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Hundreds of farmers and agriculture workers have filed paraquat lawsuits alleging that their exposure to paraquat caused them to develop Parkinson’s disease. Back in June, a new Paraquat MDL was created and it already has around 200 pending cases. Last week, the MDL judge ordered all incoming plaintiffs to complete a Plaintiff’s Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ).

In this post, we will take a close look at the PAQ because it is essentially an outline of the key issues that will shape the paraquat litigation moving forward. It also gives prospective plaintiffs an idea of what type of facts they will need to support their case.

About the Paraquat Lawsuits

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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

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On June 10, 2021, U.S. District Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel announced that the initial conference on the Paraquat class action MDL would take place on June 23 via Zoom.

The conference’s primary purpose was to discuss how to organize the plaintiffs’ leadership counsel. The court also heard both counsels’ position briefs that outlined their views on these cases’ facts, claims, and defenses. It ordered the parties to hold a case management plan meeting.

This is all garden-variety stuff, standard fare as an MDL class action gets underway.

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For decades, Johnson & Johnson talcum products such as Baby Powder were used every day by millions of Americans. That has all changed drastically now as recent scientific research has revealed that long-term use of talcum powder products can cause cancer. The discovery of the link between talcum powder and cancer has led to thousands of talcum powder lawsuits and the disappearance of various products from retail shelves.

The recall of certain talcum powder products (such as J&J’s Baby Powder) has left many consumers looking for alternatives to meet their daily hygiene needs. Fortunately, there are many talcum powder alternatives that do not cause cancer. You can find some of these alternatives in local supermarkets, drug stores, or online. However, others are more difficult to find. The following are seven non-toxic alternatives to talcum powder.

Talcum Powder Class Action Lawsuit Update

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In the past two years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Pfizer have made several announcements on the drug Xeljanz. None of them have been good.

The FDA has reported on Xeljanz’s association with pulmonary embolisms, severe heart issues, cancer, and death. This comes nine years after the FDA approved it to treat psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ulcerative colitis. Former Xeljanz patients have begun to file lawsuits against Pfizer. These Xelijanz lawsuits allege that the drug caused them to suffer severe side effects.

Xeljanz

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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.

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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.

breast implant cancerNow, 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.

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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.

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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.

What are proton pump inhibitors?

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are medications that reduce the amount of stomach accident found in the stomach lining. They help relieve symptoms of acid reflux, a condition in which food or liquid goes back up to the esophagus. PPIs can also help treat stomach ulcers.

Also, they can treat lower esophagus damage resulting from acid reflux. PPIs can be used to treat heartburn as well. They come in various brand names such as Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, AcipHex, Protonix, Dexilant, or Zegerid.

What are PPI side effects?

Commonly found side effects may include a headache, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, and itching. Serious long-term side effects may include infections and bone fractures.

PPIs can also be very bad for your kidneys as well. According to an April 2016 study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, PPIs are linked to serious kidney complications. It showed that patients who took PPIs were about 96% more likely to get kidney failure than those who did not. PPIs users were also 28% more likely to develop chronic kidney disease after five years of taking PPIs.

According to a 2017 study published in Gut, there may be a link between PPIs and gastric cancer. This study was documented by Hong Kong-based researchers. They looked at 63,000 adults in Hong Kong over a nine-year span that ranged from 2003 to 2012.

They discovered that those who took PPIs such as Nexium and Prilosec doubled their risk of gastric cancer. This contrasts with other heartburn drugs, which did not increase any risk. The study is very relevant to the current lawsuit involving Nexium and Prilosec that is being filed in the New Jersey court.

Continue Reading

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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?