s promotion that Botox is a miracle drug.

While refusing to comment on the details of the dangerous drug lawsuit, an Allergan spokesperson claims that Botox has a remarkable safety record and that serious side effects are rarely reported.

Botox
Originally intended to treat people with crossed eyes, Botox is most often used for treating frown lines between the eyebrows. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Botox for treating migraines.

Drug manufacturers are supposed to warn users of all potentially adverse side effects from using a particular medication or drug. When failure to provide proper warning results in injury or death, victims may be able to recover damages for personal injury or wrongful death.

Allergan failed to warn of dangerous Botox side effects, lawsuit claims, Los Angeles Times, July 10, 2008

Botox Lawsuit Claims Drug Has Fatal Flaws, WebMD.com, July 11, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Allergan

Botox

Posted by Michael A. DeMayo | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Dangerous Drugs

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Movie star Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly filed a products liability lawsuit against drug manufacturer Baxter Healthcare Corp. for negligence in the Heparin overdose of the couple’s newborn twins, Zoe Grace and Thomas Boone. Heparin is a blood thinning drug used to prevent blood clotting.

The couple is seeking over $50,000 in damages. In the lawsuit, the couple claims that Baxter Healthcare was negligent because it packages different sized-doses of Heparin in similar vials, which sometimes makes it confusing for health care workers to distinguish one dosage size from another. As a result, Heparin is an “unreasonably dangerous” drug.

The products liability lawsuit says that the drug maker should have recalled the vials with excessively large doses after three babies died last year because of similar mix-ups at a hospital at Clarian's Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Three other infants survived similar overdoses there.

Zoe Grace and Thomas Boone Quaid were given an extremely high dosage of the blood thinner while at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. They received 1000 the amount that babies are supposed to receive, which caused the twins to bleed out. Rather than receiving 10 units of Heparin, they received 10,000 units, which is usually the amount of Heparin given to adults.

Another baby at Cedars-Sinai was also was given too much Heparin. Fortunately, the Quaid twins and the third child survived. Cedars-Sinai has apologized for the mix-up, calling it a “preventable error.”

After the deaths and injuries in Indianapolis, Baxter Healthcare issued a warning to health care workers telling them that they need to check the labels of Heparin vials to prevent similar mix-ups.

The Quaid family lawsuit says that the company should have repackaged the different doses of medicine, and the warning sent to health care providers should have come with an “urgent” label so better safety procedures could have been implemented at the different hospitals.

Drug manufacturers must test their drugs before releasing them into the marketplace. They also must include the appropriate warnings of any risks or side effects. Drug makers are required to market and package all drugs in a manner that doesn’t mislead or confuse users or health care providers.

If a person is injured or killed because of the negligence of a drug manufacturer, the injured person or his or her family (if the victim is a minor) may have grounds to file a products liability claim or lawsuit against the drug manufacturer and any other negligent parties.

Dennis Quaid, wife sue drug maker, CNN.com, December 4, 2007

Dennis Quaid and wife sue drugmaker over heparin labeling, USA Today, December 4, 2007

Baby James: Surviving a Medical Mistake, WTHR, February 15, 2007

Dennis Quaid's newborns reportedly harmed by medical mix-up, LA Times, November 21, 2007

Related Web Resources:

Baxter Introduces New Drug Safety Packaging for High Alert Medications, Baxter.com, December 3, 2007

Baxter Healthcare

Heparin Sodium Injection (PDF)

Continue reading "Dennis Quaid Sues Drug Maker Baxter Healthcare Corp. in Newborn Twins’ Overdose" »

Posted by Michael A. DeMayo | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Dangerous Drugs

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Pharmaceutical company Merck says it will be $4.5 billion in settlements to the thousands of victims who suffered strokes or heart attacks from taking prescription painkiller Vioxx.

The drug maker pulled Vioxx from pharmacies in September 2004 because a clinical trial proved that using the drug for an extended period of time increased the chances of strokes and heart attacks. Thousands of people have filed personal injury lawsuits claiming they had a heart attack or stroke because they took Vioxx.

