Health Law

Shackled Fen-Phen Lawyers Seek Release, Judge Says No

Shackled and attired in faded gray-and-white-striped jail uniforms, three personal injury attorneys involved in mega-bucks fen-phen litigation attended a federal court hearing in Kentucky today to seek their release. Accused of bilking clients out of $64 million from a $200 million litigation settlement in 2001 concerning the diet drug combination,…

Sep 11, 2007 8:10 PM CDT

Judge Tosses Calorie-Posting Rule

A federal judge has ruled New York City did not have the authority to require fast-food restaurants to post calorie information. The New York regulation, which applied to restaurants that had already voluntarily disclosed calorie information, required them to make it more accessible by measures such as posting it on…

Sep 11, 2007 6:02 PM CDT

Law Prof Succeeds Despite Schizophrenia

When Elyn Saks got married in 2001, she wondered if aliens might attend the wedding reception. At one point in her life, she thought about kidnapping her psychotherapist and keeping her in a closet, so the woman would always be available for therapy sessions. Yet while Saks, 51, still struggles…

Sep 11, 2007 5:50 PM CDT

LA ‘Health Zoning’ Would Limit Fast Food

Los Angeles is considering a two-year ban on new fast food restaurants in part of the city, in order to encourage residents to eat better food. The approach, which the Los Angeles Times terms “health zoning,” is far from the first attempt to ban fast-food restaurants by municipal legislation, the…

Sep 10, 2007 11:58 PM CDT

‘TB Lawyer’ Fights to Regain Practice

Less than six months ago, life seemed good for Andrew H. Speaker, even though he’d been diagnosed with tuberculosis. The young personal injury lawyer was getting married, and about to start his own practice in Atlanta. Then he became the subject of international disapprobation for allegedly endangering others by taking…

Sep 10, 2007 10:17 PM CDT

Mom’s in Cold Storage, But That’s Legal

Two British sisters who have kept their mother’s body in cold storage at a London funeral home for a decade as they visited her there almost weekly have broken no laws. But family friends are now trying to end the two 50-something sisters’ practice of regularly sitting with their 84-year-old…

Sep 6, 2007 4:32 PM CDT

Vioxx Class Action Rejected

The New Jersey Supreme Court has refused to certify a nationwide class action against the company that makes the Vioxx painkiller, rejecting the plaintiffs’ efforts to prove losses through a “fraud on the market” theory. A superior court judge had granted class action status to the suit against Merck &…

Sep 6, 2007 3:32 PM CDT

Panel Allots Blame for Va. Tech Massacre

A lack of communication, misunderstood medical privacy laws and inadequate mental health treatment options share the blame along with gunman Seung Hui Cho for a shooting spree in which he killed 32 fellow students and faculty at Virginia Tech earlier this year before killing himself Those were the conclusions of…

Aug 31, 2007 3:04 PM CDT

Drug Marketing Suits Test Civil Liability

Eight putative class action suits consolidated before a federal judge in Newark, N.J., will be among the first cases to test whether pharmaceutical companies may face civil liability for promoting off-label use of their products. The suits were filed against Schering-Plough Corp. after the company agreed to a $435 million…

Aug 31, 2007 11:32 AM CDT

Va. Tech Panels: More Security Needed

More is needed to help keep students safe on campus, according to reports by three internal Virginia Tech review committees that were released today. The committees were appointed after a student gunman killed 32 students and faculty during a several-hour on-campus massacre on April 16, to help the university prevent…

Aug 22, 2007 10:56 PM CDT

Nexium False Ad Suit Pre-empted

A federal appeals court has ruled a state lawsuit challenging Nexium advertising claims is pre-empted by federal law and must be dismissed. The ruling is a big win for pharmaceutical manufacturers, the Legal Intelligencer reports. The Food and Drug Administration has exclusive authority to regulate pharmaceutical advertising, the 3rd U.S.…

Aug 22, 2007 10:37 AM CDT

Sperm Donor Meets the Kids

For years, Thomas Anthony Donahoe, a 50-year-old Massachusetts family therapist, has wondered about his children. He has never married. But, when he was recovering from a leg injury and needed the money, he donated sperm about 30 or 40 times in the late 1980s. Now the phone is starting to…

Aug 21, 2007 5:48 PM CDT

Vioxx Maker Fights Each Case

More than 45,000 people have sued the company that makes the painkiller Vioxx, yet none has received any cash from judgments. Merck & Co. has taken an aggressive stance, spending more than $1 billion to fight the cases and force plaintiffs to go to trial, the New York Times reports.…

Aug 21, 2007 1:34 PM CDT

Anna Nicole Breast Surgery Video Banned

A Southern California judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing a Texas plastic surgeon from selling, distributing or disseminating a 1994 videotape of breast augmentation surgery he performed on Anna Nicole Smith. The former stripper and Playboy playmate of the Year, perhaps best-known for her marriage to a Houston…

Aug 9, 2007 4:24 PM CDT

Somewhat Illegal Substance: Raw Milk

It isn’t completely banned in Boston—or in New York City, for that matter. But the sale of raw, unpasteurized milk is restricted in both Massachusetts and New York, as well as 24 other states, and it is completely illegal in another 15. This is encouraging an unlikely band of law-breakers,…

Aug 8, 2007 9:32 PM CDT