MedicoLegal News & Comment*
 

      Spring 2008
              

    ● Two per cent of NY doctors on state medical board's watch list.
       The New York Times (05/07)

    ● Florida and Iowa legislatures approve certificate-of-need bills.
       Modern Healthcare (05/05)

    ● Two New Jersey cardiologists sued for university hospital kickback scheme.
       Heartwire-Medscape (05/02)

    ● San Fernando Valley doctor indicted in narcotic prescription scam.
       The Los Angeles Times (05/01)

    ● San Francisco pays out a $5.1 million for SF General Hospital malpractice.
       San Francisco Chronicle (04/30)

    ● UCLA staffer indicted for selling celebrity medical records to the media.
       The Los Angeles Times (04/30)

    ● Initial lawsuit brought against Tyco Healthcare for tainted heparin death.
       The Legal Intelligencer (04/29)  

    ● FDA blamed for risky studies of artificial blood substitutes.
       The  Washington Post (04/29)

    ● Physician sues Grady Memorial in Atlanta over withdrawal of job offer.
       The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (04/27)

    ● Doctors and lawyers approve medical malpractice reform bill passed by Tennessee legislature.
       The Tennessean (04/25)

    ● Do insurance companies have a conflict of interest in deciding on disability benefits?
       The Associated Press (04/24)

    ● Problems abound in divvying up payouts to ill Florida smokers.
       Daily Business Review (04/23)

    ● As many as 81 U.S. deaths may be attributed to contaminated heparin from China.
       The New York Times (04/22)

    ● Louisiana court blocks pharmaceutical company's access to patient records.
       American Medical News (04/21)

    ● Los Angeles city attorney sues Anthem Blue Cross over unlawfully canceling policies.
       San Francisco Chronicle (04/17)

    ● Wellpoint, Inc. and FDA plan to collaborate on finding problem drugs.
       The Wall Street Journal (04/15)

    ● There's a long history of snooping of celebrity records at UCLA Medical Center.
       Los Angeles Times (04/11)

    ● New York court throws out compensatory and punitive damages in a tobacco case.
       New York Law Journal (04/11)

    ● Public forum to address safety issues on vaccines.
       The New York Times (04/11)

    ● Celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht to be retried on 41 counts of mail and wire fraud.
       The American Lawyer (04/10)

    ● FDA raises estimate of deaths caused by Chinese contaminated heparin.
       The Washington Post (04/09)

    ● Suicide warning suits pre-empted for makers of anti-depressive drugs.
       The Legal Intelligencer (04/09)

     ● Medical errors may cost more than 238,000 lives and Medicare $8.8 billion.
       The Washington Post (04/08)

    ● Hospitalized patients not getting full disclosure of adverse events.
        Medscape (04/08)

    ● Pre-emption may block numerous adverse drug reaction lawsuits.
       The New York Times (04/06)

    ● Tennessee bill would reduce the number of frivolous med-mal lawsuits.
       The Tennessean (04/04)

    ● Wellpoint will stop paying for adverse medical events; others may follow.
       Modern Healthcare (04/02)

    ● Lack of reform bill may cost Pennsylvania doctors higher malpractice premiums.
       Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (03/28)

    ● Patient arbitration agreements upsetting lawyers.
       The National Law Journal (03/28)

    ● Lawsuits driving obstetricians away from attending at births.
       The Times-Picayune (03/27)

    ● Teenager dies of malignant hyperthermia during breast surgery.
       Todayshow.com (03/26)

    ● Cigarette company pays for a lung cancer study via an intermediary foundation.
       The New York Times (03/26)
   
    ● Court ruling protects peer-review for journal articles from pharmaceutical company.
       Medscape Heartwire (03/24)

    ● Philadelphia judge rules that federal law does not pre-empt state claim against Paxil.
       The Legal Intelligencer (03/14)

    ● Florida surgeon linked to patient deaths finally relinquishes his license.
       Miami Herald (03/13)
   
    ● Death of Florida patient in fall from hospital bed blamed on use of agency nurses.
       South Florida Sun-Sentinel (03/10)

    ● More Nevada clinics may have exposed patients to hepatitis.
       Yahoo News (03/08)
   
    ● Florida Supreme Court broadens patients' access to medical records.
       Modern Healthcare (03/07)

    ● Hormone replacement therapy lawsuit yields Arkansas woman $27 million.
       The Associated Press (03/07)

    ● Thousands may have been exposed to hepatitis C at Las Vegas clinic.
       Yahoo News (03/06)

    ● Government concedes vaccines may have injured Georgia girl with autism.
       The Associated Press (03/06)
   
    ● MRI dye Gadolinium induced disease now the subject of multiple lawsuits.
       Parker Waichman Alonso LLP (03/05)

    ● Merck says 44,000 have signed up for Vioxx settlement.
       The Associated Press (03/04)

    ● California hospital investigated for three 'wrong-site' surgical errors.
       Los Angeles Times (03/01)

    ● Philadelphia jury awards $12 million in a failure to diagnose breast cancer case.
       The Legal Intelligencer (02/29)

    ● Anemia drug found to increase the death rate in cancer patients.
       The New York Times (02/27)
   
    ● Supreme court to decide if FDA approval excludes fraud exception in a Rezulin case.
       The Associated Press (02/26)

    ● Supreme court makes it harder to sue over medical devices in state courts.
       The Associated Press (02/20)

    ● Judge slashes jury verdict against Wyeth in Premarin induced breast cancer cases.
       The Associated Press (02/20)

    ● FDA considers allowing drug companies to give doctors articles on unapproved drug use.
       The New York Times (02/16)

    ● Congressional hearing added to multiple lawsuits for antibiotic causing liver damage.
       New Jersey Law Journal (02/15)
   
    ● High volume and the need for speed lead to prescription errors by pharmacists.
       USA Today (02/13)
   
    ● Baxter recalls multi-dose heparin due to many allergic responses to the drug.
       Fierce Pharma (02/12)
   
    ● California doctors balk at Blue Cross letter requesting policy holders' data.
       Los Angeles Times (02/12)

    ● Florida heart surgeon still practicing despite agreement to surrender his license.
       The Miami Herald (02/08) 

    ● Merck must pay $671 million to settle two whistleblower lawsuits.
       The Legal Intelligencer (02/08)

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