Archive for the ‘ Personal Injury ’ Category

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8
Aug

Failure of Surgical Mesh a Serious Worry for Women

Surgical mesh is a common medical product used to repair conditions in which body organs need extra support. For example, one of the most common uses has been to repair hernias. In women, surgical mesh is also used to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) or stress urinary incontinence (SUI), conditions that occur when the muscles and ligaments supporting internal organs weaken. Treatment can include surgery to shore up the organs, with surgical mesh being used to keep the organs from “sagging” inside the body cavity.

Over the past three years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received nearly 4,000 reports of severe complications (including 3 fatalities) associated with surgical mesh used to treat POP and SUI. The most frequent complications include:

  • erosion through vaginal epithelium (inner wall of the vagina);
  • mesh contraction, leading to vaginal shortening and pain;
  • infection;
  • abscesses;
  • pain;
  • urinary problems;
  • recurrence of prolapse and/or incontinence.

There were also reports of surgical complications when the insertion of the mesh perforated bowel, bladder, or blood vessels. In some cases, vaginal scarring and mesh erosion led to a significant decrease in patient quality of life due to discomfort and pain, including dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse).

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed troubling results with these procedures. Compared with traditional surgery without mesh, women who had a transvaginal mesh (TVM) inserted to treat pelvic organ prolapse suffered higher rates of serious complications, including bladder perforation and pelvic hemorrhage… and they had an increased number of adverse events after the surgery, including newly acquired urinary incontinence.

On July 13, 2011, the FDA issued an update on TVM, which clarified its recommendations:

The FDA is issuing this update to inform you that serious complications associated with surgical mesh for transvaginal repair of POP are not rare. This is a change from what the FDA previously reported on Oct. 20, 2008. Furthermore, it is not clear that transvaginal POP repair with mesh is more effective than traditional non-mesh repair in all patients with POP and it may expose patients to greater risk. [emphasis added by the FDA]

The FDA recommends that surgeons recognize that most cases of POP can be treated successfully without surgical mesh.

Unfortunately, doctors and the FDA have known about the problems with surgical mesh for at least 3 years, without warning women about the serious risks of the surgery. If you or someone you care about has a transvaginal mesh (TVM) used to correct pelvic organ prolapse or urinary incontinence and suffered any of the above symptoms, our law firm may be able to help. Contact us today to learn how. We are available 24/7 at 1-800-4-LAWMED; or contact us via our website at www.lawmed.com.

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28
Jul

Wakeboard Accidents Cause More Head Injuries in Children

July 28, 2011

A recent popularity surge in the sport of wakeboarding is sending many teens and young people to the emergency room with head injuries, according to a report by WRAL News. As WakeMed pediatrician Dr. Mark Piehl stated, “Recent research shows that the risk of a head injury in wakeboarding is about 5-10 times that compared to waterskiing.”

The sheer size of a wakeboard, which is wider and bulkier than a set of skis, can be one of the causes of higher injury rates. Factor in boards’ sharp edges and the fact that riders’ feet are strapped onto wakeboards much tighter than they would be on skis, and it’s easy to see why they have greater accident risks.

In one recent instance, a 16-year-old Apex, North Carolina boy fractured his skull during a wakeboarding trip. He suffered permanent memory loss, of both the event and the day leading up to it, and a huge gash across his head as a result of the accident. He says he will now wear a helmet when participating in the sport.

The Center for Injury Research and Policy offers several safety tips to follow while wakeboarding, such as always wearing proper safety equipment, including helmets and life-preservers.

The Raleigh Brain Injury Attorneys with HensonFuerst would like to remind and encourage those active in high-impact water sports to always wear a helmet while participating in these activities, as it may save your life.

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27
Jul

Describe Your Pain….

Anyone who has ever been severely injured in an accident, had surgery, or been diagnosed with a chronic illness knows that one of the most difficult parts of a doctor’s visit is trying to explain the quality and severity of your pain. Now, researchers are working to make that process easier for patients and their doctors.

