Lawsuit Update Center

Our DreamStation CPAP recall lawyers are currently seeking new cases from individuals who used one of the recalled DreamStation devices and suffered health consequences related to the inhalation of chemicals from the device.

If you used a Philips DreamStation, DreamStation Go, or another recalled CPAP machine for 6 months or longer and have suffered cancer or other negative health consequences, you may be entitled to compensation.

What led to this recall and DreamStation lawsuits? A few weeks ago, Philips Respironics announced it was recalling all of its popular DreamStation sleep apnea machines because they may cause users to unknowingly inhale toxic, potentially carcinogenic chemicals

In recent years, studies have found an association between paraquat, an herbicide, with several adverse health effects.  Most notably, the concern is Parkinson’s disease.  An Illinois man filed a new suit in state court alleging that his decades of paraquat exposure caused him to develop Parkinson’s.  There are many more Paraquet lawsuits expected in 2021.  Let’s unpack what these cases are about.

Paraquat is toxic

Paraquat is an extremely toxic herbicide.  Nobody is really arguing this point. The herbicide is primarily used for controlling weeds and grasses. It is manufactured by agribusiness giant Syngenta.

Breast augmentation is the most prevalent cosmetic procedure in the United States, with estimates ranging that 1 to 3 million women have some type of breast implant. For years, there has been developing research about the possibility of implants increase the risk of certain cancers, but the evidence was considered too slim to create any action towards addressing the problem.

Now, the FDA has finally issued a safety warning about the risks of using breast implants manufactured by the company Allergan. The warning requested Allergan to recall all of their micro-textured implants in the United States, citing new sufficient evidence showing a link between their products and breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). This recall will most likely cause a significant increase in breast implant cancer lawsuits, including class action lawsuits for medical monitoring.

The warning is not without precedent, as there have been similar recalls for Allergan breast implants in Canada, Australia, and France within the past year. However, the FDA was hesitant to issue on their own recall due to “insufficient evidence” that indicated a connection between textured implants and the rare lymphoma cancer. Despite this, hundreds of women around the country have been taking Allergan to court based on claims that their breast implants were the cause of their illness.

A November 2018 article in the BMJ reported a study concluding what many lawyers have known for a long time: patients who use sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are twice at risk of having lower limb amputations than other diabetes medications. The scientists also reported that SGLT2 inhibitors are also linked to diabetic ketoacidosis.

What Are SGLT2 Inhibitors?

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are medications that lower blood sugar in adults who have type 2 diabetes. They are used to complement diet and exercise. SGLT2 inhibitors may be available as a single-ingredient product or combined with other diabetic medications including metformin. They reduce the amount of glucose being absorbed by the body through the kidneys. This helps to reduce blood sugar by removing excess glucose through urine.

A lawsuit recently filed in the U.S. District Court District of New Jersey alleges that someone received stomach cancer because of taking proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) Prilosec, Nexium, and the variations of both drugs.

PPIs are used to treat many stomach conditions but can create even worse problems in the stomach as well. Before informing yourself about these lawsuits, you must first inform yourself on PPIs, specifically Nexium and Prilosec. You must also inform yourself about their potential side effects.

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Researchers from Louisiana State University’s Health Science Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital were given a five-year federal grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study whether muscle power training exercises can improve the walking abilities of children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Is this exciting? It really is.  Anything that can advance the ball for people with cerebral palsy is wildly exciting.

How will this study be conducted?

This page is about the Bair Hugger lawsuits that were filed claiming the product caused infections. But these suits did not go very far and I don’t know of any lawyers filing warning blanket lawsuits in 2021. Not all mass tort lawsuits work out and these Bair Hugger lawsuits certainly did not.

Let’s back up first to the start of this litigation.  I’m backfilling this first the original post…

As of September 2018, there are over 1,500 Bair Hugger warming blanket lawsuits pending in the MDL in Minnesota.

In one typical case, a New York couple claims that a surgical warming blanket used after the husband’s hip replacement operation caused severe infections, resulting in four additional surgeries. A man and his wife filed a lawsuit in New York on Nov. 25, 2015, against 3M, the manufacturer of the Bair Hugger forced-air warming system. Medical facilities commonly use this blanket during knee and hip replacement operations. In addition to 3M, the lawsuit lists Arizant Healthcare, Inc. and its subsidiaries as Defendants.

The value of surgical blanket lawsuits is still being determined, but many of these infection cases involve serious injury and death.

During the surgery on Oct. 24, 2012, medical personnel used a Bair Hugger on the man’s left hip, supposedly to help regulate body temperature. However, the warming blanket might have introduced bacteria into the surgical site, resulting in infection. Plaintiff received five surgeries within 16 months, including the original surgery, and he now struggles with mobility and needs crutches to walk.

Per the lawsuit: “Due to the infection, Plaintiff needed four additional surgical procedures to remove the implant and clean the infected area within sixteen months from the original implant surgery, and he continues to suffer limited mobility, requiring crutches to ambulate.”

According to diverse news reports, this Plaintiff is far from alone; many consumers across the nation have taken legal action after illnesses they’ve acquired after using the Bair Hugger, following hip and knee surgeries.

The Plaintiffs noted that 3M sent a letter to the FDA way back in June 1997, which warned of possible contamination issues with this product.

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Xarelto is a new-generation blood thinner that was initially approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in October 2011.  Xarelto is intended to reduce the risk of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, to treat deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). The drug is also to reduce the risk of recurrence of DVT or PE, and for prophylaxis of DVT for patients undergoing hip and knee replacement surgery.

This drug has made Bayer and Johnson & Johnson a fortune.  It has also left them as the defendants in 21,400 Xarelto bleeding lawsuits from patients or surviving families allege they have suffered gastrointestinal and cerebral hemorrhages, hemorrhagic strokes, and other types of bleeding issues that have caused injury or death.   Xarelto carries a significant risk of severe, and sometimes even fatal, internal bleeding – and there is no reversal agent available if serious bleeding occurs with Xarelto use.

• Eliquis side effect and litigation

The FDA has recently expressed concern about a certain group of medications called SGLT2 Inhibitors. This category of drugs includes popular prescription medications such as Invokana and Farxiga. Although these drugs have been, by all accounts, fairly successful when treating Type 2 diabetes. But they have produced their fair share of side-effects. Specifically, users of drugs such as Invokana are now reporting high levels of blood acid, the effects of which have landed some users in the ER.  While no deaths have been reported, there is no question that if these reports are accurate, these levels of blood acid could cause serious injury and death.  Accordingly, plaintiffs’ lawyers are investigating whether there is a connection between these drugs and these high acid levels and, if so, whether these drug makers knew about these risks and simply failed to inform patients and doctors.   If these dots are connected – and there is reason to think they might be – there are likely to be both serious injuries and lawsuits seeking compensation for those injuries.

The preceding paragraph was written some time ago.  In May 2017, there are 230 lawsuits pending in a federal MDL in New Jersey.

SGLT2 Inhibitors