Medical: May 2009 Archives

A Seroquel lawsuit that was set to be the first of thousands of cases nationwide to go to trial, was dismissed yesterday by a Delaware state court judge who excluded testimony from the medical expert necessary for the plaintiff to establish that she developed diabetes from AstraZeneca’s Seroquel.

The Delaware lawsuit was filed on behalf of Nina Scaife, from Kansas, who allegedly developed diabetes after taking Seroquel off-label for treatment of insomnia. Her claim was one of more than 9,000 similar lawsuits filed in federal and state courts throughout the United States, and was scheduled for trial to begin on June 29, 2009.

Although it is widely acknowledged that side effects of Seroquel may increase the risk of weight gain and diabetes, each individual plaintiff still has the burden of establishing a connection between Seroquel and their diabetes diagnosis.

Excerpted from AboutLawsuits.com. 

Canon lawyer Father Thomas Doyle, a church child abuse expert, says he finds it hard to believe the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese wasn't warned about a child-abusing priest who moved in 1976.  Whether the Seattle archdiocese knew about Pat O'Donnell's admitted sex abuse of boys is the key in a lawsuit against the archdiocese brought by two local victims.

On Thursday, the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese made a very public apology, saying the church didn't realize the nature of pedophiles and child sexual abuse, and too often relied on experts who said offending priests had been rehabilitated and were ready for a new assignment.  The Seattle archdiocese says it had allowed O'Donnell to take the post because it hadn't been informed about his history of abuse.

But the expert witness said priests were often given fresh starts in new churches or another chance after therapy.  He told the jury he can't believe Seattle didn't tell Spokane it was sending a sex offender their way.  "Any major issue of that nature the suffragan or the bishop of a diocese would share it with the archbishop," said Doyle. 

Excerpted from KOMO News.com.

U.S. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein in Brooklyn, N.Y., will exclude pharmacology expert Dr. Stephen Hamburger from testifying in the case against Eli Lilly & Co. and the drug Zyprexa.  Plaintiffs allege Lilly urged doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for uses not approved by the FDA. Delawareonline reports:

The doctor has offered testimony in some 20 individual Zyprexa cases, seven of which now have pending summary judgment motions before Weinstein, the judge said in a decision issued this week. Hamburger was "shockingly careless about the facts in the cases he proposes to opine about," Weinstein said. The doctor gave conflicting answers to questions about the "claimed causal link between Zyprexa intake and medical injury," he said. "Faced under oath with consistent extensive factual discrepancies in his analysis, he merely shrugged them off or flippantly shifted to new theories," Weinstein said. "He repeatedly and impermissibly stretched the truth to support findings of causality." The Indianapolis-based drugmaker had moved to prevent Hamburger from testifying as an expert witness in the cases. Zyprexa is approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The plaintiffs claim Lilly urged doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Ninety-five Chinese nationals brought home from Mexico on May 6 are no longer quarantined amid fears of the A/H1N1 virus, but three others remain under observation in Shanghai, local authorities said on Wednesday afternoon. Among the 98 Chinese citizens and one medical expert, 95 have been confirmed healthy and were sent home as of 4:30 p.m., said Chen Qiwei, spokesman of Shanghai Municipal Government.

"The flu is still spreading. The quarantine is necessary," said Lu Hongzhou, the medical expert back from Mexico and one of the released.  The 98 travelers were brought back to Shanghai on a charted plane May 6. All of the passengers were in normal condition. China sent the flight to retrieve Chinese nationals under an agreement with Mexico, which has been battling the flu outbreak, to return each other's nationals.

Excerpted from ChinaView.com.

Obstetrics and gynecology expert Dr. Charles Simpson testified Wednesday in the case of April Dawn Halkett, 22, who is accused of abandoning her newborn in the bathroom at the Prince Albert Walmart two years ago.  Halkett said she thought the boy was dead following the surprising, sudden birth.  The expert said it is possible for a woman to give birth without knowing she was pregnant and that Halkett had what is known as a precipitous birth, meaning it took just minutes to deliver the baby. Cases of precipitous birth often send the baby into a state of shock, Simpson added, and the infant can appear dead.

Prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko questioned why Halkett would take three separate home pregnancy tests in the months leading up to the baby’s birth if she didn’t know she was pregnant. The last test was taken about two months before she gave birth.

Excerpted from TheVancouverSun.com.

San Fernando Valley physician Dr. Masoud Bamdad testified this week in his own defense on illegal drug distribution charges.  Bamdad, 55, is accused of selling prescriptions for OxyContin and its generic equivalent, oxycodone, to drug- addicted patients who he knew had no legitimate need for the medication.  One patient later died as a result. 

Bamdad accused DEA agents of entrapping him and said one of the prosecution's drug abuse expert witnesses had been addicted to Vicodin.  Undercover DEA agents said Dr. Masoud Bamdad indiscriminately sold them prescriptions for powerful painkillers in exchange for cash.

Excerpted from LATimes.com.

Infectious disease expert Dr. James Luby at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas said Tuesday that the drug Tamiflu, made and marketed by Roche Holding AG of Switzerland, is the best treatment for the new strain of swine flu.  The medical expert also said that for certain patients who have come down the with disease, and for medical professionals who need to prevent contracting the virus, Tamiflu remains the gold standard, The Dallas Morning News reported. "We don't want the ordinary you or me to go out and start taking Tamiflu," Luby said. "But if you got sick with a 101-degree temperature, and it's within 48 hours of the onset of illness, you'd be a good candidate to receive it once you've had a spot-check for flu."