Category: blog

Supreme Court Overrules Public Safety

A Supreme Court ruling last year has begun to show its true colors, as many federal cases against Medical Technology Corporations will go unheard. In February of 2008, the high court decided to restrict the legal options for patients who claim they have been injured by a defective device. If the Food and Drug Administration has approved the device after, “rigorous review,” than a suit cannot be filed under state laws.

This unjust ruling will prevent many individuals who have been subject to hard due to faulty design from collecting the compensation they need to maintain a reasonable quality of life.

Devices that are not properly engineered can have catastrophic effects when implanted in a patient. Janet Moore, of the Star Tribune, provides us with an example:

“Make it stop,” Liz Fossum remembers thinking.

For about an hour early that November morning two years ago, Fossum’s implanted defibrillator repeatedly shocked her heart — 54 times all told. It felt like a horse was kicking her in the chest.

The 68-year-old grandmother from Golden Valley now knows that part of her heart device, an insulated wire made by Medtronic Inc., had been recalled by federal regulators because a small number had malfunctioned, occasionally causing unnecessary shocks.

Unfortunately for people like Ms. Fossum, there is little she can now do under the new law. Several Hundred cases had been filed against Sprint Fidelis, all of which were subsequently dismissed as a result of the Supreme Court decision. Obviously, all those affected by the faulty product were outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision to protect corporate interests over the interests of the public.

This new decision has left consumers without any means to remedy the harmful situation they were put in by a lack of vigilance on the part of the FDA. Henry Waxman, a Representative from California, believes that the Supreme Court puts too much faith in the FDA testing process. He stated that, “The Supreme Court assumed that FDA approval ensures medical devices are safe, but many recent stories of patients harmed by faulty devices have proven those assumptions false.”

Waxman along with New Jersey Representative Frank Pallone plan to introduce legislation that would circumvent the Supreme Court ruling and protect Americans from dangerous medical devices. Until that time however, citizens must remain vigilant. If you are in need of or considering the possible use of a medical device, please research all companies and available options fully. Until the government decides to protect consumers again, self-education is the best defense.

If you have been subject to a faulty medical device, please contact an attorney immediately. There are several possible options, which may allow you the compensation you deserve.

Contact an Attorney in New Jersey
Contact an Attorney in Pennsylvania

Cigarette Companies and Their Red Handed Researchers

In 2006, a study by Dr. Claudia I. Henshke of the Weill Medical College at Cornell University shocked the medical professional world by reporting that the widespread use of CT scans could help prevent 80% of lung cancer deaths. The study was published in the renowned New England Journal of Medicine, and sent shock waves of hope through the medical profession. Unfortunately, the good news would be tainted by the discovery of a crippling conflict of interest: The study was funded almost entirely by the cigarette industry.

After Ms. Henshke reported her study to the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, an investigation revealed a long string of deceivingly named non-profit funding, leading all the way back to big tobacco. After its startling discovery, the council wrote to the Journal, explaining its concern over the validity of Ms. Henshke’s findings.

The study failed to disclose that Dr. Henshke’s work had been underwritten in part by a $3.6 million grant from the parent company of the Liggett Group, a cigarette maker, something the journal editors said they had been unaware of.

The council’s criticism was received quickly by the Journal, who quickly moved into damage control mode. A letter in response from the Journal stated, “When we published Dr. Henschke’s article in 2006 it was not routine NEJM editorial policy to publish details about… funding. Since that time our thinking on this issue has evolved.” The journal now asks authors to disclose all royalties related to their research, and it publishes the information with the studies. The letter was signed by Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen, the journal’s editor in chief, as well as Corinne Broderick, executive vice president of the medical society.

The New England Journal of Medicine has taken the proper steps to remedy this immoral conflict of interest. Unfortunately, not every journal has taken the hint. When reading a medical study that might effect your decision making process, remember to read the fine print. Don’t let your well being be effected by corporate influence on greedy doctors.

Contact an Attorney in NJ

Contact an Attorney in PA

A Quarter of Nursing Homes Flunk the Test

In mid December, the federal government unveiled its new rating system, which it uses to help advise the public on the quality of care they are receiving from their local area nursing homes. This system will help individuals make informed decisions about the institution they trust with the care of their loved ones.

Under the new system, five stars means a nursing home ranks “much above average,” four stars indicates “above average,” three means “about average,” two is “below average” with a one indicating “much below average.” The rankings will be updated quarterly. Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin stated that the new ranking system would help bolster transparency, which is, “…the key when it comes to nursing home quality.”

