Product Liability Lawyer Blog

August 30, 2016

Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) Market Up Despite FDA Warnings

According to a recent news feature from Yahoo Finance, industry experts are predicting that there will be a roughly 4 percent increase in the world testosterone replacement therapy market over the next handful of years. While this may seem like a good thing for the testosterone hormone industry, it is actually a relatively modest rise as compared to the huge increases we have seen in the past decade or so.

Prior to a huge marketing effort from the drug companies that manufacture testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) hormone, the drug was only used to treat a very rare condition known as hypogonadism. Hypogonadism is a rare condition that results in a patient not developing enough testosterone hormone for proper development or proper function. These numbers are extremely low. Continue reading

August 28, 2016

GMA Co-Anchor Talks Getting Hip Replacement at 47

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Many people think of getting a total hip replacement operation as something that for the most part, only elderly people have to worry about. While it is true that some younger people break one or both hips in a catastrophic accident, in years past, it is true that most patients in the United States getting a total hip replacement operation were generally older people.

However, as discussed in a recent news feature from Page Six, Lara Spencer, who is a co-anchor on ABC’s flagship morning program “Good Morning America,” needed a hip replacement at the relatively young age of 47 and decided to talk about her medical issues with the audience. She first told the audience, when she first was told she needed to have the operation, she chose not to do anything or tell anyone. The reason was that she believed this was an “old person’s problem,” and she couldn’t believe it was happening to her. Continue reading

August 25, 2016

Applebaum v. Target Corp: Products Liability Cases

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In Applebaum v. Target Corp, plaintiff was injured while riding a bicycle she purchased at defendant’s big box retail store. She claimed the reason she was injured was because of a defective brake on the bike that was resold to her after another customer had returned the item. She claims the bike was returned to the store because of the defective brake, negligently repaired, and then resold to her, thus causing her to suffer a personal injury.

According to court records from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, this case deals with the issue of whether plaintiff was injured while riding her bicycle due to a defective bicycle or due to operator error. Continue reading

August 22, 2016

Possible New Way to Stop Bleeding Disorder Caused by Pradaxa

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Patients who suffer from a serious medical condition must take a blood thinner or anticlotting agent to prevent the formation of blood clots that can be deadly. Patients who suffer from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and various other conditions need to take these medications to prevent potentially deadly medical conditions from occurring.

Blood clotting is an important bodily function. It is a reaction in the body to stop bleeding. This can be from internal bleeding or external bleeding, such as when a person gets a cut on his or finger. People who suffer hemophilia do not clot normally, and this is why even a small cut can lead to serious blood loss. Continue reading

August 18, 2016

Plaintiff’s Lawyer Calls Xarelto Clinical Trials Akin to a Science Project

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

There is no question that Xarelto has been linked to a lot of serious bleeding disorders, many of which resulted in death. There are many reasons the drug has proven so dangerous to users, but a lot of the problems are result of the reportedly negligent manner in which Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals performed the safety testing and informed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Results.

According to a recent news feature from Forbes, one plaintiff’s lawyer that handles Xarelto injury lawsuits states that these experiments were conducted in the same manner that young students would do in an elementary school science fair when making their projects. Continue reading

August 15, 2016

Growing Cartilage in Lab May Take Place of Artificial Joint Devices

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

We have heard a lot recently about how stem cells can be used to help patients who would typically require the implantation of an artificial joint such as a hip or knee. Using one of these methods, doctors are able to remove bone marrow from the patient and use the stem cells in the bone marrow to attempt to regrow bone tissue and joint material inside the patient. While this method may work, it is only one method doctors are using with stem cells, but there are others.

In a recent news feature form HNGN, doctors are now using stem cells to regrow cartilage in a laboratory and then implant that it into the patient. Since the cartilage was grown using the patient’s own stem cells, the new cartilage will have the same DNA as the patient. This should mean that the body will not see the new cartilage as a foreign substance, so there should be no risk of rejection, which is always a major risk in an organ transplant or event the implanting of an artificial joint like a knee or hip. Continue reading

August 11, 2016

Testosterone Therapy Can Cause Prostate Tumor to Grow

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has become increasingly common over the past decade. In the past, there had been little interest in giving patients testosterone hormones unless they had a relatively rare medical condition known as hypogonadism. This condition involves a patient with an extremely low testosterone count caused by a defective hormone gland and is causing developmental disorders in younger patients. In fact, this was the only medical condition for testosterone hormone was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and still remains the only approved use.

While the vast majority of the millions of men taking testosterone replacement therapy on a regular basis do not suffer from hypogonadism, the reason they can get the drug involves a gray area in FDA regulations that allows a doctor to prescribe a drug for what is known as off-label use. While this is technically allowed, we have seen recent cases where doctors are being fined and subject to discipline for allowed these so-called Low T clinics to prescribe patients testosterone hormone using their respective DEA numbers without them having actually examined the patients. Continue reading

August 7, 2016

Hip Resurfacing as an Alternative to Total Hip Replacement Surgery

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In total hip replacement surgery, the deteriorated natural hip joint is cut out and site is prepared to receive the artificial hip joint. The site must be prepared very precisely so as not to allow for any unnecessary movement of the artificial hip joint.

If the hip joint is not placed exactly as required, it can move from side to side or otherwise rock in place and this can result in device failure. While the vast majority of surgeons are good at what they do and would never incorrectly implant an artificial hip device, it does happen. Continue reading

August 4, 2016

Stem Cell Research Being Used in Place of Total Hip Replacement

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In the past couple months, many people have heard about stem cell treatments being used to try to avoid major joint surgery. Much of these news came from the baseball world, where the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (LAA) allowed doctors to perform a stem cell treatment instead of “Tommy John” surgery on two pitchers.

In the case of these baseball players, Tommy John surgery (named after the first pitcher to get the procedure, more formally known as an ulna collateral ligament or UCL procedure) can save a career, but it takes over a year for the pitcher to return to the game in most cases. The new procedure uses stem cells from bone marrow (not embryonic stem cells), and they may be able to regrow the damaged tissue instead of needing a replacement. Unfortunately, for one of the two pitchers, it did not work, so they had to do the Tommy John procedure after all. Continue reading

August 1, 2016

Hefferan v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. – Jurisdictional Issues in Product Liability Lawsuits

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

For the second time in a week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has dismissed a product liability claim, citing forum non conviens. This is a discretionary power a court has to dismiss a case when another court (or forum) is better suited to hear the case.

The dismissal isn’t going to prevent a plaintiff from re-filing the case, but depending on the facts, he or she may run up against a statute of limitations issue. It’s always better to thoroughly research such issues ahead of time so that it doesn’t become time and money wasted.

There are many considerations that go into determining the proper forum in a product liability lawsuit, including:

Where plaintiff lives;
Where defendant is headquartered/ operates/ distributes;
Where the injury occurred.