Napoli Bern Ripka Law Firm
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel and Gel Swabs are an over-the-counter homeopathic treatment for colds. The label recommends using the intranasal product at the first sign of a cold to prevent or minimize symptoms of the common cold. The problem is that the product contains zinc and studies dating back as far as the 1930's have shown zinc to be a dangerous, toxic substance to nasal receptors, causing damage and possible permanent loss of a person's sense of smell. Not only will this affect a person's quality of life when it comes to discerning different flavors when eating, it also causes the patient to be unable to detect dangerous odors like gas or smoke, thus putting them in grave danger when fire or gas leaks threaten their life. In addition, a person whose sense of smell is damaged may not be able to determine if the food they are about to eat is spoiled and this could make them very sick.
Zicam was introduced onto the market in 1999 by Matrix Initiatives of Scottsdale, Arizona and the FDA immediately began receiving reports of anosmia (loss of smell) and in some of the cases, loss of taste from users and doctors, over 130 in fact, to date. Matrix Initiatives themselves received over 800 reports from consumers who lost their sense of smell with the use of Zicam, but continued to market the product until the FDA sent a warning letter today to them ordering them to stop and asking them to share the 800 reports with the FDA. Zicam brought Matrix $40 million in sales last year, but has agreed now to suspend shipments and issue refunds to consumers that request it. However, the company has refused to recall the product. The director of the FDA's Office of Compliance, Deborah Autor, announced today that consumers should stop using Zicam immediately. After this announcement was made, stocks for the company fell 70%.
Matrix Initiatives maintains that Zicam is safe and effective as a cold remedy and believes that there is no direct link to anosmia from the use of Zicam intranasal products. Matrix plans to seek a meeting with the FDA to review the product's safety information because it believes that the FDA's actions in this case are unwarranted. Since the product is labeled as a homeopathic product, Matrix was not required to seek the FDA's approval before putting it on the market. The FDA did not issue any warnings with regard to Zicam's tablets or lozenges, strictly the intranasal gel or swabs which account for 40% of the company $101 million in sales last year.
Matrix Initiatives paid $12 million in 2006 to settle 340 lawsuits filed in connection with damaged or destroyed nasal receptors in those who used the Zicam intranasal product. Since that initial settlement, hundreds of more lawsuits have been filed. If you or someone you love has suffered any damage from the use of Zicam's Gel or Swabs, you may be eligible for compensation. Contact one of the attorneys from Napoli Bern Ripka Law Firm today by filling out the "Quick Contact" form on the home page of this website.
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
According to the Wall Street Journal, Pfizer, Inc. has decided to settle the remaining Celebrex and Bextra lawsuits that were not part of the settlements reached in October of 2007. With that earlier settlement, the pharmaceutical company had to pay $894 million to patients who had taken the painkillers and then suffered strokes or heart attacks as a result. That amount took care of 90% of the between 7,000 to 9,000 people who filed lawsuit claims saying they had suffered blood clots, heart attacks or strokes due to the use of these two drugs.
At this point, it is still considered a tentative deal that has been reached with 3 law firms, but Pfizer is expected to pay $200,000 for each Bextra claim and $50,000 per Celebrex claim on a firm-by-firm basis. Approximately $89 million of the earlier settlement was to pay for lawsuits filed by Attorney Generals in 34 states with regard to the methods that Pfizer used to promote Bextra and the fraudulent methods used to promote both Celebrex and Bextra. Recently, Pfizer won preliminary approval for that money to be paid to consumers and insurance companies who paid for the drug prior to July of 2005. A final decision at to that settlement will be decided on September 25th of this year.
Attorneys representing Pfizer, Amy Schulman and Jeff Kindler told the media last year that the pharmaceutical company was willing to pay up to $500 million to settle the remaining 10% of personal injury claims. Celebrex sales during the first three months of 2008 totaled $611 million and $2.3 billion in all of 2007
Celebrex and Bextra are painkillers that fall into the COX-2 inhibitor class like Vioxx which was recalled in September of 2004. Bextra was recalled in April of 2005 because of a very high cardiovascular risk. However, Celebrex was allowed to remain on the market, but the label contains the FDA's strictest black box warning as to the risk of heart attack and stroke involved with its use.
