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The Atlanta Legal Examiner provides coverage of personal injury, mass torts, and safety issues making headlines in Atlanta and across the country. Our Latest News section brings together breaking stories and legal insights that matter to individuals, families, and communities.

FDA Warns Against Use Of Bismacine

The FDA recently issued a warning against the use of Bismacine, also known as Chromacine, which is reportedly used to treat lime disease. The drug which is mixed by druggists and not considered a pharmaceutical, is usually proscribed and administered by doctors of alternative health or by others cla

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 5 Aug 2006

Many Deaths Result From Painkiller Patch Abuse

Fentanyl patches, first made Johnson and Johnson under the brand name Duragesic, have increasingly become an area for concern in recent years. Primarily designed for cancer patients and others with chronic pains, these prescription only patches are causing an alarming number of deaths in the United

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 5 Aug 2006

Many Deaths Result From Painkiller Patch Abuse

Ford Settles "Drop In Gas Tank" Case

David Baier, a 67 year old man, and his wife sued Ford Motor Co. in 2004 alleging his 1967 Ford Mustang’s gas tank was defective and caused the fire that left Baier permanently deformed. Baier’s vehicle was hit from behind in an auto accident and burst into flames shortly thereafter because of a def

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 4 Aug 2006

Conseco Agrees To $100.3 Million Dollar Class Action Settlement

Insurer Conseco Inc., has agreed to a $100.3 million class action settlement for a suit filed against it in 2004. The suit alleges the insurer charged consumers desiring life insurance policies excessive premiums or forced others to surrender their existing polices for cash in order to increase the

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 4 Aug 2006

Conseco Agrees To $100.3 Million Dollar Class Action Settlement

$10 Million Awarded To Asbestos Widow

A Jury in the Newport News Circuit Court awarded $10.4 million to the widow of a shipyard worker who died from lung cancer after four years of exposure to asbestos containing products. The wrongful death lawsuit was brought against three companies that manufactured the materials: John Crane Inc., De

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 4 Aug 2006

Second Lipitor Patent Found To Be Invalid

The federal Court of Appeals recently found the second of Pfizer’s patents on Lipitor to be invalid. This could cost Pfizer, the world’s biggest drug manufacture, billions of dollars in lost sales. The federal court ruling essentially shortens the mega manufacture’s exclusive right to sale Lipitor b

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 4 Aug 2006

Second Lipitor Patent Found To Be Invalid

"Sue Me" Doctor Ordered To Pay $250,000

In a follow up to my previous blog from yesterday concerning Dr. Frederick Schwaibold’s negligence in causing 13 separate radiation treatments to be conducted on the wrong side of his cancer patient’s face, a Fulton County jury awarded $250,000 to Dariel Hunt in compensation for her injuries. Hunt h

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 4 Aug 2006

Medical Board Puts Physicans Over Patients

In Florida, the state medical licensing board has decided against stricter discipline for surgeons who operate on the wrong body part or the wrong patient. Wait, did you read that right? Yes unfortunately you did. Does that seem right? Without question, this writer can hardly imagine how. A through

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 3 Aug 2006

Medical Board Puts Physicans Over Patients

Unnecessary Hysterectomy Costs Woman Opportunity Of Larger Family

A Seattle jury awarded $1.75 million to a woman after Dr. Jeffrey Gabel, an osteopathic physician, performed a hysterectomy on her without informed consent in 2003. The jury found that Dr. Gable failed to suggest alternative, less invasive, treatments to the 22 year old before she signed a consent f

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 3 Aug 2006

Unnecessary Hysterectomy Costs Woman Opportunity Of Larger Family

Lawsuits Filed In Katrina Aftermath

Numerous wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Uptown’s Memorial Medical Center and some of it personnel in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. According to reports, there is a current investigation concerning murder charges involving a doctor and two nurses. Two such suits have been filed

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 3 Aug 2006

Doctor Says To Patient: "Sue Me"

What is a 61-year-old woman’s right parotid gland worth? That is the question in a medical malpractice case before a Fulton County jury after a doctor and his hospital conducted 13 different radiation treatments on the wrong side of Dariel Hurt’s face. The parotid gland, which helps produce silva, i

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 3 Aug 2006

Second Federal Vioxx Trial Begins

In New Orleans, Louisiana, Merck and Co. is defending its second federal trial involving the controversial pain killer Vioxx. The Plaintiff in this case is a retired FBI agent, Gerald Burns, who took Vioxx for approximately 32 months prior to his heart attack in August of 2002. The trial, which bega

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 3 Aug 2006