The $4.85 billion settlement amount is significantly less than what Merck could have paid had it continued with its original plan to fight every single personal injury lawsuit in court. The amount is equivalent to about a nine-month profit for the pharmaceutical giant. Previous analyst estimates had Merck paying up to $25 billion for the different lawsuits had it continued to fight the lawsuits.

In order for the settlement to go into effect, however, 85% of the plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits in state and federal courts must agree to the terms of the settlement. Plaintiffs are expected to receive about $120,000 each before legal costs from the fund.

The settlement agreement was reached between attorneys for Merck and a committee representing the plaintiffs who sued Vioxx in federal court. If the agreement is accepted by most of the plaintiffs, Merck would not have to pay more than the $4.85 billion cap—regardless of how many new plaintiffs claims and lawsuits are filed.

As part of the terms of the settlement, plaintiffs now will not have to prove that taking Vioxx caused their strokes or heart attacks. They will, however, have to prove that they took Vioxx for no less than 30 days and that their strokes or heart attacks happened within 14 days of the last time they took Vioxx. Injured plaintiffs who had more serious health problems and took Vioxx for longer periods of time will be paid larger settlement amounts.

Vioxx
More than 9.1 million prescriptions have been written for Vioxx, a COX-2 inhibitor drug used to alleviate pain. The FDA approved Vioxx as a painkiller to treat acute pain, menstrual pain, and osteoarthritis. Diarrhea, respiratory infections, high blood pressure, and nausea had been listed as the side effects.

For the first quarter of 2004, Vioxx sales reached $661 million internationally. Beginning in 2000, however, a number of started to show that patients taking Vioxx appeared to be at higher risk of having a stroke or heart attack.

When you take an FDA approved prescription drug, you have the right to expect that your prescription medication will treat your medical condition or illness.

Analysts See Merck Victory in Vioxx Settlement, New York Times, November 10, 2007

Fast Facts on Vioxx, ABC News.com, September 30, 2004

Related Web Resources:

Merck Loses Vioxx Lawsuit: Jury Awards $253.4 Million to Widow, NewsTarget.com, August 19, 2005

Vioxx, Drugs.com

Merck & Company

Continue reading "Merck to Pay Nearly $5 Billion to Settle Vioxx Lawsuits" »

Posted by Michael A. DeMayo | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Dangerous Drugs

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A study released on Tuesday shows that the number of cases where serious health issues (including personal injury and wrongful death) were caused by prescription medication has increased dramatically between 1998 and 2007.

In 1998, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported 34,966 incidents where someone experienced adverse reactions to drugs. This year, the figure was 89,842. The study can be found in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The FDA defines serious side effects to drugs as including resulting birth defect, wrongful death, hospitalization, or disability. The study results come from reports made by drug makers to the FDA.

Close to 1500 drugs were named for causing serious health injuries to users. Painkillers was responsible for a large number of health problems. The drug ranked number one as a cause of death over the eight-year time frame was Oxycodone, which was held responsible for 5,548 fatalities. The study can be found in the latest issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Every year, millions of people in the U.S. take prescription drugs and over the counter medicines to treat different health problems and medical conditions or to stay healthy. It is unfortunate that the use of certain medications have lead to serious injuries, health problems, and the death of many users.

Here is a list of some of the potentially serious and deadly side effects that can occur from a "dangerous" drug:

• Vomiting
• Stroke
• Heart attack
• Insomnia
• Kidney failure
• Birth defect
• Memory loss
• Hypertension
• Stomach aches
• Death

It is frequently not until after many victims are injured or killed because of a particular pharmaceutical drug that a drug recall is issued.

Over the years, victims of the following defective drugs have filed dangerous drug claims and lawsuits against manufacturers or other liable parties:

• Celebrex
• ReNu
• Trileptal
• Ortho Evra
• Fosamax
• Vioxx
• Bextra
• Fen Phen
• HRT
• PPA

Bad reactions to prescription drugs soar, The Washington Times, September 11, 2007

Related Web Resources:

Archives of Internal Medicine

Dangerous Prescription, PBS.org

Continue reading "Prescription Drug-Related Injuries and Deaths Have More Than Doubled" »

Posted by Michael A. DeMayo | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Dangerous Drugs , Products Liability

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