A St. Louis jury has ordered three pharmaceutical companies to pay at least $7.3 million for overcharging Medicaid for prescription drugs. Jurors found that Warrick Pharmaceutical, Schering Corp. and Schering-Plough Corp. encouraged pharmacies and other healthcare providers to purchase drugs above the average wholesale price. Jurors returned to deliberations Thursday to consider punitive damages. You [...]

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In a case argued by David Randolph Smith to the Court of Appeals on September 8, 2008, on October 29, 2008, in a 2-1 decision the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in Crespo v. McCullough that Tennessee’s three-year statute of repose in medical malpractice cases could not be constitutionally applied to minors injured before December [...]

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MEMPHIS, TN — Attorneys Tim Edwards and Ed Wallis are announcing that the deaths of five users of a small mechanical heart pump have prompted the manufacturer to recall the device. According to device maker Thoratec Corp., wear on an electrical wire in the implant may cause the devices to fail. The recall applies to [...]

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From a neighboring state, the Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld more than $4 million in compensatory damages in the case of woman who died from a lethal dose of painkillers after being misdiagnosed with pancreatic cancer. According to reports, Ersel Allen received massive doses of the painkiller Dilaudid while receiving care at Hospice Ministries. A [...]

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Federal regulators issued warnings Tuesday to drugmaker Bayer over marketing linked to two aspirin medicines. The Food and Drug Administration said that the Bayer Women’s Low Dose Aspirin + Calcium and Bayer Aspirin With Health Advantage products had been marketed illegally with unproven medical claims. An FDA official said the agency plans to take enforcement [...]

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Over the several weeks since concerns first emerged about a potential link between the Byetta pen and pancreatitis, the stock price for the drug’s maker, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, has fallen dramatically. On June 5, 2008, the stock price was at $32.77. At the close of October 29, 2008, the stock closed at $9.58, down $23.19. Byetta [...]

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The wife of a professor at at the University of La Verne has been diagnosed as partially blind in her right eye following laser vision corrective surgery, LASIK. The patient, an attorney, blames a rushed schedule and lack of communication by the doctor for the injuries. “The doctor never explained to me what to expect [...]

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A New Jersey jury has ordered drugmaker Wyeth to pay $3 million to a woman who contracted a serious lung disease from taking the withdrawn drug fen-phen. The Bergen County Superior Court jury found that the diet drug was responsible for causing Gloria Stribling to develop primary pulmonary hypertension. A previous global settlement involving the [...]

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A national fraternity and its University of Texas affiliate have been ordered to pay $16.2 million in damages for an alleged hazing incident that lead to the death of a student. State District Judge John Dietz ordered the damages after both the national and university chapters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity failed to respond the [...]

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In the wake of a recall affecting nearly 1.6 million cribs, federal regulators plan to institute new standards governing crib durability and hardware problems. A spokeswoman for the Consumer Products Safety Commission said that while voluntary standards have decreased the number of crib injuries and deaths, they have not fully addressed comprehensive durability standards. Durability [...]

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