Articles Posted in Defective Medical Devices

If you or a loved one experienced complications resulting from an Exactech knee replacement, you could be entitled to compensation.

Exactech is a medical device manufacturer that produces metal-on-metal hip and knee replacement products. These products have been linked to a number of serious health complications, including metallosis, tissue death, and knee replacement failure and have been used by orthopedics Nashville and throughout Middle Tennessee

Patients who have suffered complications after receiving an Exactech knee replacement may be able to file a lawsuit against the company. If you or a loved one has been affected by an Exactech knee replacement, contact a qualified attorney today to discuss your legal options.

Two major baby formula manufacturers are being sued by parents whose premature infants became very ill or died from flawed baby formula produced by major manufacturers Similac and Enfamil. The lawsuit alleges that these manufacturers knew that the ingredients in the formulas might make premature babies very sick but failed to disclose this information to parents.

Under Tennessee’s product liability laws, failure to post an adequate warning label and failure to notify the parents about possible complications for premature babies violates statute §63.8 Duty to Warn – Time of Sale. The manufacturers are being held liable for the injuries sustained by the babies and pursued in cases of wrongful death.

The Higgins Firm is representing families affected by these defective products.

Earlier this year a father was being accused of of child abuse by Child Protective Services. They alleged that between December 2017 and January 2018, his sustained unexplained broken bones including a fractured femur and wrist. The boy’s father claims no abuse had taken place, and that he had been caring for his 10 year old son for years since his mother left.

The boy has cerebral palsy and a number of other medical problems. He uses a wheelchair, is non verbal, but very happy. He also uses a feeding tube and has been prescribed an amino based acid food called Neocate Formula. He consumes nothing but this dietary food supplement. As CPS was looking into the case, the boy’s father remained determined to find out the real reason why his son was experiencing sporadic fractures. Eventually he discovered a link in legal advertising which described the potential for unexplainable broken bones, sprains, or fractures while taking Neocate Formula. Upon further testing, it was discovered that the boy also had hypophosphatemia, a disorder that results in dangerously low phosphate levels which can cause broken bones, fractures, and rickets.  The father went immediately to CPS and explained that the injuries were the probable result of the low phosphate levels.

This case is not unique. Throughout the U.S. there are parents who have been wrongfully accused of child abuse after their child suffered broken bones while taking Neocate Formula. In this case, the investigation was closed and accusations against the father were dropped.

A Tennessee man, with the help of a medical malpractice lawyer, filed a complaint on August 17, 2017 against the medical conglomerate Howmedica Osteonics (d.b.a. Stryker Orthopedics) and Stryker Corporation –  one of the world’s foremost medical technology companies. The man claimed he experienced severe injuries after being fitted by a Stryker LFIT femoral head hip implant. His lawyer is currently building the defense and the case is pending in the United States District Court.

 

The claim details the how the main was implanted with the popular Stryker Accolade TMZF hip stem as well as the LFIT anatomic CoCr V40 femoral head back in March of 2014. The surgery was performed at the well known Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Continue Reading

Since 2016 lawsuits involving hernia mesh developed by Ethicon, Inc. continue to mount. Sold under Physiomesh, the products have raised concern over their safety and ability to reduce the symptoms of a hernia. Multidistrict litigation, on the Federal level, is now underway at the U.S. District.

On July 17th, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) released an update on the number of suits. At that time there were at least 84 pending Physiomesh lawsuits with more expected to come. Eighteen of these were filed within the previous month when 66 suits were reported.

The Physiomesh lawsuit alleges that the hernia patches are flawed in their design and result in irritation, adhesions, extreme pain , perforations, infections, mesh erosions, , and other health complications. The JPML have effectively transferred the federally filed suits against Physiomesh to the Northern District of Georgia. Here they will undergo pretrial proceedings that will include a full discovery. The litigation is scheduled to convene on August 1st at an Initial Conference meeting. All disclosure and discover proceedings are at halt pending the outcome of the Initial Conference.

