Health Law

First Federal Fosamax Case Goes to the Jury; Plaintiffs Lawyers Are Watching

In the first of about 900 federal Fosamax cases to go to trial, a lawyer for Merck & Co. argued in closing statements Wednesday that the drug didn’t cause the 71-year-old plaintiff’s jaw problems. Product liability lawyers are closely watching the New York trial to see which arguments resonate with…

Sep 3, 2009 12:19 PM CDT

Pfizer Whistle-Blower’s $51.5M Payday Could Spark More Qui Tam Suits

Five whistle-blowers will share $102 million as part of a record-breaking $2.3 billion settlement by Pfizer Inc. of a federal criminal probe and civil qui tam litigation over the company’s drug-marketing practices. Among those expecting a hefty payday under the False Claims Act is a former Texas sales representative for…

Sep 3, 2009 12:09 AM CDT

Pfizer to Pay Record $2.3B, Subsidiary to Plead to Felony in Drug Marketing Case

A $2.3 billion global settlement by Pfizer Inc. detailed by federal authorities today reportedly includes a number of record payments to resolve both a federal criminal probe and a pharmaceutical whistle-blower case. The case concerns the company’s alleged illegal off-label marketing of multiple drugs and related claimed Medicare/Medicaid fraud, according…

Sep 2, 2009 5:41 PM CDT

Hungry for Change

The feds consider a steady diet of stronger regulation to help fix the U.S. food safety network

Sep 2, 2009 4:30 AM CDT

Doc at VA Hospital Wins $10M in Libel Suit Against St. Petersburg Times

Hampered in its defense of a defamation suit by the death of its reporter, the St. Petersburg Times was hit with a libel judgment of more than $10 million on Friday. A four-woman, two-man Florida state-court jury awarded $5.1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages to…

Aug 31, 2009 4:46 PM CDT

Ex-Judge’s Disability Pension Related to Winning $2.1M Libel Suit Is Rejected

A divided state retirement board voted 3-2 today to reject a former Massachusetts judge’s request for a disability pension because of diagnosed post-traumatic stress that he says is related to a series of 2002 newspaper articles. Former Superior Court Judge Ernest Murphy won a $2.1 million libel judgment against the…

Aug 28, 2009 9:10 PM CDT

Hard-Hit By Katrina, La. Hospital Workers Revised Health Rules

When the power failed at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit four years ago, overworked physicians and staff isolated for days in the sweltering building without adequate supplies had to decide for themselves how to handle an emergency that was virtually unprecedented in the history of…

Aug 27, 2009 9:00 PM CDT

Michael Jackson’s Death a Homicide

After weeks of speculation and media reports based on leaked information, it’s now official: Michael Jackson’s death on June 25 was a homicide, caused by a lethal amount of the intravenous anesthetic propofol, reports the Los Angeles Times. However, the Associated Press, citing an unidentified source, says the Los Angeles…

Aug 24, 2009 8:50 PM CDT

Is Michelle Obama More Powerful than Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Forbes Says Yes

What do Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor have in common with the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the general counsel of Pfizer? All are among the world’s 100 most powerful women, according to Forbes magazine. The magazine ranked Ginsburg the 48th most powerful woman, Sotomayor…

Aug 24, 2009 12:27 PM CDT

Va. Tech Gunman Never Treated Despite Court Order, Mental Health Records Show

Mental health records released today for the gunman who massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech in April 2007 before killing himself show that he was never treated by the school’s counseling center despite multiple “triage” evaluations and a court order requiring that Seung-Hui Cho receive treatment. The records had been…

Aug 19, 2009 11:21 PM CDT

Addicted Surgical Technician May Have Infected at Least 23 Patients With Hepatitis

Addicted to a powerful painkiller, Kristen Diane Parker admittedly stole fentanyl from empty operating rooms at the Denver, Colo., hospital in which she worked. But by substituting syringes of saline solution for syringes of fentanyl, the 26-year-old surgical technician didn’t just put patients at risk of inadequately treated pain, according…

Aug 17, 2009 6:56 PM CDT

Surgeon Who Kept Bullet from Suspect Gets Probation

The trauma center chief at Tampa General Hospital in Florida pleaded no contest today to two misdemeanor charges concerning a bullet he removed from a suspect during surgery in April. Dr. David Ciesla, 42, will get two years of probation and be required to perform 100 hours of community service…

Aug 17, 2009 6:07 PM CDT

Dick Armey Leaves DLA Piper, Cites ‘Load of Guff’ Over FreedomWorks

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has resigned from DLA Piper because of controversy over his association with a group opposing health reform. Armey says he is resigning because of critics who wrongly linked his work at the nonprofit group FreedomWorks to his work at DLA Piper, the National Law…

Aug 17, 2009 3:04 PM CDT

1st Cir. Revives ‘Civil Action’ Lawyer’s Whistle-Blower Suit Against J&J

A federal appeals court has revived a whistle-blower suit against a major pharmaceutical company concerning the marketing of its anti-anemia drug Procrit. The Medicare fraud suit brought against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Ortho Biotech, by former pharmaceutical sales representatives potentially could result in a multibillion-dollar damages award, according…

Aug 13, 2009 9:53 PM CDT

Stanford Law Prof Dies from Bike Accident Injuries

A professor emeritus who taught at Stanford Law School since 1969 has died from injuries he suffered in a July 14 bike accident. John Barton wrote the undergraduate textbook International Arms Control, considered the standard, the Mercury News reports. He died at the age of 72 from brain injuries suffered…

Aug 7, 2009 3:05 PM CDT