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tecia Harrison received a $2 million settlement in Brooklyn Supreme Court today before Justice Allen Hurkin-Torres as a result of a lawsuit filed against the city of Brooklyn and the Health and Hospitals Corporation. Harrison filed the lawsuit because she believed that her mother, Esmin Green died in June of 2008 due to the negligence of the Kings County Hospital staff. Green was taken last June to the psychiatric emergency room at Kings County Hospital and she died at the psychiatric ward in what is known as the G Building. Green had spent almost an entire day in the waiting room when she collapsed onto the floor. She laid dead on the floor for almost an hour before hospital staff took any action. Green was 49 years old with a medical history of mental illness. An autopsy showed that her dormant state of physical activity while waiting to be treated caused a fatal blood clot to form in her lungs.
The hospital's own video surveillance system captured and recorded the entire episode of neglect. Harrison's lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein commented on the video with the words, "To anyone who saw the video clip, it was clear this was a horrible, wrongful and negligent act." Besides neglect, the hospital staff was also accused of falsifying Green's medical records. Her medical chart showed the entry that "Green was sitting quietly in the waiting room at 6:20 a.m." However, the video clip showed that Green was lying on the floor dead at this time. Brooklyn's Department of Investigation has opened an investigation to determine whether criminal activity was in fact involved with regard to Green's medical records. Rubenstein told reporters that Green's family wanted criminal prosecution for anyone working at the hospital that may have committed a crime in connection with her death.
The New York Civil Liberties Union had previously filed their own lawsuit against Kings County Hospital for patient mistreatment and very bad conditions in the psychiatric ward and so they were able to provide the media with video tape showing Green's neglect. Mayor Bloomberg expressed the fact that "horrified" was much too nice a word to describe his feelings about the video, but that "disgusted" was a better word.
Immediately following Green's death, along with a notice of claim filed by Green's daughter seeking $25 million in damages, Alan Aviles, the president of Brooklyn's Health and Hospital's Corporation made the statement that Green's family deserved fair and just compensation. "We remain devastated by the tragic death of Esmin Green and are deeply sorry for the pain it has caused her family."
The investigation initiated by the New York Civil Liberties Union along with the death of Esmin Green led to the closure of the G Building among other changes in patient care and hospital procedure at Kings County Hospital. A new $153 million psychiatric ward was opened by the city on the hospital campus and the Health and Hospitals Corporation has fired those in charge of psychiatry and security at Kings County Hospital along with several other employees.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
249 people who invested in American Capital Corporation and Royal Palm thought they were investing in conservative and stable companies. However, the ex-brokers who handled their investments, Rebecca Engle, 55 and Brian Schuster, 35 committed securities fraud when they misrepresented the companies as stable and invested over $20 million in ACC and Royal Palm. Many of these people were close to retirement age or already retired and were not interested in any type of risky investment. They were also long time clients of Engle and Schuster who trusted them to recommend suitable investments.
The Florida based companies were in actuality very risky investments that were later purchased by a company called PrimeEdge, Inc. The accused ex-broker Brian Schuster became president and CEO of PrimeEdge, Inc. and then suddenly it appears to no longer be in business. Later, Rebecca Engle filed for bankruptcy in an Arizona court.
Engle and Schuster were charged with eight felony counts of securities fraud and their employers, VSR Financial Services has agreed to allow the investors to try to collect a settlement of $10.3 million from their insurers, AIG. Many of the investors filed lawsuits in connection with these events but most were barred from pursuing them further because the terms of their investment agreements stated that they must seek solutions to their claims through arbitration. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority acted as arbitrary judges for the case and the investors originally asked for $26 million in damages.
Engle and Schuster worked together in Nebraska City from 2000 to 2007 when the alleged frauds took place and also represented Capital Growth Financial and Wachovia Securities during the same time period.
