Drug Injury Attorney Blog

Last month, a Chicago jury awarded nearly $16.6 million to the family of a mother who died while using a Duragesic pain patch, the Associated Press reports.

Janice DiCosolo, a 38-year-old mother of three, died on Feb. 15, 2004. She had been prescribed a Duragesic patch by her doctor to help manage the constant pain she suffered as a result of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a neurological condition.

Duragesic, made by two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, contains the gel form of the powerful drug fentanyl, which is 100-times stronger than morphine.

DiCosolo’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Titusville, N.J.-based Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. and Mountain View, Calif.-based ALZA Corporation. The family alleged that the companies knew the patches leaked fentanyl in large enough doses to kill patients.

The patch DiCosolo was using was part of a larger group of defective patches that were recalled in 2004 by the Food and Drug Administration.

The defense experts who inspected the patch DiCosolo used asserted it was not defective and claimed the woman’s death was caused by mix of incompatible medications.

However, the jury disagreed. After a three-week trial, jurors concluded that the fentanyl patch leaked a fatal dose of the drug and killed DiCosolo. They awarded the family $16,560,000.

In 2005 and 2007, the FDA issued public health warnings after receiving reports of serious injuries and deaths in patients who used the fentanyl pain patches.

If you have experienced complications after using a fentanyl pain patch such as Duragesic or a family member has become ill or died after using a fentanyl pain patch, please contact our attorneys for legal assistance as soon as possible.

The lawyers of The Lowe Law Firm are experienced in helping people injured by dangerous drugs. We will seek compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future wages, pain and suffering, disability and other damages. We also represent family members in wrongful death cases. For more information, fill out our online contact form or call 314-678-3400 or toll free 877-678-3400.

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Posted In: Jury Verdicts

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Thoratec Corp. last month issued a worldwide recall of the HeartMate II Left Ventricular Assist Systems device.

According to the company’s press release, wear and fatigue of the percutaneous lead can cause the pump to stop working. At least five people have died while using the device and the company has received 27 reports of wear and fatigue to the electrical wire.

The mishaps occurred over the past five years with 1,972 implants. The pumps were distributed to 153 hospitals in throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and other countries.

The recall affects devices with catalog numbers 1355 and 102139. The Lowe Law firm has experience with with defective medical devices and in particular the Thoratec Heartmate LVAD's. We are currently representing the family of a man who died due to the failure of the Thoratec Heartmate II.

If your life has been affected by a defective medical product, we can help. Contact The Lowe Law Firm in St. Louis, Missouri to discuss your case.

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Posted In: Dangerous Medical Devices

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The Journal of the American Medical Association reported last week that it found that artificial blood raised the risk of death by 30 percent and tripled the chances of suffering a heart attack.

The researchers reviewed data collected from sixteen clinical trials and concluded that the dangers were so great that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should have halted the studies eight years ago.

Because the FDA received the data in 2000, the researchers argued that the agency should have stopped the human trials until a large-scale analysis could be completed. The researchers also blasted a rule that forced the FDA to keep new product information confidential.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Charles Natanson, one of the study’s authors and a septic shock researcher at the National Institute of Health, said,

“If you have secret science, things like this can happen. Once you’ve randomized patients, your results can’t be a trade secret. It’s a measure of protection to the American public.”

The companies at the center of the blood substitute study include Baxter International Inc., Biopure Corp., Hemosol BioPharma Inc., Northfield Laboratories Inc., and Sangart Inc.

Because actual blood must be refrigerated, has a shelf-life of just over 40 days, carries a disease transmission risk, and may only be used with compatible blood types, pharmaceutical companies have been working on a blood substitute.

Sidney Wolfe, one of the study’s authors and the director of the Washington-based advocacy group Public Citizen, Inc., told Bloomberg News that none of the original trial results were published immediately and the FDA reviewed each study separately.

Wolfe said:

“When we talk about things that make it more likely people will be harmed or killed, and you keep it a trade secret, it's inexcusable.”

Once again, the pursuit of profits by drug companies was left unchecked by an impotent FDA. As was the case with Trasylol, Vioxx, and Avandia, the patient is the one who pays the price.

The lawyers of The Lowe Law Firm are experienced in helping people injured by dangerous prescriptions drugs and medical devices. We will seek compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future wages, pain and suffering, disability and other damages. We also represent family members in wrongful death cases.

We offer a free initial consultation for victims harmed pharmaceutical products. If you cannot make it to our office, we will come to you at the hospital or your home.

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Posted In: Dangerous Drugs

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Bayer is finally removing the remaining supplies of Trasylol from the U.S. market after a long-awaited Canadian study confirmed yet again that the anti-bleeding drug is dangerous.

On May 14, the BART study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers found that heart surgery patients who were given Trasylol were 53 percent more likely to die than patients who were given cheaper blood clotting drugs.

That same day, Bayer notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it will begin removing remaining Trasylol stock from the American market, most of which can be found in warehouses and with doctors and hospitals.

This should have been done a long time ago. Since 2006, three studies have linked Trasylol to an increased risk for kidney damage, stroke and death. If Bayer had removed the drug from the market when it learned of the health dangers, it is estimated that 22,000 lives could have been saved.

My law firm currently represents several Trasylol victims and their families in lawsuits against Bayer. The lawyers of The Lowe Law Firm are experienced in helping people injured by Trasylol. We will seek compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future wages, pain and suffering, disability and other damages. We also represent family members in wrongful death cases.

We offer a free initial consultation for victims harmed pharmaceutical products. If you cannot make it to our office, we will come to you at the hospital or your home.

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Posted In: Dangerous Drugs

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The results of the long-awaited Canadian study on the anti-bleeding drug Trasylol were announced today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers found that patients who were given Trasylol, known generically as aprotinin, had a 53 percent higher death rate than patients who were given comparable drugs.

In an editorial that accompanied the BART study, Dr. Wayne Ray and Dr. Michael Stein of Vanderbilt University wrote:

“Thus, in all likelihood, this is the end of the aprotinin story.”

Trasylol is made by Bayer. On Jan. 20, 2006, an article suggesting a link between Trasylol and renal toxicity was published in the medical journal Transfusion. Later that same month, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article, co-authored by Dr. Dennis Mangano of the nonprofit Ischemia Research and Education Foundation, linking Trasylol to a higher risk of stroke, heart attack and kidney failure.

In the fall of 2006, an FDA advisory board met to decide whether the warning on Trasylol needed to be changed. At the meeting, Bayer failed to disclose the findings of a Trasylol study it had funded. In that study, Dr. Alexander Walker—a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health—reviewed the hospital records of 67,000 patients and found that those given Trasylol had a risk of death 64 percent higher than that of patients who received a comparison drug. It wasn’t until November 2007 that the drug was finally pulled from the market.

The BART study is significant because it was designed as a side-by-side comparison of aprotinin with two other drugs, tranexamic acid sold under the brand name Cyklokapron and aminocaproic acid, sold under the brand name Amicar.

Not only are the comparison drugs safer, they’re much cheaper. According to an article in Reuters, a Trasylol treatment costs between $1,200 and $1,500. The other two drugs cost about $150.

My law firm currently represents several Trasylol victims and their families in lawsuits against Bayer. The lawyers of The Lowe Law Firm are experienced in helping people injured by Trasylol. We will seek compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future wages, pain and suffering, disability and other damages. We also represent family members in wrongful death cases.

We offer a free initial consultation for victims harmed pharmaceutical products. If you cannot make it to our office, we will come to you at the hospital or your home.

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Posted In: Dangerous Drugs

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