Deborah Giannecchini, 62, had been using J&Js’ baby talcum powder as feminine hygiene for 4 decades. However, in 2012 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and claimed the baby powder was the cause. After hiring a talcum powder lawyer, a lawsuit was filed for compensatory damages due to negligence, and a recommendation for the company to have to attach warnings onto the product. Continue Reading

Nashville Attorneys, The Higgins Firm, are closely looking into Abilify lawsuits and claims which have raised concern amongst professionals after a number of people were said to have developed a gambling disorder, diabetes or other potentially harmful uncontrollable urges while taking the drug. These urges, the Abilify lawyers go on to say, appeared to have ceased once the medication was discontinued. Continue Reading

Deane Berg’s doctor called her the day after Christmas in 2006 to tell her the news of her cancer diagnosis. She had her ovaries removed and the results came back Deane Berg had stage three ovarian cancer and her prognosis was poor. She had twenty-five years of experience has a physician’s assistant but knew almost nothing about ovarian cancer. When she looked up the risks, she had only one; regular use of talcum powder for feminine hygiene. Continue Reading

Many of you may have heard about a superbug going around that is resistant to antibiotics. What you may not know about it has been linked to medical scopes known as duodenoscopes. According to this case, 500,000 Americans undergo a procedure known as Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography or ERCP every year using these medical scopes and this procedure has been linked to the superbug outbreak also known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE.

Earlier this week, Carla Warner provided emotional testimony to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Panel about the devastating impact that as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE had on her husband, Willie “Bill” Warner. He developed CRE after having an Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography procedure. Warner’s procedure used a widely sold TJF-Q180V duodenoscope, which was produced and sold by Olympus America, Inc. Carla Warner’s testimony about the death of her husband due to CRE was highlighted on the panel.

Beginning in 2010, Olympus redesigned and replaced its TJF-Q160V duodenoscope with the TJF-Q180V duodenoscope. The new 180V model had a sealed section on the device known as the “elevator wire channel.” In lawsuits that have been brought against the Olympus America Corporation after family members have died from infections using the TJF-Q180V duodenoscope, it was complained that bacteria can become trapped in the device’s sealed elevator wire channel. The elevator wire channel on the device is not easily accessed for proper cleaning so it becomes the source for the outbreak of the deadly superbug CRE infections that patients are developing.

There are many medical devices and products on the market that are used to reduce medical complications for people and to help improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, sometimes these devices or products can have defects and cause additional complications or medical problems for many people. If you or someone you know had an IVC Filter implanted and are now experiencing serious side effects or more medical problems as a result, then it is important that you speak to a IVC Filter and dangerous device lawyer with the Higgins Firm. We will listen to your case and determine if you may be eligible for compensation for what you have been through.

IVC Filters are implanted in people who have problems with blood clots. They are used to trap the clots in order to help prevent them from becoming pulmonary emboli. When they were originally marketed, they were permanent implants. However, over the last ten years, they were redesigned so that they could be retrievable, which means that the doctor could implant them and take them out at a later date. These retrievable filters were marketed first in 2003. One of the makers of these filters that is now facing lawsuits is C.R. Bard, maker of the Recovery, G2 Filter and Eclipse; and Cook, which makes the Celect and the Gunther Tulip.

According to a study from the Journal of Vascular Interventional Radiology, after five and a half years, forty percent of people who have a retrievable filter have experienced some type of fracture in the filter. Other side effects could include the filter moving, titling or perforating and these side effects can cause perforation of organs or vessels next to the filter. A fracture in the filter could travel to the patient’s heart, which can result in death of the patient or the need for open heart surgery to remove the fractured filter. Another study in the JAMA Internal Medicine discovered that many retrievable filters are actually left implanted permanently . That study discovered that of six hundred and seventy-nine retrievable filters implanted from August 1, 2003 to February 28, 2011, at Boston Medical Center, only fifty-eight were s removed with success and seventy-four people suffered a thrombotic event after filter placement.

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