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A $2 million dollar settlement was reached today in Mineola, New York between Wal-Mart and the District Attorney in exchange for avoiding criminal charges. On November 28th of last year, the day after Thanksgiving, frenzied shoppers trampled and injured 11other shoppers and caused the death of a temporary employee at the Green Acres Mall Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York. Although a safety plans had previously been in place, officials involved in the case felt that the situation could have been handled better that day. Although Wal-Mart admitted no guilt in this case, the District Attorney commented that she was sure that Wal-Mart was committed to learning from this tragic event and improving their efforts to make New York stores even safer for their customers and associates in the future.$400,000 of the funds will be set aside for compensating the victims and Wal-Mart has also agreed to implement improved safety measures for crowd management. This will apply to all of New York's 92 stores for future events like after Thanksgiving Day sales. Wal-Mart has also agreed to donate $1.5 million to the community and provide 50 new jobs every year to Nassau County teenagers. The $400,000 will be divided into a$100,000 remuneration fund and a $300,000 compensation fund. The compensation fund will be administered by Wal-Mart. The fund will be responsible for financially compensating those injured as a result of the crowd-related incident. Compensation could be provided to individuals with documented injuries including pain and suffering as a result of the incident. Those wishing to be compensated must file a sworn affidavit attesting to and verifying that they were present at Wal-Mart's Valley Stream store during the 2008 post-Thanksgiving Day event between 2:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. They must provide information as to the nature and extent of any out-of-pocket losses and injuries suffered as a result of the events that happened at the store on November 28, 2008. Anyone wishing to receive compensation will be required to waive their right to a separate civil suit against Wal-Mart.
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009
In Manhasset, New York, a woman was completely prepped for brain surgery at the North Shore University Hospital, but when the time came for the first incision, her surgeon was nowhere to be found. The patient had already been put under anesthesia, so the remaining surgical staff began searching frantically for Dr. Paolo Bolognese, the neurosurgeon scheduled to perform the surgery. With the patient still under anesthesia, the staff gave up looking for the doctor and summoned the chief of neurosurgery, Dr. Thomas Milhorat to take over and perform the surgery. Dr. Milhorat refused, explaining that it was not his patient. With no other recourse, the staff brought the patient to recovery and broke down the operating room. The surgery did not take place. As a result, both doctors were suspended for two weeks. The plaintiff's attorney Lee Goldsmith commented that.the incident didn't surprise him at all. Goldsmith is filing lawsuits against Drs. Milhorat and Bolognese on behalf of 11of their patients. The patients claim that these doctors have been performing a procedure called Tethered Cord Spinal surgery that supposedly corrects a congenital defect known as Chiari Malformation in the brain, but it doesn't work. Apparently these doctors have been performing this procedure their entire careers. The attorney for the doctors claims that everyone acted reasonably when leaving the patient on the table. He believes that there is more to this story. The hospital doesn't seem to share his enthusiasm when they issued a statement that, "the hospital will take additional steps in the days and weeks ahead to address all issues in the investigation, which is continuing." Attorney Goldsmith for the plaintiff is glad that the investigation is continuing. He is hoping to get some answers for his clients, including a five-year-old girl with lower back pain that she did not have prior to her surgery.
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Monday, May 4, 2009
Firefighter Lieutenant Martin Fullam was released last week from the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan after receiving a successful lung transplant. When leaving the hospital he was met with cheering and applauding firefighters from across the city as well as family and friends. "I'm the luckiest man in the world," Fullam said with a smiling face.
Seven years ago during the 9/11 attacks on the WTC, Fullam raced to Ground Zero and worked several 10 hour shifts for weeks at a time. While working amongst the rubble and remains of the collapsed towers he inhaled dangerous toxic dust like so many others beside him did that day. Because of this, the toxins damaged and destroyed his lungs. This environment reduced his lung capacity to only about 30% and gave him the condition known as pulmonary fibrosis. Fullam was unable to breathe without the use of an oxygen tank.