Unfortunately, along with the progress of informed decision making came the shocking realization that almost a quarter of all nursing homes in the country have been given the federal government’s lowest possible rating: one out of five stars. Receiving such a low rank in particular had to do with the high percentage of patients with bedsores after their first 90 days in the nursing home and the number of residents whose mobility worsened after admission.

When nursing homes are understaffed, over worked, and improperly trained, the results can be catastrophic. Where there is lack of individual patient attention, pressure sores and decreased mobility are sure to follow. When it comes to protecting your loved ones, please pay strict attention to the federal rating system. Alice Hedt of the Insititute for Nursing Home Reform states that, “Our initial reaction is that consumers should probably avoid any facility with a one- or two-star rating and even a three-star rating unless people they trust convince them that the rating is inaccurate or unfair.” However, the rating system alone is not enough to properly judge. Ms. Hedt advises that, “…Nothing should substitute visiting a nursing home when making a decision.”

If you are in the process of finding a nursing home for your loved one, please pay strict attention to the federal ranking system. If you have a family member already in a nursing home, please remember to check on them regularly. Bedsores are a life threatening injury, and should be checked for regularly. If your family member has been subject to bedsores due to a lack of proper care, please contact an attorney to help remedy the situation as fast as possible.

Related Information:

New Jersey Lawyers – Nursing Home Abuse

Sleepy Doctors Increase Harm to Patient by 700%, and Death Up by 300%

It doesn’t take a genius to know that without the proper amount of sleep, job performance drastically decreases. Sleep deprived workers in any profession increases the risk of error, and injury. When sleep deprivation occurs in the practice of medicine however, lives can be lost. So why is it that in a majority of hospitals around the country, studies have found that resident doctors are simply not getting enough sleep to provide proper care to their patients?

According to recent study by the Institute of Medicine, doctors in training should work no longer than 16 hours in a row without a five-hour nap to reduce risk to patients. The study was performed after increasing alarm amongst researchers who observed a majority of hospitals allowing 30-hour shifts without a required amount of sleep. To make things worse, Resident doctors, who are under paid and overburdened with student loans, usually end up having to supplement their income by moonlighting at other hospitals.

When the individual in charge of your well-being has not slept for 30 hours, they become a danger to themselves, and that danger passes on to you. According to a study by the Public Library of Public Medicine, it has been found that, “…sleep-deprived doctors are at high risk of making mistakes that injure or kill patients. When residents reported working five marathon shifts in a single month [30 straight hours or more], their risk of making a fatigue-related mistake that harmed a patient increased by 700%, and the risk of an error that resulted in a patient’s death shot up 300%.”

Figures of this size are unacceptable. The recent study demanding 5 hours of sleep per 16 hours of work is indeed a step in the right direction, however it is not enough to solve an epidemic problem in our health care system. Simply put, at current rates, residents are not getting enough sleep to properly care for patients. Although all residents have only the highest of intentions, they can easily make mistakes when hospitals force them into these marathon shifts.

If you or a loved one is currently in the care of a hospital, and you suspect they have been have not received proper care due to a sleep-deprived staff, please inform the hospital immediately. Hopefully mistakes and accidents can be avoided by bringing it to the hospital’s attention. If you suspect wrongful death or injury due to a sleep deprived hospital staff however, please do not hesitate to contact an attorney. You may be entitled to compensation.

Find a Medical Malpractice Attorney in PA

Find a Medical Malpractice Attorney in NJ

Medical Research Continues to Lose Integrity

Senator Charles E. Grassley has raised some serious concern over a recent article published in the Elsevier Medical Journal. The Senator has asked the publisher to investigate an article written on hormone replacement therapy, believing that it was improperly “ghostwritten” by a drug company promoting their products. The article was part of an editor’s choice section in Elsevier’s Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

In an article signed by Dr. John Eden of Australia, Senator Grassley has found unethical promotions lacking scientific evidence. At the heart of the controversy is the drug company Wyeth. Mr. Grassley, a member of the Senate Finance Committee who is investigating drug company influence on doctors, contends that Wyeth commissioned the articles and had them ghostwritten by a medical writing firm. Only after the articles were conceived and under way did the firm line up doctors to put their names on them, Mr. Grassley contends.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Drug companies have been forcing their will on medical research results for decades now, and the influence of corporate profit is on the rise. By 2006, Drug companies were spending nearly twice as much on advertising and marketing as they were on the research and testing needed to ensure the safety of a new product.

