Bad Drug

Published on: February 1, 2021

Injured By A Defective Drug Or Medical Device? Find A Lawyer Who Will Give Your Claim The Attention It Deserves.

A successful trial lawyer recently published an article arguing the mass-tort system is badly in need of reform. It’s a good article. He’s right. The system absolutely needs reform.

What is the mass tort system? If you are not a lawyer, you may be asking this question. Look at this way. If you suffer an Alabama car accident injury, you may have a claim against the negligent driver. If you suffer an Alabama workplace injury, you may have a claim against your employer for workers’ compensation benefits. You file your individual claim against a specific defendant in Alabama and the court decides the issues. If you suffer an injury from a bad drug or defective medical device, the concept is similar but on a different scale. You make an individual claim against the company which made the defective product. It’s you versus the drug company. We have filed many of these defective drug and device cases in Federal Court.

The difference is the number of other claims. With a bad drug or defective medical device, hundreds or thousands of people across the United States may have suffered a personal injury. Your injuries and damages are unique. No two people suffer exactly the same. But, all the cases do have a lot of similar issues related to the product. The idea is that it is more efficient for a single judge to handle pre-trial issues where all the injured parties are trying to learn this information. So, Federal Courts will assign a single judge to oversee pre-trial motions and discovery. After the claims are fully investigated and prepared, they are sent back to the local judge for your individual trial. You end where you started — You versus the drug company.

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Published on: January 4, 2021

Injured By A Defective Drug? New Case Reminds Plaintiffs Of Important Legal Hurdle!

By Jeff Blackwell

On December 22, the 11th Circuit issued a new opinion dealing with the Learned Intermediary Doctrine under Georgia law. Many states, including Alabama, follow the same or similar versions of this doctrine. The Learned Intermediary Doctrine is a key issue in personal injury cases involving dangerous or defective prescription medications. If you suffered a serious injury from a bad drug, this legal doctrine may decide whether or not you can recover damages for your injuries.

What Is The LEARNED INTERMEDIARY DOCTRINE? How The Doctrine Impacts Bad Medication Cases.

So, what is the learned intermediary doctrine? Let’s start with the new 11th Circuit case, Hubbard v. Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals. The case involved a Georgia lady who suffered a catastrophic stroke while taking the prescription contraceptive Beyaz. Later, she sued Bayer claiming the company failed to warn adequately of the stroke risk.

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Published on: October 5, 2020

Zantac — The Chemical NDMA Causes Cancer

By Jeff Blackwell

Heartburn. Acid Reflux. For years, drug companies marketed Ranitidine (Zantac) as a miracle drug. Drug companies even advertised the drug as a lifestyle drug allowing patients to continue eating heartburn-causing foods. What was the cost of this miracle drug that produced blockbuster profits? The public is now learning how ranitidine breaks down into the chemical NDMA, a toxic cancer-causing chemical. How many innocent consumers may have suffered life-threatening cancer injuries from the drug? It’s a topic I’ve discussed in several articles.

For an overview of Ranitidine (Zantac) claims, you can read my article titled Zantac Cancer Injuries. I published the article on our law firm website. My article provides an overview of the drug Zantac, its history and its relationship to cancer-causing NDMA.

The drug Ranitidine (Zantac) reacts with acid in the stomach as well as enzymes in other organs to chemically create NDMA in the human body. For more in-depth discussion about Ranitidine and how the drug chemically produces carcinogenic NDMA, you can read my blog post titled Four Ways Zantac Causes Cancer. I’ve also written some other articles following the growing research and ongoing litigation involving Zantac and multiple cancer injuries. You can read those articles on this blog.

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Published on: September 10, 2020

Four Ways Zantac (Ranitidine) Leads To Cancer

By Jeff Blackwell

I’ve written several articles discussing Ranitidine (brand name Zantac) and cancer injuries. For a longer discussion on the background and history of Zantac, you can click the link and read our report at Zantac Cancer Lawsuits. I’ve also written several other Zantac articles which you can read on the Blackwell Law Firm Blog. We will continue to follow the growing Zantac research linking the drug to cancer injuries.

