Access To Justice

News developments that we’ll be watching at Sokolove Law:

Oil giant BP was ordered to pay $100 million in damages to contract workers after a federal  jury found that the company exposed the workers to toxic substances at its Texas City oil refinery in 2007, writes the Houston Chronicle. The story says that the plaintiffs alleged exposure to carbon disulfide while working on two refining units. BP said it will appeal the decision.

Tough new rules regarding the use of anti-psychotic drugs are being sought in the wake of a recent Chicago Tribune investigation that found the medications were sometimes used to “chemically restrain” elderly patients in Illinois nursing homes.  The Tribune reports today that health advocates are urging Gov. Pat Quinn’s Nursing Home Safety Task Force to target the problem.

People with pacemakers should think twice before undergoing an MRI scan.  ScienceDaily reports that FDA researchers have found that MRI scans may cause certain cardiac pacemakers to inadequately stimulate a patient’s heart due to the magnetic pulses from the MRI mixing with the electronic pulses from the pacemaker. This lack of stimulation could create a potentially dangerous situation for these patients, according to the article.

Industrial launderer Cintas has agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that it failed to pay a living wage to some of its laundry workers, writes the Associated Press. The tentative settlement provides $3.3 million in back wages and interest for more than 500 Southern California Cintas laundry workers at the company’s Ontario, Pico Rivera, and Whittier locations, according to a Workers United/SEIU press release. Cintas doesn’t admit wrongdoing in the settlement, says the AP.

Recent Recalls: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that Dorel Juvenile Group is voluntarily recalling about 477,000 Dorel infant car seat/carriers. These carriers were also sold under the Safety 1st, Cosco, Eddie Bauer, and Disney brands. Dorel said it has received 77 reports of the carrier handle fully or partially falling off. At least three injuries to infants have been reported, including a head injury, bumps, and bruises. The product can still be used as a car seat when properly installed, according to the CSPC.

We’ll be watching these developments here at Sokolove Law.

News developments that we’ll be watching at Sokolove Law:

Hardly kid stuff: Crucial safety data often goes unpublished from drug trials studying children, according to a new study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Even when such studies appear in peer-reviewed journals, half don’t focus on the new safety findings, writes Reuters.

First test: Law.com reports that January marks when the first in a long string of lawsuits over contrasting agents that allegedly cause nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) comes to trial. The suit, scheduled to take place in a San Francisco courtroom, focuses on Bayer’s Magnevist, a gadolinium-based contrast agent used to help doctors read MRIs.

Three years after the Vioxx scandal, the FDA has yet to implement key changes proposed by the GAO and others to help it better monitor drug safety, according to a story by the Associated Press. The recommendations followed in the aftermath of the FDA’s embarrassment over Vioxx, a blockbuster drug it approved in 1999 and had to pull in 2004 after it was linked to heart attack and stroke.

Rare but serious complications – including bleeding, infection, and death – may result from the use of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), according to the FDA. NPWT devices help in the healing and closure of wounds. The agency has issued a notification to health professionals and advice for patients regarding the complications.

Labeling change for Voltaren Gel (diclofenac sodium): Endo, Novartis, and the FDA notified healthcare professionals of revisions to the Hepatic Effects section of the anti-inflammatory drug’s prescribing information to add new warnings and precautions about the potential for elevation in liver function tests during treatment with all products containing diclofenac sodium.

Bad things do happen to good people. Sokolove Law is here to protect your rights.

This just in….

An FDA panel suggests that MRI drugs made by Bayer AG and General Electric Co. should be restricted to patients without severe kidney problems amid reports that they may cause nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF), a potentially fatal skin condition. Omniscan by GE and Bayer’s Magnevist were among seven FDA-approved products containing gadolinium and used in MRIs that the panel looked at, according to the Dow Jones report.

Science Daily reports today on a study in the  December 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association that found about 20% of dialysis patients undergoing a percutaneous coronary intervention such as an angioplasty receive medication that may increase their risk for in-hospital bleeding.

We’ll be watching these developments. Count on Sokolove Law to protect your rights.

MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging is a powerful technology that can be used to produce incredibly accurate pictures of the inside of the human body.  But according to some researchers, what you don’t see could kill you.

That’s because MRI’s use contrast agents, drugs administered by radiologists that once inside the body, dramatically improve the visibility of the patient’s internal body structure.

It is undeniable that MRI, and the use of contrast agents have dramatically improved doctor’s ability to diagnose all kinds of illnesses from cancer to a broken hip.  But in recent years there have been reports that the contrast agents, thought to be benign may in fact bring some very dangerous side effects.

In May of 2007, a previously undisclosed FDA Report: “Undeniable” Association between Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents and NSF, found that certain contrast agents containing gadolinium had been linked to a fatal disease called Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF)

The report by the FDA’s Dr. Melanie Blank, a kidney specialist, concluded that an “undeniable and strong association” existed between contrast agents containing gadolinium and NSF.

Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF) is a potentially fatal disease that is characterized by painful swelling and thickening of the skin. There is no known cure or definitive cause for NSF, though it appears to affect only MRI patients who have kidney problems.

This alleged link has caused a lot of headaches for GE maker of a contrast agent know as
Omniscan.  Similar drugs made by Bayer and others have also been tied to NSF.

As you might imagine these cases have caught the eye of regulators.  In May of 2007, the FDA asked manufacturers to include a new boxed warning on the product labeling of all gadolinium-based contrast agents which are used to enhance the quality of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).  The FDA’s notice is here.

According to Jeff Gerth over at ProPublica:

People with NSF, or relatives of those who have died, have filed more than 400 lawsuits in U.S. federal courts against GE, Bayer and two other makers of similar drugs in the past several years. About 100 cases don’t concern Omniscan. Of the roughly 300 that do involve the GE drug, about 70 percent relate exclusively to Omniscan, according to court records and lawyers on both sides.

If you think you or someone you know is suffering from side effects associated with a contrast agent, or related to your MRI, please contact us, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries.