The Zimmer NexGen artificial knee has been causing patients much pain and suffering over the past decade. Zimmer first instituted a recall of one group of NexGen components in 2010, and there have been other recalls in the years following. Many patients with the NexGen knees have suffered pain and…
On July 1, 2016 a jury in Philadelphia sent a very loud and angry message to Johnson & Johnson. After a lengthy trial, the jury awarded a young boy who grew breasts after taking the drug Risperdal a staggering $70,000,000.00. This verdict is far and away the largest money judgment…
You see ads for them all the time. Supplements, creams and pills that will help you lose weight, clear up your skin, improve your sex life or maybe do all of these things at the same time. Whether they’re in late night cable TV infomercials or spam email, you might…
My second guest post was published today on the employment law website, The Spiggle Law Firm. Tom Spiggle runs a robust employment law practice in Virginia, and now and then he asks me to write posts dealing with legal issues that arise when a medical device or drug fails and…
I was reading an article about the latest study touting the benefits of exercise. It was stunning. The study involved analyzing the brains of two groups of mice: one group in a cage with an exercise wheel; the other in a cage without the wheel. Researchers watched the mice for…
People who get medical implants don’t do so out of boredom. They get the surgery because they have a serious medical problem or they want to prevent one. Many of these implants have benefits for patients while some, in addition to doing some good, also can do great harm. The…
Approximately 250,000 people have an IVC filter implanted each year. Each time it captures a blood clot and prevents it from moving into the heart or lungs, it is a great thing. Unfortunately, IVC filters often cause other health problems, sometimes as serious as the conditions they were designed to…
They say justice delayed is justice denied. Apparently Judge Kinkeade in the Depuy Pinnacle Artificial Hip MDL thinks so. On June 10, 2016, Judge Kinkeade denied Depuy’s motion to delay all future trials until the company completes its appeal of a massive $500 million jury verdict. Depuy Orthopaedics and its…
Profits can lead corporations to take dangerous risks. In the medical device industry, it can mean that a company decides to rush a product onto market without proper clinical testing. Or it could mean the company goes too far in promoting a product for “off-label use.” Sometimes, the pursuit of…
Many people still have the Depuy ASR hip components implanted in their bodies. I get calls from them. Some have elevated metal levels in their blood; others are telling me about pain in the hip area, popping sounds, and other problems. They are preparing to schedule revision surgery, and they…