Tag Archives: personal injury

Blog, Legal News, Personal Injury

Police: E-cigarette malfunction causes personal injury crash

Tabnie Dozier, @WHAS11Tabnie10:41 p.m. EST January 5, 2016

JACKSON COUNTY, Ind. (WHAS11) – It took just under three hours’ worth of clean-up to remove a semi that crashed on I-65 North in Indiana near the Jackson-Scott County line.

Indiana State troopers say the cause is an e-cigarette the driver was using that exploded in his face. No one else was hurt.

“The truck went onto the shoulder then ultimately struck a guardrail before coming to a stop,” Sgt. Stephen Wheeles said.

Wheeles says the driver, Christian Starasinich was hurt which he calls the crash a rare one.

“His injuries are primarily from the device exploding in his hand and not from the crash itself. I personally have not heard of an instance like this where someone was injured by one and it possibly caused a crash,” he said.

Troy Leblanc, owns the 5 Kentuckiana Derb-e-cigs locations and also represents the Kentucky Smoke Free Association.

“When you hear something like that you hop that the driver is not severely hurt as well as other motorists, that’s a large truck,” Leblanc said. He says e-cig users and people in general should not be alarmed after this uncommon crash.

“It’s extremely, extremely rare. We don’t see it very often, don’t here it very often,” he said.

These devices Leblanc explains are highly popular with more than 9 million Americans using them regularly.

“I urge them to come in the advice is free and we’d be more than happy to help anyone out,” he said.

Here in Kentuckiana, sales are soaring, especially in the past two years.

“We’ve sold over five million dollars in product in our store alone of out of the 30 plus stores in the city,” Leblanc adds.

The circumstances from this crash are still unknown and Leblanc says that can make all the difference as he wonders what type of device was the driver using and how old it was, was he charging it correctly, maintenance there are so many unanswered questions.

But what can be said from both police and e-cig experts, is this crash could have had a much more devastating ending.

Read Full Article – http://www.whas11.com/story/news/traffic/accident-construction/2016/01/05/e-cig-explosion-blamed–65-semi-accident/78314388/

Blog, Drug Companies, Legal News, Personal Injury

Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon Morcellator Lawsuits Centralized

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Lawsuits involving one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies and one of the most controversial medical devices in the U.S. now are centralized to a single court.

Johnson & Johnson is accused of hiding knowledge that its power morcellator could cause an accidental spread of uterine cancer during hysterectomies and surgeries to remove fibroids.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred at least 28 morcellator lawsuits to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, a multidistrict litigation (MDL) court.

“This decision by the panel is an extremely important one because it ensures that these cases will move at the fastest possible pace,” said Paul Pennock, a lead attorney at Weitz & Luxenberg who led the arguments for consolidation.

Courts consolidate lawsuits to MDLs when a large number of plaintiffs file lawsuits involving the same facts against the same defendant. The process allows the courts to operate more efficiently and decreases the costs for all parties involved.

“We believe this will allow our clients to obtain justice much more swiftly and reliably than might otherwise be the case if each client were compelled to battle the defendants in isolated courtrooms scattered across the country,” Pennock said.

The lawsuits accuse Ethicon, a subsidiary of J&J, of designing a defective product and failing to warn patients of risks.

Morcellator Controversy Growing

The surgical tool that uses small blades to break tissue into small fragments remains one of the most controversial devices in the U.S.

One congressman, U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, fought for amendments to regulate medical devices to be added to the 21st Century Cures Act that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July. The amendments stemmed from news that some women were rapidly developing cancer after surgeries involving the device.

Months later, members of Congress led by Fitzpatrick petitioned the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate the devices and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration process that cleared them. The GAO agreed to investigate morcellators and the FDA in September.

The recent news adds to an existing history of controversy involving power morcellators that began more than a year ago, and Johnson & Johnson’s name keeps coming up.

J&J, Ethicon May Have Known of Risks

Morcellators were once thought to have an extremely rare risk of unintentionally spreading uterine cancer, but the FDA warned the actual risk was one in 350 in April 2014. The warning came almost two decades after the device entered the market.

Read Full Article Here – http://www.drugwatch.com/2015/10/20/ethicon-morcellator-mdl-kansas/