Health Law

Quarantined TB Patient is Atlanta Lawyer

A 31-year-old lawyer from Atlanta is the “extensively drug-resistant” tuberculosis patient whose flight to Europe on commercial airlines, against medical advice, prompted the first federal quarantine order since 1963 last week. Despite being the subject of a no-fly order, due to his potentially fatal disease, Andrew Speaker went to Europe…

May 31, 2007 10:40 PM CDT

Med Mal Creates Unlikely Safety Teams

Stereotypically, those injured or killed by medical errors and their family members sue for redress. But some victims and their relatives are banding together in partnership with representatives of the very medical facility where the problems occurred, seeking to improve the situation for other patients. Sorrel King, for instance, and…

May 30, 2007 9:52 PM CDT

A $2.6 Million Verdict in Accutane Suit

An Atlantic City jury warded an Alabama man $2.62 million yesterday in his lawsuit against the makers of acne drug Accutane. The verdict against Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. of Nutley, N.J., is the first in a case claiming the drug causes inflammatory bowel disease, according to the Associated Press. Plaintiff Andrew…

May 30, 2007 4:13 PM CDT

CDC Quarantine First Since ’63

The federal government has quarantined a man who flew on two trans-Atlantic flights with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. The quarantine order by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first to be imposed by the federal government since 1963, according to the Washington Post. States sometimes detain…

May 30, 2007 2:44 PM CDT

Insurer to Settle Cancellation Class Action

In an effort to settle a class-action lawsuit, Blue Cross of California has agreed it won’t cancel health coverage unless it can show deception by a policyholder. Consumer groups had claimed the insurer had canceled policies for honest mistakes on insurance application forms, often when policyholders submitted claims for treatment,…

May 11, 2007 5:21 PM CDT

DOJ Targets Drug Marketing

A guilty plea by the company that makes OxyContin caps the latest of several federal prosecutions against companies for making misleading statements about pharmaceuticals. Purdue Pharma agreed to pay $600 million for misleading the public by claiming the painkiller was less addictive than other narcotics. The company’s top lawyer, Howard…

May 11, 2007 1:49 PM CDT

OxyContin Maker Pleads Guilty

Purdue Pharma L.P. has pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the risk of addiction to the painkiller OxyContin. Three current and former company executives have also entered pleas, according to the Associated Press. The news comes two days after the company agreed to pay $19 million to 26 states…

May 10, 2007 5:25 PM CDT

High Court: Irish Teen has Right to UK Abortion

An Irish court has ruled that a pregnant 17-year-old who is in the care of the government has the right to travel to England for a legal abortion, as some 7,000 of Irish women do annually. Abortion is illegal in Ireland, except to save the life of the mother. Social…

May 10, 2007 12:16 AM CDT

350-Plus Seroquel Suits May Be Pressure Tactic

Patients who took the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel filed more than 350 lawsuits last month in Delaware state courts. The filings could be an effort to force drug maker AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals L.P. into an early settlement of cases in the fast-track state, according to the National Law Journal. That could influence…

May 9, 2007 12:14 PM CDT

New Zealand Vets Ask Billions re Agent Orange

New Zealand veterans of the Vietnam War reportedly may sue their government for billions of dollars in compensation for injuries allegedly caused by use of the dioxin-containing defoliant Agent Orange. The suit would focus on allegations that government officials from the time of the war to the present day have…

May 7, 2007 8:09 PM CDT

Fudged Weight Weighed in Insurance Appeal

A case pending before a California appeals court contends Blue Shield of California suddenly canceled coverage for a policyholder, resulting in delayed surgery and lasting injury. At issue is whether the cancellation was justified under a state law permitting rescissions for “willful misrepresentation.” The outcome could influence the way insurers…

May 7, 2007 6:16 PM CDT

No Punitive Damages in Wrongful Adoption Case

Even though an adoption agency apparently intentionally withheld information about severe mental illness among the parents and grandparents of a child from his adoptive family decades ago, it cannot be assessed punitive damages, a New York appeals court has decided. The ruling is expected to be persuasive in other such…

May 4, 2007 10:27 PM CDT

A Clash of Rights in TB Cases

A drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis pits the rights of those who are infected against those of the public. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the percentage of patients infected with the new, more virulent strain of TB rose from 3 percent in 2000 to 11 percent in 2004,…

May 3, 2007 2:27 PM CDT

TB Patient Jailed for Risky Actions

An Arizona man with tuberculosis has been confined to a hospital’s jail ward since August because he did not wear a mask in public or take prescribed medications. “It’s not fair that they put me in jail,” 27-year-old Robert Daniels told the Los Angeles Times. He wants to be moved…

May 2, 2007 4:59 PM CDT

Illinois First State to Pursue ‘Super Bug’ Bill

Responding to a drug-resistant bacteria that kills thousands of Americans annually, Illinois is likely to be the first state to mandate an aggressive hospital testing and treatment program to try contain the so-called super bug. A bill moving through the state legislature would make Illinois the first state to require…

Apr 30, 2007 5:54 PM CDT