“Pain research is very difficult because nothing allows the physician to see the patient’s pain directly,” says Werner Ceusters, MD, professor of psychiatry in University at Buffalo’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and principal investigator on a new National Institutes of Health grant, An Ontology for Pain and Related Disability, Mental Health and Quality of Life. “The patient has to describe what he or she is feeling.”

Anyone who has ever lived with pain knows that describing it is no easy task. Typically, the first step is for the physician to ask about severity: On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is no pain, and 10 is pain severe enough to send you to the emergency room, how would you describe your pain. That might be easy to rate the pain at the moment, but if you go 3 months between doctor appointments, it doesn’t suffice. Some pain spikes to level-10, but settles back at a level-5.  And sometimes, living for months or years with level-6 pain can make a person feel helpless and hopeless.

The next step is to describe the pain. Healthcare workers sometimes offer a list of acceptable adjectives:  Burning, stabbing, aching, sharp, dull. That doesn’t begin to cover it. What if the pain is like nothing you’ve ever felt, and the only word that seems to describe it is, simply, pain? What if the pain feels like tiny trucks are driving over your bones–does that description make sense to a doctor?

In an article in ScienceDaily, researcher Ceusters says:

…each patient’s subjective experience of pain is different. Descriptions of pain therefore lack the precision and specificity that is taken for granted with other disorders, where biomarkers or physiological indicators reveal what health-care providers need in order to assess the severity of a particular disorder.

An added complication is that people have different vocabularies, different linguistic capabilities, and different cultural backgrounds, all of which can affect how people evaluate and describe pain. That’s why Ceusters is beginning to find ways to describe pain in uniform, formal ways. His research, funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, will study data gathered from thousands of patients with chronic pain in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Israel, and Germany.

In the end, the goal will be to represent what pain is, and how it relates to body parts, activities, and functions. According to Ceusters:

“Our goal is to create a software program that will allow all pain specialists to express themselves in crystal clear terms,” he says, “We will create a symptom checklist that can be understood by computers. We have to define the terminology of pain.”

For people whose lives are defined by pain, that is a worthy goal that could eventually lead to a greater understanding and treatment of a variety of chronic pain conditions.

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21
Jul

Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Subject Of Discussion At Forums

July 21, 2011

Toxic well water at Camp Lejeune, in eastern North Carolina, was a hot topic at forums held on campus at The University of North Carolina at Wilmington on Wednesday. WRAL.com reported the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) formed the groups in the hopes of easing public concern by answering questions and offering information for education on the topic. ATSDR formed a seven-member community assistance panel to represent the marines and sailors from the base and to voice their opinions and concerns on the matter. The agency then held a second forum for the public that allowed time to answer any questions attendees may have and to discuss opportunities for future health studies.

The well water at Camp Lejeune had been poisoned for years by leaks in fuel tanks and other sources of pollution. With an estimate of over 1 million people exposed to the toxins, many cases of disease have been linked to the contamination. Retired Marine Master Sargent Jerry Ensminger lost a daughter who was conceived at the base to childhood Leukemia at the age of nine. Her form of Leukemia has since been linked to benzene, one of the many toxins found during testing at the camp site.

HensonFuerst has a team of experienced North Carolina Toxic Exposure Attorneys who can fight for the rights of benzene victims. Contact our legal team immediately for a free consultation of your case.

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14
Jul

Contaminated Alcohol Prep Pads Blamed for Child’s Brain Damage

July 14, 2011

Three years ago, a family was blessed with a set of twin boys. One of the twins had difficulty from the moment they were born, suffering from respiratory distress and needing umbilical artery and vein catheters. At some point in his care, the boy was exposed to the deadly Bacillus cereus bacteria from contaminated alcohol prep pads, a lawsuit now claims.

According to MSNBC, the boy suffered permanent brain damage from the infection, leaving him stricken with cerebral palsy and other complications. No trace of the infection was ever found in tests performed by hospital staff on the child’s environment and the doctors and nurses around him.