Finally, the heroic firefighter was able to benefit from a federal program for WTC responders when a lung miraculously becomes available for the transplant that was his only chance of survival. Dr. Matthew Bacchetta, the thoracic surgeon who performed the transplant called Fullam "a hearty guy who responded well to treatment." Fullam retired from the FDNY in December of 2008 after a 27-year career.
Besides his lung disorder, Fullam suffers from a rare type of autoimmune disorder called polyomyositis. This condition attacks the muscles in the body and the lymphatic system causing fever, malaise and other symptoms. Although it is an extremely rare condition in the general population, the Fire Department has reported 6 cases of it. Fullam's doctors are convinced that the pulmonary fibrosis resulted from exposure to the WTC cleanup, but they are not sure if this also triggered the polyomyositis. Dr. John Howard, head of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health was the first federal official to make the connection between the WTC rescue workers and the illnesses that they were all getting. He became a powerful and rather forceful advocate for programs that would monitor and treat illnesses related to the 9/11 attacks during the Bush administration. However, he was subsequently fired for these efforts.
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Jesus Diaz Delossantos, a 34 year old cab driver in New York was arrested in 2002 on false charges of selling 100 Ecstasy tablets to an undercover police officer. The undercover officer had previously submitted a report that he had purchased the drugs from a man identified as "J.D. Braids" because of his long braided hair. Two weeks later, the undercover officer gave a false identification to his supervisor which led to Delossantos' arrest. Delossantos spent 9 months in jail for a crime he did not commit as a result of the officer's phony ID.
In Bronx Supreme Civil Court on Tuesday, Delossantos' lawyer, Roy Hiller was able to prove that this officer was not even on the job the day that he claimed to identify Delossantos. He also stated that Delossantos clearly did not fit the description of the man who had actually sold the drugs to the officer. Delossantos is a native of the Dominican Republic who lives here in the US with his two children. The charges against Delossantos had been dropped back in 2004.
The court awarded Delossantos a $1.5 million settlement to be paid by the city of New York for damages resulting from the false arrest in 2002. Gia DiCola, attorney for the city of New York declined to comment. The undercover officer involved in the false arrest of Delossantos has still not been disciplined for his actions and continues to remain on full duty. Delossantos said in a statement after the court's decision, "This is the end of a very ugly part of my life. There was a mistake, but thank God there is an end." Delossantos' attorney added, "These cops were bad guys. They were untruthful. The undercover didn't word that day...It was phony."
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Friday, April 17, 2009
On November 4th, 2005, Gloria Aguilar was headed home from her housecleaning job in Queens when a 40,000 pound New York City Transit bus hit her in the crosswalk, crushing her left leg. Aguilar's attorney Ben Rubinowitz said, "She thought she was dying." Doctors tried, but failed to save her leg and it had to be amputated just above the left knee, leaving her in a wheelchair. The accident took place at the intersection of 10th Avenue and 50th Street. Aguilar claims that she had a "walk" sign and that she was walking within the crosswalk. She claimed she did everything right and never saw the bus until the moment it hit her.
A NYC Transit investigation revealed that bus driver Andrew Monaco failed to properly scan his surroundings before entering the intersection. It was also revealed that he did not slow the bus down enough before making the turn off of 10th Street. In addition, an arbitrator for the case has determined that Monaco should be moved to a non-driving position with the company for two years.
However, during testimony proceedings at the NY County Supreme Court in Manhattan, NYC Transit officials argued that Aguilar was not in the crosswalk when the bus struck her and that she wasn't paying attention, but walked right into the bus. The jury sided with Aguilar, determining that Monaco did not exercise due care and awarded her $27.5 million in damages.
Rubinowitz stated that "every aspect of her life has been affected, she can't even open up a door because the wheelchair won't allow her to." Aguilar, originally from Honduras is 49 years old and a mother of three. She sometimes wears a prosthesis in place of her left leg. When interviewed Aguilar stated, "It's not easy, but I am alive, and that's what is important."