Mr. Grassley’s investigation shows how results of this corporate policy can be catastrophic. A landmark federal study has linked Wyeth’s Prempro hormone product to breast cancer in women. What does the expert testimony sponsored by Wyeth say about that taxpayer funded study? Dr. Eden’s controversial article states that, “there was no definitive evidence that the [Wyeth] hormones caused breast cancer.”

It seems the Wyeth Corporation and Dr. Eden have forgotten the meaning of the Hippocratic oath.

Contact a Medical Malpractice Attorney in PA

Contact a Medical Malpractice Attorney in NJ

Chamber of Commerce Torches the Economy and Asks for Refund

Like the child who kills his parents and then begs for mercy because he is an orphan, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce now is begging President-elect Barack Obama to protect corporate interests in the nation’s civil litigation system as a way of restoring jobs and bolstering an economy shattered largely (as we now know) by corporate greed and misfeasance. – Andrew Cohen, CBS
Unbelievable.  After decades of corruption, greed, and lack of responsibility to the public, the corporate machine has been exposed as the true cause of the economic plunge we are currently facing.  And what do they want in return?  For the government to shield them from the system put in place for the very purpose of enforcing that responsibility. 

 

Here is what the president of the Chamber of Commerce’s legal arm wrote in an open letter to Obama: “We understand the critical necessity of revitalizing the economy by restoring American jobs, encouraging the growth of U.S. businesses, and protecting the savings and investments of millions of Americans. However, we are concerned that the potential expansion of legal liability significantly impairs these much needed steps toward a national recovery.”

In a desperate attempt to plead for mercy to the new President-Elect, The chamber of commerce is merely renewing an argument that has failed for decades.  The Chamber has been pushing tirelessly for almost half a century now to rein in plaintiffs’ attorneys (who look to punish corporate negligence or fraud with civil lawsuits), deregulate industry and commerce (we all know how well Wall Street did with its freedom), and nullify important consumer protection laws (like the one in Maine which is allowing smokers to go after tobacco companies for false advertising).History has shown us how devastatingly successful the Corporate interest machine can be.  Because of the Chamber’s organization, innocently named The Institute for Legal Reform, the Securities and Exchange Commission backed off its scrutiny of screwy deals and schemes, the Congress was lax in its oversight of the mortgage industry, litigators were thwarted or punished, and the White House and Justice Department pushed a legal doctrine (“preemption”) that almost always helped employers over employees. 

Results such as this put public interest on the loosing side.  The American legal system over the past 20 years has been a victim of unremitting advances for the Chamber and its fellow travelers in law, politics and governance. The Chamber has labeled “abusive litigation” as the cause of almost every economic problem to face the modern United States.  Could the lawyers who enforce corporate responsibility truly is the cause every economic disaster of our modern economy? 

 

 CBS Correspondent and Attorney Andrew Cohen thinks not:

Plaintiffs’ attorneys aren’t responsible for the mortgage-fueled economic meltdown. Class-action litigation isn’t, either. And don’t blame overzealous regulators or greedy employees who want better pay or conditions in their own factories. The people with whom the Chamber and the Institute do battle are not the people who invented or allowed the great pyramid schemes, which brought down Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. They did not force consumers to spend more than they earned or save less than they should. Corporate America is directly responsible for what has just happened to corporate America, and if you don’t believe me, ask the folks at Ford, GM and Chrysler.The economic meltdown came about because business interests were able to greatly decrease the vital tensions between industry and regulation, between oversell and oversight. And it will take the restoration of those tensions by government leaders not just to help bring us out of our slump but to help ensure that the next downturn doesn’t come again for a long time.
The more the chamber of commerce attempts to deregulate the market and further bolster its litigation shield, the farther away we get from turning around the current economic crisis. 

New Jersey Civil Trial Lawyer

Willow Crest Manor Shut Down by Department of Public Works

Residents of Philadelphia and Willow Grove were appalled to find out that their local nursing homes, Willow Crest Manor, was being shut down by the Department of Public Works.  The DPW was quick to pull the plug on the home after investigations in to two suspicious deaths uncovered gross negligence and massive rule violations. 

The list of egregious violations included the administration of recalled drugs after the date of the recall, the distribution of medicine to its customers by unlicensed and under trained employees, and the use of prescription drugs without a doctor’s orders.  The DPW found that medicines given to residents weren’t being recorded, often resulting in patients receiving over or under doses of their life saving medication.  One resident said that after he told the staff he needed insulin, they did not provide it to him, forcing him to inject it himself while unsupervised.

The deaths of a 49-year old woman and a 24-year-old man with cerebral palsy found dead in his bed have resulted from similar violations.  It was obvious that residents at Willow Crest were in immediate and serious danger. The DPW ordered that all 51 residents, about half of who are elderly and most of whom suffer from mental illness, be evacuated and relocated at once.

