March 31, 2009

Tennessee Nursing Home Bill in TN House Vote Today

Tennesseans with loved ones in a TN nursing home should be very concerned with a bill pending vote later today in the Tennessee House of Representative. The bill, called the “ChooseCareTN Act,” threatens to put a price tag on nursing home neglect and abuse in the State of Tennessee.

HB 2243, filed by Rep. Jon Lundberg (Bristol), would dictate the amount Tennessee judges and juries can award victims of Tennessee nursing home abuse and neglect. This proposal does nothing to acknowledge the poor state of or improve Tennessee nursing home care, which ranks 47th in the U.S. HB 2243 does nothing to reduce the leading factor in nursing home abuse and neglect injuries: understaffing. Instead, this bill allows out-of-state and large nursing home companies to profit from conditions conducive to nursing home resident neglect and abuse.

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Posted by Jim Higgins | | Email This Post

Posted In: Nursing Home Neglect

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March 24, 2009

Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Deaths –
13 Admitted Fatalities from Defective Heart Device

Deaths from defective Medtronic heart devices continue despite recall in 2007. When Medtronic first announced its recall of Sprint Fidelis leads, the company acknowledged five defective device-caused deaths. This month, Medtronic updated its defective Sprint Fidelis death count to thirteen, nine of which due directly to defibrillator failure from faulty Sprint Fidelis leads.

Despite the Medtronic recall, the device remains in use. Many patients with Medtronic's Sprint Fidelis leads face the difficult decision of to keep the prolific recalled device. One reason the medical device's danger is so widespread is the delay in recalling Sprint Fidelis leads from market. Medtronic waited until 2007 for issuing their Sprint Fidelis recall; this despite FDA officials receiving reports of the device’s defective equipment as early as 2004. By year-end 2005, FDA had received 30 complaints about the device. Whether Medtronic knew of that defects in the Sprint Fidelis posed safety problems remains open to question.

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13 Admitted Fatalities from Defective Heart Device" »

Posted by Jim Higgins | | Email This Post

Posted In: Defective Drugs, Personal Injury, Products Liability

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March 21, 2009

Tennessee Consumer Protection Act Under Fire

For more than 30 years the TN consumer protection act has been the law in Tennessee. This law protects consumers from fraudulent, deceitful and misleading business tactics. Now the legislature wants to gut the act and take away much of its power. Why the legislature is worried about protecting criminal business and not their citizens is beyond me.

In my office alone we have used this law to help our clients when they have been ripped off by apartment complexes keeping their security deposits without reason, car dealers selling cars they new were salvaged, bad faith insurance companies denying claims without reason and many other deceitful business acts. Without the consumer protection act we would not have been able to pursue some of these cases.

Please call your representative and tell them to leave the act alone. Tell them to protect their citizens and not the fraudulent acts of some shady business. If you need more information about the changes or how to contact your legislature please feel free to contact our Nashville Law Office.

Posted by Jim Higgins | | Email This Post

Posted In: Products Liability

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March 16, 2009

FDA Recalls Two Defective Medical Devices
Baxter Infusion Pumps and Covidien Pediatric Trach Tubes

Recalls, recalls, recalls--FDA officials were busy working with manufacturers of dangerous medical devices last week to inform the public of potentially injurious medical products it has decided must be removed from market. Included in these FDA recalls were Baxter International’s Colleague Volumetric Infusion Pumps and Covidien’s tracheostomy tubes for children. Excluded from these FDA recalls was immediate action to protect patient safety and health.

Serious injury and death have been reported caused by Baxter International’s defective Colleague infusion pumps. These medical devices are used to deliver regular, controlled amounts of medication or other fluids to patients.

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Baxter Infusion Pumps and Covidien Pediatric Trach Tubes" »

Posted by Jim Higgins | | Email This Post

Posted In: Defective Drugs, Personal Injury, Products Liability

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March 9, 2009

Drug-Injury Lawsuits Supported
in 6-3 Supreme Court Decision

Tennessee drug injury liability lawsuits, drug injury lawyers, and those injured by prescription drug side-effects across the U.S. received surprising support with last week’s Supreme Court decision ruling against drug manufacturer Wyeth. The 6-3 decision in Wyeth v. Levine marks a sea change in the Court’s stance on liability law and has many pharmaceutical drug manufacturers sweating.

Since a 2006 executive order, pharmaceutical companies have been avoiding injury lawsuits for dangerous medical products by absurdly asserting that FDA approval means that a defective medical device or drug has been deemed safe. This, despite the public misconception that the FDA performs its own safety studies before approving prescription and OTC drugs; this, despite FDA officials admitting publicly that the agency lacks the resources to protect the public from dangerous drugs (and, I'm inferring, salmonella).

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in 6-3 Supreme Court Decision" »

Posted by Jim Higgins | | Email This Post

Posted In: Defective Drugs

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March 3, 2009

TN Nursing Home Neglect Damages Restored on Appeal

Despite nursing home abuse lawsuits’ setback last week with the discovery that the previous Administration had secretly signed an executive order that prevents Medicare and many nursing home inspectors from testifying against nursing homes in negligent or abuse lawsuits (read more in the original article, “New Rule… Impedes Cases Against Nursing Homes”)--despite this serious setback to preventing nursing home abuse, there was good news for at least one Tennessee family whose loved one was seriously injured by a Murfreesboro nursing home's neglect. A Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled against a Warren County Circuit Court judgment last week that reduced damages a Tennessee branch of major nursing home chain had to pay for its neglect of its Tennessee resident. The Circuit judge wanted to reduce the original $4.1 million punitive damages previously awarded to $163,000.

Understanding this Tennessee nursing home neglect lawsuit requires us to return to 2005 when Tennessee resident Cheatum Myers, age 90, died less than month after his one-year stay at NHC McMinnville, a Tennessee nursing home owned by National HeathCare Corporation (Murfreesboro-based) which is in turn owned by National Health Corporation. Myers v. NHC McMinnville et al was filed by Mr. Myers’s family claiming that numerous nursing home falls, one resulting in a fractured hip, pressure sores (bed sores) at the Stage IV level, urinary tract infections (urosepsisepses), untreated pain, and other signs of neglect were proof of mistreatment (grossly negligent conduct) by the Tennessee nursing home. The plaintiff’s attorney claimed that the nursing home company had put profits over resident care, which led to understaffing resulting in part to the nursing home neglect, and that this negligence was responsible for Myers’ untimely demise (wrongful death) and constituted malpractice.

Continue reading "TN Nursing Home Neglect Damages Restored on Appeal" »

Posted by Jim Higgins | | Email This Post

Posted In: Nursing Home Neglect

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