Initially, the family filed suit against the hospital, claiming poor infection control methods at the facility. However, after noticing a story of a similar infection that was proved to have come from a contaminated alcohol prep pad, and the subsequent recall of the product, an expert examining the case notified lawyers of the possible connection.

The maker of the pads, Triad Group, and their sister company, H & P Industries, Inc., have been added to the list of defendants in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the child and his family.

The company came under scrutiny after another hospital reported a deadly infection related to the pads, leading the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct an in-depth investigation. They found several faults in the manufacturing process as well as unsanitary conditions that lead to contamination, yet did very little to correct the issues. They have since admitted that stronger actions should have been taken with the company.

The family’s suit, scheduled for a September 2012 trial, seeks financial support for medical expenses the child will incur throughout his lifetime, as well as a complete revamping of medical supply manufacturing and inspection processes.

The North Carolina Medical Malpractice Attorneys at HensonFuerst believe their ability to fight against medical malpractice helps maintain the high standards of medical treatment we are fortunate to receive in the United States. If you have been injured or harmed by negligence of medical staff responsible for your care, contact an attorney with HensonFuerst immediately.

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13
Jul

Tainted Wipes Linked To Brain Damage, Deaths

Before every injections…before every catheter insertion…before anytime the skin needs to be punctured, the first step is to wipe the skin with an alcohol prep pad. Those are the little packets of rubbing alcohol-soaked gauze that are ever-present in hospitals and doctors’ offices. The alcohol pads sterilize the skin so that an injection is as safe as can be—last thing anyone wants is for dirt, bacteria, or other organisms to enter the body through the injection site.

So imagine what would happen if the pads were full of bacteria, if instead of sterilizing the skin, the pads themselves were a source of infection.

Unfortunately, we don’t have to imagine it. The worst did, indeed, happen.

In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall of Triad alcohol prep pads, alcohol swabs, and alcohol swab sticks due to potential microbial contamination. (Later, the recall was extended to include sterile lubricating jelly, used during vaginal examinations.)

The specific infecting bacteria were Bacillus cereus, which is rare, but most typically found in food poisoning, not hospital infections.

In April, the FDA took further action and seized more than $6 million in products distributed by Triad Group, including cough and cold products, nasal sprays, suppositories, medicated wipes, antifungal creams, and hemorrhoidal wipes. This action was taken after an FDA inspection found multiple violations of manufacturing safety practices.

NOT SOON ENOUGH

JoNel Aleccia, a reporter with MSNBC, has been tracking this story from the beginning, and is conducting her own investigation into the problems caused by the tainted wipes. (To read all related articles, click here: MSNBC’s investigation.) It’s a lot of information, so we’ll summarize the major points.

  • The FDA claims that the severity of the contamination wasn’t known until a Colorado hospital reported a life-threatening infection in November 2010. [MSNBC-1]
  • Then, on December 1, 2010, a lively 2-year-old boy in Houston died of acute bacterial meningitis caused by Bacillus cereus. [MSNBC-2]
  • By July 1, 2011, the FDA had received reports of a total of 8 deaths, 11 infections, and about 250 other health problems all linked to Triad Group products. Bacillus cereus was specifically cited as the cause of death of a 66-year-old man who was being treated for skin cancer and diabetes. [MSNBC-3]
  • Just this week, there was another heartbreaking story of a child whose life was permanently altered by an infection, possibly caused by a Triad wipe. Twin boys were born on September 1, 2007. One twin has developed normally, while his brother cannot walk or speak and must be fed through a stomach tube. He suffers from cerebral palsy and mental delays. And all his problems have been linked to a bacterial infection with Bacillus cereus, which damaged portions of his brain shortly after birth.

It is possible that Triad wipes were to blame. According to an MSNBC article:

An msnbc.com review of the documents shows that FDA inspectors in 2006 found that an H&P Industries Inc. plant in Mukwonago, Wis., “failed to adequately address potential contamination in raw material” used for drug products. In 2002, the firm was cited for failing to “verify the effectiveness of the sanitation process.” An investgation in 2000 found similar problems, inspectors reported.