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The Federal Aviation Administration has banned popular anti-smoking drug, Chantix, for Airline Pilots because use of the drug has been shown to cause auto accidents. A study has proven that operating machinery such as an automobile or airplane while using Chantix could cause seizures and loss of consciousness. Other side effects issued with taking Chantix include sever mood swings and garish visions also called “Chantix dreams”. The FDA approved Chantix back in 2006, but there have been many complaints about the negative side effects caused by Chantix. As of a study conducted in 2007, “Chantix has led to 173 accidents including 77 falls and 28 traffic accidents.”
Medical Tourism, known as the practice of allowing patients from one country receive medical care from another while still under their home country’s insurance policy. Medical tourism has been gaining some steam in a small amount of insurance companies in the U.S. allowing their patients to receive medical care in countries such as Singapore and Costa Rica. The benefits of allowing patients to receive medical care abroad are namely due to cost reductions. Surgeries that go from $100,000 in the U.S. can only cost around $10,000 in other countries. It seems as though many U.S. doctors have found their way to international hospitals, in which people from the U.S. could possibly receive medical care in a foreign country by a U.S. doctor. However the risks the medical tourism presents is not having the quality of care received and perceived. Many U.S. officials are skeptical to the credentials of foreign hospitals as well as their doctors. Medical tourism has been gaining some popularity, but for the system to spread further investigation must be done in order for the big insurance companies to participate.
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Back in 2007, the Big Dig Tunnel ceiling collapsed causing millions of tons of concrete to crash on Milena Del Valle of Boston, killing her instantly while her husband managed to escape with minor injuries. The Big Dig Tunnel’s ceiling was said to collapse due to a "colossal failure of oversight by past administrations and said it's working to make sure a similar accident never happens again.” The companies that faced the lawsuit were those who worked on the construction and oversight of the Big Dig Tunnel including, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, Modern Continental Co., Gannett Fleming Inc. and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. The $28M dollar sum also stemmed from Powers Fasteners Inc. and bolt distributor Newman Associates who were also included in the lawsuit. Milena Del Valle had 3 children that were fortunately not in the car at the time of the accident.
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WASHINGTON — Two federal drug officials have concluded that asthma sufferers risk death if they continue to use four hugely popular asthma drugs — Advair, Symbicort, Serevent and Foradil. But the officials’ views are not universally shared within the government. The two officials, who work in the safety division of the Food and Drug Administration, wrote in an assessment on the agency’s Web site on Friday that asthma sufferers of all ages should no longer take the medicines. A third drug-safety official concluded that Advair and Symbicort could be used by adults but that all four drugs should no longer be used by people age 17 and under. Dr. Badrul A. Chowdhury, director of the division of pulmonary and allergy products at the agency, cautioned in his own assessment that the risk of death associated with the drugs was small and that banning their use “would be an extreme approach” that could lead asthmatics to rely on other risky medications.
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For decades, people in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, have lived with the possible health hazards from oil spills in their industrial waterfront. Up to 30 million gallons of petroleum — almost three times the amount dumped off the Alaskan coast by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 — made their way into Newtown Creek and surrounding neighborhoods from dozens of refineries over more than a century. Now residents have a new anxiety: Toxic gases may be rising into their homes from below, the legacy of dry-cleaning plants, foundries and other manufacturers that once operated in this hub, which has long been home to immigrants and, more recently, artists and young professionals.Such vapor intrusion — chemicals from contaminated soil and groundwater that become airborne, entering buildings through pores and cracks — has become a growing public health concern around the country in recent years. Contaminants that spread from industrial activity, or that were mistakenly believed to have been contained or eliminated in environmental cleanups, have been discovered wafting into basements.
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350 5th Avenue, Suite 7413,
New York, NY 10118
Toll Free: 1 888 LAW IN NY
Phone: 212 267 3700
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Marc Bern on CourtTV discussing Fen-Phen
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Marc Bern is on Geraldo discussing the diet drug Fen-Phen
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