In my prior articles, I provided an overview of NDMA — the cancer causing substance associated with Zantac. No safe level of NDMA exists. NDMA is highly toxic. Ranitidine (Zantac) breaks down to create toxic, cancer-causing NDMA. In recent years, our firm has handled Alabama injury cases involving several different cancer-causing medications. But, Zantac is especially dangerous. Why? What makes Zantac so dangerous is that it breaks down in more than one way to put consumers at risk of injury. In other words, Ranitidine reacts in multiple ways to produce cancer causing NDMA. Here, are four ways Ranitidine leads to cancer-causing NDMA that can harm you:

RANITIDINE LEADS TO CANCER-CAUSING NDMA FORMATION IN THE HUMAN STOMACH

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Published on: June 15, 2020

Zantac And Cancer: Court Indicates It Will Study Relationship

By Jeff Blackwell

We are closely following developments in the Zantac (Ranitidine) injury litigation. In recent months, our office has started investigating numerous potential cancer injury cases involving the drug.

What makes Zantac dangerous? How is Ranitidine (as Zantac is known generically) linked to numerous cancers? For detailed information, you can read a couple articles I’ve written on the drug and its link to cancers. You can find them here:

Zantac Cancer Lawsuits – You can find this article in the Hot Topics section of our law firm website. It is a lengthy article where I discuss the drug, how it works and its association with potential cancer. As I discuss in the article, Zantac contains NDMA which is a highly carcinogenic compound.

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Published on: May 11, 2020

Does The Weight Loss Drug Belviq Cause Cancer?

By Jeff Blackwell

Weight Loss Drug Health Risks

Does the drug Belviq cause cancer? Are patients being injured by this medication? Recent research casts a big shadow over this drug. We are closely watching current developments.

What Is Belviq? Why Was It Marketed?

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Published on: May 4, 2020

Does Vaping Increase The Risk Of Coronavirus?

By Jeff Blackwell

Does vaping make you more vulnerable to severe infection from the novel coronavirus? This is a question asked by many medical researchers.

Emerging Studies Indicate Vaping Increases The Risk Of Severe Coronavirus Problems

Some doctors on the front lines of coronavirus treatment believe vaping may be a factor in the rising number of young people hospitalized for serious coronavirus issues. How does vaping affect the human body to create coronavirus risks?

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Published on: August 13, 2018

Do Kickbacks Drive The Sale Of Dangerous Drugs And Medical Devices?

By Jeff Blackwell

I remember listening as the doctor testified about his trips to Las Vegas. That’s where the medical device company took him to “discuss” its product. After these trips to Las Vegas, the doctor returned home and began implanting the product into countless Alabama patients.

At the time, I was surprised. Shocked. But, that was also the first time I had deposed an implanting doctor in one of these cases. In the years since, I have seen far too many instances of drug and device companies trying to tempt physicians into prescribing or implanting certain products.

In some cases, the physician may not even be fully trained in the potential issues of the drug or product at issue. I think this is an issue with transvaginal mesh implants. These products were heavily marketed to local physicians and regularly implanted in women. Yet, the potential problems from mesh implants can be tremendous. When problems occur, the same implanting physicians are often unable to help. I recently deposed a surgeon at a major research hospital who has tried to help one of my clients suffering from implanted mesh. Here is what that specialist said:

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Published on: October 30, 2017

Are Doctors Taking Diabetic Patients Off Invokana After Latest FDA Warning?

By Jeff Blackwell

A new research article asks if physicians are starting to move patients away from Invokana use? It’s a good question. On this blog, I’ve written about Invokana numerous times. For a detailed history of the drug, you can read some of my past articles which are cited at the end of this post.

What is Invokana? The drug is in a class of medications known as sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. Other drugs in this class include Farxiga, Jardiance, Glyxambi, and Xigduo XR. SGLT2 inhibitors work by altering kidney function to stop reabsorption of glucose into the blood stream.

Diabetes is a huge health problem in the United States. Here, in Alabama, we suffer one of the highest rates of diabetes. Diabetic patients need good medical care. What they do not need are pills that carry more risk than benefit. While we need medications, we need those medications to be tested and safe for use. That’s why the growing list of serious injuries associated with Invokana is an important issue to Alabama patients (and a frequent topic of this blog).

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Published on: October 23, 2017

Are Medical And Legal Articles Trustworthy?

By Jeff Blackwell

A recent study estimated a significant percentage of medical studies are ghostwritten. The really troubling detail — Up to half of all medical studies may be ghostwritten by companies with a financial interest in the research.

Next time you see or read a medical article listing a researcher or physician as the author, take a step back. Did the listed author really write the article? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe a drug company or medical device company funded and really authored the article.

Consider the revealing article published by former ghostwriter Linda Logdberg. The article is titled Being the Ghost in the Machine: A Medical Ghostwriter’s Personal View. How does Ms. Logdberg now feel about her former career?

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