According to the article, a top DFA official admitted to members of Congress that the agency should have issued a formal warning letter to the firm in August 2010, instead of allowing voluntary compliance.

It’s almost enough to make a person lose faith in the ability of the FDA to properly protect the public.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The contaminated products were made by Triad, but could be marketed under a variety of different names and different packaging kits, including:

  • Triad
  • Cardinal Health
  • PSS Select
  • Boca/Ultilet
  • Moore Medical
  • Walgreens
  • CVS
  • Conzellin
  • Smith & Nephew
  • Arixtra Starter Kit
  • Relistor
  • Betaseron pack
  • Boniva pack
  • Fuzeon pack
  • Nutropin A.Q. Pen pack
  • Pegasys Pak
  • TNKase pack
  • Extavia pack
  • Trelstar pack
  • Forteo starter kit
  • Churchill Medical Systems’ Skin-Prep Wipes

To read the initial FDA recall notice, and to learn how to report adverse effects, click here:  FDA recall notice

If you believe that you or someone you love has been injured as the result of infection caused by one of these products, the lawyers of HensonFuerst Attorneys can help you investigation your legal options. Someone is available 24/7 at 1-800-4-LAWMED. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

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7
Jul

Three Killed in Tractor Trailer Accident on I-40

July 7, 2011

An accident involving a tractor-trailer and numerous passenger vehicles on Interstate 40 left three people dead and the driver of the tractor-trailer behind bars. According to WRAL News, the Thursday afternoon crash happened at the Durham-Orange County line, on a stretch of the interstate where its three lanes are dropped to two.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident, but currently believe the driver reacted too late to the closure of the left lane, and did not have enough road or time to stop his semi before plowing through three other vehicles. The truck initially hit a man driving a Ford F-250, embedding the smaller truck in the semi’s grill. It then proceeded to hit a woman in a Chevrolet Equinox before crashing into a third vehicle, which burst into flames and was too badly burned to identify. All three passenger vehicle drivers died at the scene of the crash.

The truck driver escaped the accident unscathed, as far as injuries, but authorities have brought numerous charges against him following the crash. He is currently being held in county jail under a $500,000 bond, and is facing charges for two counts of felony death by vehicle and one count of misdemeanor death by vehicle, in addition to charges for possession of marijuana, Methadone, and drug paraphernalia.

North Carolina Truck Accident Lawyers with HensonFuerst know that time is valuable in the aftermath of a truck accident, and that prompt investigations can make all the difference in these cases. Visit their website for essential steps and procedures to take following involvement in a truck accident.

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23
Jun

Dunn Couple Killed By Drunk Driver

June 23, 2011

A couple from Dunn, North Carolina, was killed on a Sunday motorcycle ride by what state troopers believe was a drunk driver. According to WRAL News, the accident occurred at 12:20 Am on North Carolina Highway 82, near the Averasboro Civil War Battleground.

The accident occurred when the driver of a white, Chevy pick up truck crossed the centerline on the road while intoxicated and operating an IPod. The truck struck the motorcycle head-on, throwing both the driver and the passenger off the bike. A friend who was riding with the couple at the time of the crash witnessed the accident and said “It was terrible, there was nothing anybody could have done.”

The man who died in the accident leaves behind a 5-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl. He was also a regular volunteer with Dunn Emergency Services.

The drunk driver involved in the accident was arrested and charged with two counts of felony death by motor vehicle, driving while impaired, driving left of center, and careless and reckless driving. He was originally being held on a $100,000 bond, but a magistrate later lowered the bond to $50,000.

The North Carolina Wrongful Death Attorneys with HensonFuerst may be able to help family members who have lost a loved one too early because of someone else’s careless mistake. Their wrongful death lawyers have experience and  sensitivity. Fill out a free consultation form now!

