All news posts from March 01, 2003 to March 31, 2003

A New York jury awarded $47 million Wednesday to a 54-year-old boilermaker who suffers from a severe form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Plaintiff Robert Crouteau worked as a contractor for two New York utility companies, Consolidated Edison Inc. and KeySpan Corp. unit Long Island Lighting Co. (LILCO), unti

NASCAR officials are discussing the possibility of banning the controversial herbal stimulant ephedra in the wake of major league baseball player Steve Bechler's death. According to NASCAR sources, up to 80 percent of crewmembers and a handful of drivers have used ephedra at some point to fight fatigue and fat during

A major health insurance company has agreed to pay $41 million after losing a wrongful denial-of-claim lawsuit in Ohio. In 1998, Robert Dardinger sued Anthem Inc. for rejecting his wife's treatment claim the year before. Esther Dardinger, who died of brain cancer in 1997, was using a chemotherapy technique that Anthe

A Rhode Island superior court judge has granted attorneys access to the site of a horrific nightclub fire that killed dozens of people and injured nearly 200 more February 20. Plaintiff attorneys representing the families of victims who perished in the tragedy will be allowed to inspect the site using the aid of foren

Philip Morris lost a $10 billion verdict Friday in a class-action lawsuit filed over the company's use of the word "light" to promote cigarettes. The suit, brought on behalf of 1.1 million Illinois smokers who bought and used Marlboro Light and Cambridge Light products, accused Philip Morris of deceptively marketing "

A Florida Senate panel Thursday rejected nine medical liability measures that would have placed caps on malpractice lawsuit awards in the state. The Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee voted 10-1 to defeat lawsuit limits in Florida, causing immediate protest from physicians and hospital groups. Trial lawyers cal

Georgia's state insurance commissioner levied a $1 million fine Wednesday against UnumProvident Corporation, the nation's largest disability insurer, after determining the company fraudulently handled claims. The fine is the largest ever imposed against a company by Georgia insurance officials. Upon issuing the penal

A report published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association offers circumstantial evidence that hormone replacement therapy causes breast cancer. During the study, researchers followed 190,458 women age 30 and over, determining that the rate of two types of invasive breast cancer increased 65 percent

An Indiana jury Tuesday awarded $16.5 million to a Highland man whose foot was amputated in an industrial accident five years ago. John Mesman, 44, was operating a rail car in January 1998 when an overhead crane dropped a 14,000-pound load of steel on top of him, causing severe foot trauma. Mesman, whose injury has c

A Corpus Christi, Texas jury Tuesday found Bayer Corporation not liable in the first lawsuit to go to trial over the cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol. The suit, filed by 82-year-old Hollis Haltom, was seeking $560 million in damages. During the trial, plaintiff attorneys argued that Baycol caused Haltom to develop

Johnson & Johnson attorneys will have their hands full over the next few weeks as two new trials began Monday over its withdrawn heartburn medication Propulsid. The cases, which will be heard in New Orleans and Napa County, California, are the first Propulsid claims in over a year to reach trial. The lawsuits were

Jurors in Corpus Christi, Texas began deliberations Friday after hearing three weeks of testimony in the first lawsuit to go to trial over Bayer Corporation's withdrawn cholesterol drug Baycol. The plaintiff, 82-year-old retired engineer Hollis Haltom, alleges he began suffering from rhabdomyolysis , a severe muscle

Bayer Corporation stockholders, angered over the company's alleged misrepresentation of its withdrawn cholesterol drug Baycol, have filed a securities and investment fraud lawsuit against the pharmaceutical maker. In the claim, shareholders, seeking damages for the fall in the company's share price, allege Bayer viola

Tort reform was the main topic on Capitol Hill Thursday as the U.S. House of Representatives began debating a medical liability bill that will place controversial limits on malpractice awards. The measure, drafted by Rep. James Greenwood (R-Pa.), is known as the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost Timely Health Care

Lawyers arguing the first lawsuit to go to trial over the withdrawn cholesterol medication Baycol presented closing arguments Wednesday in Corpus Christi, Texas. Analysts have been keeping a close eye on the trial since it began last February, as many legal experts believe it may set a precedent for future Baycol li

Florida trial lawyers won an important battle in the war over tort reform Tuesday when a bill aimed at capping pain and suffering awards in nursing home negligence cases failed to pass a state Senate committee. The bill's sponsor, Senator Lisa Carlton, told officials she had failed to acquire the six votes needed amon

Editors with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) call on the Bush Administration to implement regulations regarding the sale of all dietary supplements in an editorial to be published later this month. According to the journal editors, the recent controversy surrounding the stimulant ephedra is pr

More than 100 people were injured Sunday when two tour buses collided along a California highway. According to authorities, the accident occurred on Interstate 15 about 80 miles southwest of Las Vegas when a bus owned by Hebaragi & Lemi Bus Inc. braked suddenly and struck a car in front of it. A Gold & Silver Charter

A tort reform bill aimed at limiting malpractice awards will go before the House floor next week after a second committee approved the legislation. The House Energy and Commerce Committee gave final approval to the bill Thursday, much to the dismay of House Democrats who say caps on medical liability awards are unfair

Consumer interest group Public Citizen called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Thursday to immediately ban the antidepressant medication Serzone, citing its link to life-threatening liver toxicity that has led to at least 11 deaths in the United States. In January, Serzone maker Bristol-Myers Squibb st

A California state senator initiated a bill Wednesday that will prohibit the sale of supplements containing the controversial herbal stimulant ephedra. Senator Jackie Speier introduced the law stating that the ban of ephedra was critical to protecting the health of California's 34 million residents. If approved, Cali

The Bush Administration received promising news Wednesday in the debate over tort reform when the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would cap medical malpractice awards. Tort reform has become a major issue in the medical and legal community over the last six months as physicians and trial lawyers have

A highly publicized trial involving the cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol continued in Corpus Christi, Texas this week with plaintiff attorneys presenting evidence that showed a mounting unease among Bayer executives even as they continued to market the controversial medication. According to memos and e-mails submitted

In an unprecedented decision involving the controversial stimulant ephedra, Suffolk County Wednesday banned the sale of all dietary supplements containing the substance. Joined by several residents with family members who had died while taking ephedra products, County Executive Robert Gaffney signed the bill into la

Doctor error may be the cause of nearly 500,000 preventable drug side effects each year in non-hospitalized elderly patients, according to a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Boston's Brigham

An attorney representing the relatives of two people killed in the Feb. 20 fire at a Rhode Island nightclub has filed what is believed to be the first wrongful death lawsuit in the case. Ninety-eight people were killed and more than 180 others were injured when a blaze swept through The Station nightclub in West Warwi

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met with a panel of safety regulators Tuesday to discuss three rheumatoid arthritis medications and their link to lymphoma. In December 2002, the FDA and the National Cancer Institute in Maryland revealed that, since 1999, they had received dozens of reports of lymphoma fo

Preliminary results from a study on the safety of the hormone therapy medication Prempro indicate the drug may have a negative impact on women's memories and their ability to comprehend ideas and surrounding events. Expected to be published in a major medical journal next month, the study is a separate arm of the Wome