Texas Personal Injury Blog

Recently, a judge in Rio Grande City, TX, let a verdict against Merck for a Vioxx caused death stand and ignored their request for a retrial. This was the first case in the country in which a jury decided that even short term use of Vioxx could cause a heart attack and death of the patient. In this case, a 71 year old man with a 23 year old history of heart disease that included a quadruple-bypass surgery. He had only taken Vioxx for 17 days when he died of a heart attack. What may have been the swaying factor for the jury, was the man’s doctor giving him an essentially “clean bill of health” and very small risk for a heart attack within a year, just before he died. His widow originally was awarded $32 million by the jury, but because of non-economic damage limits in Texas, the award was reduced to $7.75 million. Of course Merck will be appealing this case.

It seems a little coincidental that Bob Woodruff’s special last week on his life threatening injury while reporting in Iraq aired on ABC just before the quality of care at the top veteran’s hospital in Washington, Walter Reed, came under fire.  Congressional Democrats are happy to point out that they brought up concerns 2 years ago about soldier’s delayed treatment and facing bureaucracy to get much needed healthcare after returning injured from Iraq and Afghanistan.  The interesting thing is that if you talk to a veteran of any war or conflict from the past 60 years, they’ll tell you that the VA hospitals in any part of this country have provided sub par medical and mental health services.  Some are so understaffed the veterans simply can’t get an appointment; for others they just may not be able to get the help they need if they don’t live in a major city.  While it would be an interesting spectacle to see all those under served veterans suing the federal government for liability whose injuries progressed and worsened rather than being healed, it would only come back to the tax payers and the veterans themselves.  So it seems we’ll be watching the Congress over the next year or two, until the next presidential election at least, to see if they can actually make improvements and get past the finger pointing.

The FDA has confirmed that Salmonella was found at the ConAgra plant and the strain in the plant matched those open jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter recovered from consumers.  This update also expands the list of products contaminated to include some peanut butter dessert toppings, including those used by the fast food chain Sonic in their shakes and sundaes.  Now don’t we all feel better having a confirmation from the FDA and want to rush right out for that peanut butter again?

Although there are still 500 lawsuits pending that were filed against BP for the 2005 refinery explosion, most of the victims killed or injured have gotten settlements from BP and avoided trial. The latest two settlements given Thursday were settled a week before jury selection would have begun in the trial. While many attorneys agree that BP is trying to settle the suits before trial to avoid higher litigation costs, BP claims they are trying to spare the victims the hassle of litigation.

A handful of lawsuits have been filed in Texas, New York, Missouri and other states that may become class action if there are enough valid clients against the peanut butter manufacturer ConAgra. Although no deaths have been reported in the consumption of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and the Wal-Mart brand peanut butter, Great Value, only severe illness due to salmonella poisoning, the courts and the jury will be left to decide how much liability the food manufacturers have. If ConAgra is found liable, will this open up a new door to a slew of defective products lawsuits relating to food?

The Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA, summarized a study from Harvard Medical School that said padded hip protectors that are marketed and sold to elderly people with the claim of preventing hip fractures don’t work and the elderly should save their money and practice caution. This is quickly becoming a popular device, but the study found that the hip protectors did not actually prevent any hip fractures. Approximately 340,000 Americans fall and break a hip each year. The largest percentage of falls and hip fractures occur among the elderly in nursing homes. These hip pads often cost between $30 and $175.

Recent studies have shown a “potential” increase in heart disease related deaths of patients taking Avandia. Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), was approved in 1999. It is estimated that approximately 11 million Americans, based on the number of prescriptions written in 2006, are currently taking Avandia to treat Diabetes Type II symptoms. Public Citizen, a consumer watch group, says that the risks have always been there and the warning label is not clear or strong enough to warn patients of the side effects. The FDA is continuing studies to investigate whether the warning labels on Avandia should be more stringent.

As several more companies have issued recalls on pet food products with ingredients sourced from China and contaminated with Melamine, one wonders about human processed and many organic foods imported from China. The FDA has an initial theory that there was “intentional spiking” of the products with the chemical, however, since China has blocked U.S. food inspectors, we may never find out. Its interesting that they use the words “intentional spiking,” which is another form of terrorism isn’t it. If it was done intentionally to cause harm to Americans or their pets, then that is what terrorism is, causing terror and fear. One wonders if this will lead to a complete boycott of any and all food products imported from China.

Earlier this week, State Judge Randy Wilson who presides over the 900 lawsuits against Merck, the manufacturer of Vioxx, in Texas; put a hold on the cases pending an opinion from the appellate courts on how the 2003 Texas tort law will change future cases of defective drug liability in Texas. Ruby Ledbetter’s case is the first of these cases with an incident that occurred in 2004, after the new tort law took effect. The tort law has a clause that essentially indicates that the generic FDA warning on all drugs is a fair warning for side effects. The problem is if the appellate courts decide this is true, then in Ms. Ledbetter’s case, that charge would be thrown out and she would have to prove two other more challenging arguments against Merck in order to win the case and associated damages. The tort law has the potential to eliminate a majority of the claims of those 900 cases. The judge claims, he’s trying to save everyone time and money by asking for the court’s opinion now, however, one really questions his motives for the timing of this. Its a little ironic, especially since Merck just reported a 12% increase for their first quarter profits despite having to pay hundreds of millions out for already settled Vioxx lawsuits and this could cause the dismissal of many of the Texas cases.

It seems odd to have to revisit this issue over and over again, but as a pet owner and a compassionate person, it just seems wrong that companies and corporations think it is OK to deceive consumers and sell pet food with so many different chemicals in it. Just recently, a Texas Lab found high doses of the pain killer acetaminophen in a Menu Foods band of pet food. This testing was done at the expense and request of the owner, unsatisfied with the few answers from the FDA after his cat’s early death of kidney failure in January. While the FDA initially disputed these findings, it seems they are being caught in their own spin and still investigating it further. Initially they did not test the same lots and type of pet food as the lab and are now trying to do so. While the FDA states that they have had 18,000 reports of pet injuries since the pet food recall, another source estimates that there have actually been closer to 180,000 deaths and even more injuries, but it is hard to find the information to report it to the FDA. It makes you wonder if this is really a recent development because of the import of ingredients from China or if it has been going on for a significant period of time because of the lack of monitoring and regulation. So many Americans consider their pets as members of the family, it is no wonder there has been so much outrage over this and that it continues to be a problem unless you buy the more expensive, independently made natural and organic pet food. There are approximately 90 class action law suits pending against Menu Foods, Inc, the original source of tainted pet food in the recall that started in January.