Lawsuit Information Center

September 19, 2013

Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft Linked to Cancer

A new study suggests a potential link between spinal surgeries involving Medtronic Infuse and cancer. This is not only concern. It is just the latest. This product, which certainly helps many patients, comes with a great deal of risk.

Growing concerns with use of Medtronic Infuse

The Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft is a product that helps patients to create bone. Before this innovation, the bone was harvested from the hip. The product is approved for fractures of the tibia, degenerative disc disease, and some dental bone grafting procedures. Medtronic has made billions on it. Wanting even more money, the pushed doctors to use this product for everything but the common cold. But sales are falling now that more and more flaws in the product come to light.

September 12, 2013

Litigation Tactic: Waiting for the Plaintiffs to Die

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Plaintiffs’ counsel in the Aredia/Zometa MDL are asking the judge overseeing the coordinated litigation to remand the over 300 consolidated cases.

Why? Discovery is not over.

Some people may not live to get their day in court

September 11, 2013

Is Robotic Surgery Safe?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Our law firm is reviewing da Vinci robotic surgery lawsuits. I have been writing critically about this medical device and its manufacturer, Intuitive Systems.

Much of my commentary has been of the, “This is really cool technology that they are misusing and one day this will be really great” variety. But a new study is making me question even that premise.

The Latest Robotic Surgery Safety Study

August 15, 2013

Boston Scientific Vaginal Mesh Cases

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The vaginal mesh cases are heating up everywhere as plaintiffs’ lawyers, who frankly smell blood, are pushing with greater vigor to get and hold trial dates. Multi-million dollar verdicts will do that.

In the Boston Scientific transvaginal mesh cases, lawyers are pushing fast to get a trial date and are expected to get one soon. How do you define “soon” in tort law? Early next year.

All these federal cases have been consolidated in an MDL under a good judge in West Virginia. The class action lawsuit against Boston Scientific contents the mesh that was supposed to protect them from pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence has done nothing but make their health problems far worse.

August 14, 2013

NuvaRing Settlements on the Horizon?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Earlier this month, the first federal NuvaRing lawsuit was delayed because there has been a lot of talk about settling not only that NuvaRing case, but all of the cases at one time. This blog post is about:

What these cases are really about?
An update on just where we are in the litigation?

July 24, 2013

Lawsuit Against Morgan State Will Continue

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge has given the “go ahead” for a student’s lawsuit to proceed – for now, at least – against Morgan State University, denying a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit.

Awful details here. The 23-year-old Plaintiff has filed suit against Morgan State for failing to act to protect students and visitors on the university campus. The lawsuit, which seeks more than $75,000 on each of three counts consistent with Maryland’s new law not to ask for specific damages in the Complaint, was filed as a result of a horrific beating that the Plaintiff received by the hands of a man later found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

The lawsuit alleges that there was foreseeability on the school’s part that something bad would happen. That’s where the claim gets a little tricky. The attacker, prone to violent outbursts at college events, attacked the Plaintiff with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, blinding him in one eye. The lawsuit states that the warning signs were there, but that Morgan State failed to act. Previously found wielding a machete on campus, and known to leave satanic rants on social media sites, the attacker has since been arrested on a separate case. Charged with murder, it is alleged that he killed and dismembered a family friend, and consumed some of the deceased’s organs.

July 23, 2013

Medtronic Bone Infuse Problems | Learn About Lawsuits

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Medtonic is a large research company that holds itself out as a company that creates new and innovative ways to treat and rehabilitate patients around the world. This is true. But, too often, their innovation flops miserably because they put a product on the market that is not ready, or because they push a product to be used in ways that it should not be used.

The Infuse

In 2002 they introduced an Infuse Bone Graft procedure that uses recombinant human bone proteins to foster the growth and connection of broken bones. It is currently approved for use in anterior lumbar interbody fusion, tibial fractures, and sinus augmentations.

July 18, 2013

Louisville Police Wrongful Death Lawsuit Settles

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Tough Wrongful Death Case Resolves

Three years after the death of a beautiful 22-year-old girl, her family has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the Louisville Metro Police Department. The case settled for $700,000 – and a letter. A letter to the family of the deceased from the driver responsible for the crash, an off-duty police officer.

In a letter to the family, as part of the settlement, the detective admitted that he was speeding at the time of the accident, which was a “contributing factor to this accident.” An investigation determined that he was driving at approximately 80 mph, around a curve sloping down a hill. The Louisville Metro Police Department, who admits that speeding off duty is an ongoing problem, suspended the detective for 30 days, the department’s strictest discipline, short of being fired. According to the department, he was not fired for a number of reasons, one of which was the fact that the deceased was found to have a blood-alcohol content higher than the state’s 0.08 level for drunk driving – an allegation argued by the family’s attorney as the blood-alcohol sample was lost.

June 25, 2013

Burden of Proof Hurdle Too High in Mississippi

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A Mississippi Appeals court recently affirmed a trial court decision to throw out a Wal-Mart premise liability case involving a damaged container and corrosive burns. Instead of letting the events (and the injuries) speak for themselves, the court places an extremely high evidentiary expectation that was out of the plaintiff’s grasp. Should courts be allowing corporations to escape liability just because the plaintiff is unable to show every single detail of the accident when he is clearly injured? It is a challenge courts have wrestled with for hundreds of years.

What happened? A patron visited a Mississippi Wal-Mart in the fall of 2010. While perusing the aisles, he selected a bottle of bleach to put in his basket. After leaving the checkout counter, the patron realized he accidentally forgot to purchase the bleach and placed the bottle on his lap to return to the cashier. Unfortunately, this bottle of bleach was leaking and spilled its contents on his legs and thighs. Because of a prior injury, the man had been paralyzed from the waist down since 1967 and he did not become aware of the spilled bleach until the cashier noticed the leaking bottle. The bleach caused chemical burns on his thigh and knee, and he brought suit against the Wal-Mart Corporation.

The patron filed a premise liability claim that alleged Wal-Mart was negligent and had knowledge of a dangerous condition. Wal-Mart made a motion for summary judgment, and the trial court dismissed the case, saying that the patron failed to prove Wal-Mart’s negligent act. The Mississippi Appeals Court affirmed the lower court’s decision.

June 19, 2013

Effectiveness & Safety of Medtronic Infuse

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Promoted as an alternative to traditional spinal surgery, Medtronic Infuse is a bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) that is designed to encourage bone growth and fuse the gaps between vertebrae.

Infuse Bone Graft Side Effects

When Medtronic first initiated studies in 1999 on BMP, researchers discovered that 70 percent of patients developed unnatural bone growth called ectopic bone growth. In 2004, when the study was finally published, the dangers were deemphasized.