Articles Posted in Legal News

There are reports that Penumbra’s JET 7 7 Ultra Flex Catheter has a defect that can cause serious injury or death. As a result, the medical device manufacturer recalled it inDecember 2020. One month later, one of Penumbra’s investors filed a class-action suit, alleging that it concealed information on the catheter’s defects.  Can we expect injury and wrongful death lawsuits to be filed in connection with this recall?  Let’s talk about this recall and what we might expect moving forward.

What Is the JET 7 Reperfusion Catheter? 

The JET 7 Reperfusion Catheter with Xtra Flex Technology is a medical device intended to remove stroke patients’ blood clots and restore blood flow. It works by sucking the blood clot from the affected artery. The catheter’s manufacturer, Penumbra, introduced it to the U.S. market in July 2019. By the end of the year, this device accounted for over 30 percent of Penumbra’s total revenue.

April 30, 2021 Update:  Wow!  We have a verdict.  And it is a big one.  $7.1 million for three plaintiffs.  The jury kicked in $2.1 million in punitive damages.  Why?  They didn’t just find 3M negligent in manufacturing the Combat Arms earplugs.  The jury thought 3M need to learn a lesson for what it did to these victims.  

For the life of me, I can’t see why 3M let these cases go to trial.  The outcome seemed almost predetermined.

• Get more on the 3M earplug jury verdict

The last 2 years have been pretty bad for the popular heartburn drug Zantac after testing revealed that it contained significantly high levels of the carcinogen N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). This led to Zantac being pulled off the shelves of major retailers and eventually a nationwide FDA recall.

Hundreds of individuals have now filed lawsuits against Zantac’s manufacturers. The suits alleged that taking Zantac caused the plaintiffs to develop certain types of cancer. Hundreds more Zantac cancer lawsuits are expected to be filed.

The source of all the trouble is NDMA which was in Zantac.  NDMA a cancerous poison metabolizes into carcinogens like formaldehyde.

Window tints laws require a significant amount of light to be transmitted in car windows. Once pulled over, a police officer may check to see if your car’s window tints are legal or not. You may ask yourself how police officers can do that. In addition to knowing how to check for too much tint, you must know the window tint laws in both Maryland and D.C.

How do the police determine if a window has too much tint?

The only way to determine if there is an actual violation of the statute is for the officer, after stopping the vehicle, to conduct a test utilizing a “two-piece window tint meter.” When observing a vehicle without the benefit of such a device there is no definitive way to determine if the window tint on a car is in violation of the statute other than by eyeballing it.

What is the legal tint in Maryland?

In Maryland, legal tint varies by vehicle. All windows in passenger cars, convertibles, and station wagons are required to have at least 35% light transmittance. These cars are also not allowed to have red, yellow, amber, and reflective window tint.

When I get sick, I assume an antibiotic will solve my problems.  I’m slightly allergic to amoxicillin. Zithromax, Z-Pak (Z-Pac, I’ve seen both), Zmax, or any similar antibiotic to treat bacterial infections is my drug of choice for ear infections, strep throat, pneumonia, traveler’s diarrhea, or other intestinal infections.

There are risks with any drug.  You have been told that time and time again. But if you are like me, you just want to feel better and you have a history with antibiotics of doing just that.

A new study underscores that maybe we should slow our roll in racing to get Zithromax.  Because the study suggests that the potential side effects are more than just theoretical and can increase the risk of heart problems and death.  This gets my attention. Because I’d rather be sick than dead.

Anyone that has been using the drug Elmiron to treat bladder conditions should be aware of the growing tide of concerns regarding the long-term safety of this popular drug.

After an initial wave of reports linking the use of Elmiron to serious vision impairment, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently stepped in and required the manufacturer of Elmiron to add a “black box” warning label. The new warning label alerts doctors and patients that Elmiron may cause a rare eye disease called pigmentary maculopathy that can cause vision impairment or blindness. The new warning label comes just as Elmiron lawsuits are already being filed across the country.

• Get my (wild) speculation about my expected average Elmiron settlement payout

Federal lawsuits against Allergan’s Natrelle Biocell Textured Breast Implants emerged months after its manufacturer, Allergan, recalled it. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all federal into an MDL class action in New Jersey (most recent court order). The MDL lawsuits allege that the implants cause breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a rare form of cancer.

• Belviq cancer cases
• Zantac cancer cases

Recent studies have shown that Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are linked to serious adverse health effects, particularly various cancers. This is of serious concern, especially to public health, because of how prevalent PFAS are in both manufactured products and the environment.

What Are PFAS? 

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals found in everyday products such as food packaging, commercial household products, drinking water, and living organisms. They are not naturally occurring. Starting in the 1940s, they were initially used in stain and water-resistant fabrics, carpeting, paints, cleaning products, and fire-fighting foams. One of the most famous PFAS-based brands is Teflon, first developed in the late 1930s.

The Arthrex iBalance Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) is an implant device that assists surgeons with performing total knee replacements in patients suffering cartilage loss from osteoarthritis or post-traumatic arthritis. Arthrex markets this product as an improved and longer-lasting alternative to traditional total knee replacement devices. They claim it is a “complete, minimally invasive instrument.” Traditional devices need their metal plates and screws replaced, which necessitates further surgery. Arthrex intended this device to reduce the likelihood for further surgeries. By reducing this likelihood, the iBalance TKA is meant to be convenient and less expensive than its competitors.

The iBalance TKA System comes with a pamphlet providing detailed instructions and several tools to assist with knee replacement surgery. Arthrex intended this device to match the normal knee’s curvature, to ensure that the knee bends naturally. Its parts are made of metal and polyethylene plastic.

Knee replacement surgery

Xeljanz is a popular medication that is prescribed to treat patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis. Xeljanz is the brand name for the drug Tofacitinib, which works by suppressing the patient’s immune system to help reduce inflammation in the body. Since its original release in 2012, this medication has exploded in popularity because of its placement of ads on television and in magazines.

Manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the company has raked in over a billion dollars in profit off the hundreds of thousands of people use the drug. In February 2019, Pfizer was hit with an FDA safety warning that linked Xeljanz to an increased risk of blood clots in the lungs and overall death.  This has led to many lawyers, including us, to investigate potential Zeljanz lawsuits.

Months later, this forced Pfizer to put a black box warning on their drug label. This scares off doctors and patients. This is arguably why Pfizer did not suggest to the FDA adding this warning long ago. This warning is expected to put significant stress on the company’s profits as patients avoid the medication and file new failure to warn lawsuits. (The good news for Pfizer is that there warning will prevent many future lawsuits from being filed.)