Willow Crest Manor was among many major homes in the Philadelphia metropolitan area under scrutiny by the DPW.  There seems to be a common link between them all however: Owner Annand P Mittal.  The DPW has been finding serious state violations at his other agencies—including Southampton Manor in Bucks County, and Diston Manor and Adelphia in Philadelphia—that have caused them to ban his operating licenses.

Evidence from around the state and the rest of the country has highlighted that this is not an isolated problem.  Many privately owned for-profit nursing homes have been subject to criticism due to excessive negligence and rule violations.  Thankfully the Department of Public Works has done the right thing, however they certainly wont be able to remedy the damages already dealt by Willow Crest and other facilities like it.   If you know someone who has been a victim of the Willow Crest Manor or any other Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing homes, please contact the Law Firm of John Mininno. There are legal remedies to help your family.

Related Information:

New Jersey Home Abuse Lawyers

New Jersey Bedsores Attorneys

The Secret Relationship of Medical Researchers and Pharmaceutical Companies

Finally, congress is investigating the giant pharmaceutical company’s corrupt research practices.  In the drug business, promoting health and safety should be priority number one.  Unfortunately, it is merely a distant second.  In the pharmaceutical industry, making money supersedes science. Some even go as far as claiming that drug makers have become a billion dollar empire not because of research and science, but rather from slick marketing and deceit.  This claim has some validity since the drug companies spend almost twice as much on the marketing of their drugs then on the development of their drugs.

 Some also argue that many drugs are over-prescribed, and that drug companies’ huge profits are often spent developing and advertising expensive designer drugs (such as Viagra) instead of life-saving medications. But now, even the effectiveness of the drugs is being called in to question by the on going congressional inquiry.  Presently, Congress is learning that the drug makers have paid millions of dollars in cash and other benefits to the very doctors who are supposed to be independently testing these drugs.  Rarely will such a doctor bite the hand that feeds them.  Even more insidious, the drug companies employ thousands of foreign-born chemists who are in the US on a work visa.  Their career allows them and their family the right to live and work in the U.S.  This demands allegiance to their employer and many suspect that end result of their research reflects this allegiance.

Perhaps the most alarming discovery of the investigation however points towards the work of Dr. Joseph Beiderman.  Dr Beiderman, one of the world’s most renowned child psychologists at the Harvard Medical School, apparently failed to report to Harvard University that he had received at least $1.4 million in personal income from drug companies.  It was also found that Dr. Biederman had asked a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary to provide him with almost $1 million to start a research center to, “move forward the commercial goals of J.& J.” As a front-runner in the field of psychology, Biederman was responsible for introducing a new era of using powerful, risky, and expensive antipsychotic medicines in young people. 

Hopefully, the present congressional investigation will lead to reforms for the pharmaceutical industry.  One reform would be to break the financial relationship and dependence of the medical profession to drug makers.  Others would be to hold drug makers accountable in a court of law for false advertising and marketing of drugs that harm patients.  The recent vioxx civil trials, which resulted in huge verdicts against the drug makers, is just one example of how effective this system works.  After a few juries heard the truth about this drug maker, and awarded appropriate damages, the vioxx maker quickly settled all the claims against it.  That result sent a strong message to the drug makers that they will be held accountable for deceit in the pursuit of profits.  Hopefully, congress will enact stricter and further reforms as well.  This will allow all of us to have confidence that the medicine we pay for and use has been fairly and legitimately tested by independent doctors and are benefiting our long term health. 

Happy Holidays!

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, here are a few simple but extremely helpful tips on making sure your Christmas tree is safe from the Children’s Safety Zone.

q A real tree should not lose green needles when you tap it on the ground.

q Cut 1 inch off the trunk to help absorb water.

q Leave the tree outside until ready to decorate.

q The stand should hold at least 1 gal. of water.

q A 6′ tree will use 1 gallon of water every two days.

q Mix a commercial preservative with the water.

q Check the water level every day.

q Secure the tree with wire to keep it from tipping.

q Keep tree away from floor heaters, fire places, or other heat sources.

q Use only UL-listed lights, and no more than 3 strands linked together.

q Use miniature lights–which have cool-burning bulbs.

q Turn off the Christmas lights when you sleep, or if you leave your home for very long.

q Never use candles, even on artificial trees.

q Clean the tree stand to improve the tree’s water intake, use one capful of bleach to a cup of water.

q Dispose of the tree properly.

Happy Holidays from the Mininno Law Office!