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21
Jun

Hit-and-Run Driver Urged to Stop Running

According to a report on WRAL.com, a woman driving a 4-door, light brown Honda Accord crashed into a bicyclist in Fuquay-Varina. She stopped to ask “Are you okay?” but sped off without waiting around for an answer.

The bicyclist, Joe Natale, was thrown into a ditch by the impact. He was banged up and bruised, but lived to tell the story.

“The sound was horrific. I remember sliding and hearing plastic from the bike getting torn up,” he said. “I said, ‘God, don’t let somebody else run over me.’”

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol are actively looking for the driver, and anyone who knows anything about the accident is encouraged to contact the police. One important clue: The crash broke the sideview mirror off the woman’s car.

Sharing the Road

There Mr. Natale is hoping that his pain can serve to remind drivers of the rules of the road. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) has “Share the Road” rules designed to keep cyclists safe.

Motor vehicle drivers are reminded to:

  • Use signals to make sure cyclists and other drivers can anticipate movements.
  • Leave a minimum of 2 feet of clearance when passing a bicyclist on the left, and don’t move back to the right until safely past the bicycle.
  • Not pass on the crest of a hill or at a curve in the road where you cannot see at least 500 feet ahead.
  • Wait until the cyclist has cleared the intersection before making a turn, and don’t make a right turn in front of a cyclist you have just passed.
  • Slow down when passing a cyclist, and try not to make any startling sounds or movements.
  • If there is oncoming traffic, wait until the traffic has gone by before passing the cyclist.
  • When approaching an oncoming cyclist at night, dim your lights.

Bicyclists are reminded to:

  • Follow all the same rules of the road as motorists, including riding on the right side of the road.
  • Use signals to warn motorists of your movements.
  • Yield to other drivers and pedestrians, as appropriate, at intersections, alleys, and traffic circles.
  • Move to the right to allow lawfully operated overtaking vehicles to safely pass.
  • Remain aware of your surroundings, and try not to make any sudden or unexpected movements.

To read the full WRAL.com article about the hit-and-run crash, click here:  Wake Bicyclist Urges Driver Who Hit Him to Come Forward

To read the NC-DOT rules of the road for motor vehicle operators and cyclists, click here: Share the Road

HensonFuerst has a particular interest keeping cyclists safe: We’re cyclists ourselves. We even have a HensonFuerst Cycling Team, which rides for fun and participates in fundraising efforts for various organizations, including the American Diabetes Association (the Tour de Cure) and the Brain Injury Association of NC (the Ride for the Rock). Plus, we represent too many cyclists who have been injured as the result of negligent motorists. We urge everyone–cyclists and motorists–to Share the Road for safety.

For more information about HensonFuerst and our cycling team, visit our website at www.lawmed.com. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

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16
Jun

Concussion Awareness Act Being Signed Into Law

June 16, 2011

North Carolina lawmakers are scheduled to sign on a bill, which will put into law several statutes to protect high school athletes’ from the dangers of concussions. The Charlotte Observer reported that The Gfeller-Waller Concussion Awareness Act will be signed on today by the Senate. It was passed unanimously through the House in early May.

The law requires public middle and high schools to provide education on concussion awareness to parents, athletes, coaches, volunteers, and first responders. The Act also states a player who shows signs of a concussion must be removed from play or practices immediately and cannot return until receiving medical clearance from a medical professional. Every school will be required to develop a plan for emergency situations.

The bill was named after two high school football players who died as a result of a concussion.

A concussion occurs when the brain hits the inside of the skull as a result of a blow to the head. The mild brain injury can have symptoms that range from subtle to obvious, but most patients report headaches, dizziness, nausea, irritability, and sleepiness. Physical signs include poor concentration, slow answers to questions, emotional instability, and slurred speech.

Medical science has only recently learned of the long-term damage these injuries can cause. If you or someone you know has been injured after suffering a blow to the head, contact a North Carolina Brain Injury Attorney with HensonFuerst.

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