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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.

$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

Paxil-The Litigation Begins

In December of 2005 the Food and Drug Administration, along with the makers of Paxil, Glaxo Smith Kline, issued an alert advising of the possible risk of birth defects in pregnant women who use Paxil. For many new mothers like Lisa Collins who used the anti-depressant, the warning came too late. She

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 3 Aug 2006

Defense Verdict In First California Vioxx Trial

A Los Angeles jury found in favor of Merck and Co. in California’s first Vioxx trial. The jury found that Vioxx did not cause 71 year-old Stewart Grossberg’s heart attack in 2001. The defense showed Grossberg had high cholesterol, arteriosclerosis, and a family history of cardiac problems. Merck and

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 3 Aug 2006

Defense Verdict In First California Vioxx Trial

First California Vioxx Trial Goes To The Jury

Jury deliberations are set to begin today in the first Vioxx trial in California. This case involves a Stewart Grossberg, 71, who took Vioxx beginning in 1999 to manage joint pain in his knees and hands. Grossberg suffered a heart attack in 2001 and attributes that event to his use of Vioxx. In this

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 2 Aug 2006

First California Vioxx Trial Goes To The Jury

FDA-MERCK CONSPIRACY?

That is the question Senator Chuck Grassley hopes to find an answer to in his recently launched probe into the FDA’s handling of Vioxx debacle. Senator Grassley has asked the inspector general to investigate the FDA’s conduct and report on their findings with specific reference to an FDA senior scie

By M. Brandon Smith

/ 31 Jul 2006