Medical Injury Lawyer Blog : Houston Medical Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Arnold & Itkin Law Firm : Pharmaceutical Injuries, Medical Devices : Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio

On the night of April 20th, an explosion rocked the oil and gas rig Deepwater Horizon as it performed exploratory drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico.  The explosion led to a raging fire that ultimately doomed the immense platform.  Efforts to save the Deepwater Horizon failed as, less than two days after the explosion, the semisubmersible rig sank in 5,000 feet of water.

Houston maritime injury lawyer Kurt Arnold discussed the dangers facing maritime workers in the petroleum industry during an interview with the Houston Chronicle a short time after the explosion. “Unfortunately, the rise of incidents offshore are increasing as the exploration for oil and gas increases,” Arnold said. “Many companies talk about their safety record, but the majority of accidents are not reported or misclassified. Unlike on land, there is little oversight.”

In the case of the Deepwater Horizon, 115 of the rig's 126 workers safely evacuated.  The remaining eleven have yet to be found.

What is known, however, is that at least 17 of the evacuated workers arrived onshore with injuries.  For four of the workers, the injuries were described as critical.

What sorts of injuries might be involved?  They are almost certainly the same as those suffered by so many maritime workers exposed to the risks and dangers of the offshore oil and gas production industry.  The most serious of these include physical harm such as blast injuries, burns, smoke inhalation, broken bones, and soft tissue injuries.  Each type of physical injury raises distinct concerns for the victim.

Accident victims also may suffer emotional injuries after witnessing an event such as the Deepwater Horizon explosion and fire.

Blast Injuries

In the case of an explosion, victims are subject to suffer four categories of harm:

•  A primary blast injury results from the intense shockwave of an explosion as it passes by the victim.  Primary blast injuries from a powerful explosion typically cause internal bleeding and serious organ damage.  Most at risk are a person's lungs, abdominal organs, and ears.  Because blast injuries to these organs often aren't obvious from the outside, they can go undetected, many times until it's too late.  Expert diagnosis and prompt treatment are critical.

•  Secondary blast injuries are those caused when a victim is struck by objects that have been hurled into the air by an explosion.  Common injuries are blunt trauma and penetrating wounds.

•  Tertiary injuries are those that result when the victim's body is hurled against other objects by the force of the blast.  Tertiary injuries often include broken bones, blunt trauma, and even traumatic amputations.

•  Quaternary injuries include all other types of injuries that might happen from exposure to the effects of a blast, such as crush injuries, burns, and respiratory injuries.

All categories of blast injury can result in neurological damage such as concussions or, worse yet, traumatic brain injury.

Thus, any workers who were near the explosion that occurred on the Deepwater Horizon may have suffered a wide variety of significant, serious injuries, ranging from internal hemorrhaging and organ damage, hearing damage, broken bones, penetrating wounds, and lacerations, among others.

Burns

The intense fire that followed the Deepwater Horizon explosion naturally put nearby workers at grave risk of burns, whether first degree (superficial and somewhat painful), second degree (deeper into the skin and often very painful), or third degree (reaching all the way through the layers of the skin, but often less painful because the skin's nerve endings are destroyed).  Depending upon the category of burn, and the amount of a victim's skin that is affected, burns can be disfiguring, disabling, or even life-threatening.

Smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation often accompanies burn injuries.  The result can be serious damage to a person's lungs and airways due to the intensely hot air in a fiery environment, the toxic substances given off in a fire, or both.  Victims can be afflicted with anything from simple coughing after a mild exposure to smoke or life-threatening fluid build-up in the lungs and obstruction of inflamed airways.

Broken Bones and Tissue Damage

Anyone involved in an offshore oil rig explosion and fire would be at risk of the broken bones and soft tissue injuries that can accompany a serious industrial or other violent accident.  The severity and long-term consequences of the injury are critically linked to the type of accident involved and the person's exposure to the accident.

Emotional Injury

Survivors of horrifying accidents such as that which occurred on the Deepwater Horizon also face long-term risk for emotional injury in addition to the consequences of their serious physical injuries.  The survivors here may be at risk, for instance, of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is a type of anxiety disorder that can occur after a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death.  The scope of any emotional injury suffered by the victims of the Deepwater Horizon explosion may not be known for some time, but the symptoms and underlying emotional damage can be diagnosed and treated with counseling and other, appropriate professional care.

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The attorneys and staff of Arnold & Itkin LLP express their sympathies for the workers injured aboard the Deepwater Horizon on April 20th, as well as their fervent hope for the safe return of those who remain missing in the aftermath of the tragic explosion.

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If you or a family member has suffered a serious injury due to a catastrophic event, call Arnold & Itkin LLP toll free at (866) 222-2606 or contact us online using the form on this page. We can provide a free evaluation of your case.

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Recently, ev3, Inc. of Plymouth, Minn., announced a Class 1 medical recall of their Trailblazer Support Catheters.

Trailblazer Support Catheters are used provide access through the skin to veins and arteries. From there, the catheter is used to provide a support channel for guide wires during access of blood vessels and to allow wire exchanges. The catheter is also used to provide a passage for the delivery of solutions to diagnose or treat patients.

The catheters were recalled because the medical device may crack near the catheter’s radiopaque marker band. A radiopaque band is a marking on the device used so that the catheter will show up clearly on an X-ray.

If the device were to crack and shards of broken catheter where left inside the patient’s body, it could result in serious medical injury, including insufficient oxygen supply to tissues, damage to blood vessels, heart attack, limb amputation, unplanned surgery or even death.

The recalled medical devices include product manufactured from September 11-29, 2009.

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McNeil Consumer Healthcare and the FDA are notifying consumers that McNeil is expanding its recent drug recall of TYLENOL Arthritis Pain Caplets to include all lots of 100 count bottles with the red EZ-OPEN CAP.

Last month, five lots of the product were recalled after consumers reported unusual moldy, musty, or mildew-like odors associated with nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. The odor is caused by the chemical 2,4,6-tribromoanisole, which is believed to be created through the breakdown of a chemical used to treat wooden pallets that were used for transporting and storing packaging materials.

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The Houston trial law firm Arnold & Itkin LLP has filed five lawsuits against the makers of defective pain pumps and related medications based on claims that many of the company’s defective medical devices  are causing irreversible shoulder damage among patients. Currently, medical attorneys at Arnold & Itkin LLP represent 28 people who received pain pumps to manage pain following shoulder surgery. The pumps utilize a catheter to deliver continuous doses of medication directly into the shoulder. According to the lawsuits, pain pump manufacturers were denied approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use the pumps to mitigate pain in shoulder joints, but the companies continued to promote their use in that way. Many former pain pump users say the companies were negligent in designing, researching and selling pain pumps that they should have known were dangerous. The legal filings include claims of fraud, breach of warranty and products liability against the defendant manufacturers.

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Everyone has heard the clichés: “We’re all human.” “Everyone makes mistakes.” “Nobody’s perfect.”
Those answers are just fine when they come from a waiter explaining an overcooked filet or a child offering a reason behind a less-than-perfect spelling test. But when it’s your doctor?

The fact is that those go-to answers actually are valid, even for doctors … who are human … and therefore are not perfect … and sure enough, make mistakes, many of which fall under the umbrella of medical malpractice. But none of those answers does anything to appease the feelings of patients (and their families) who bear the brunt of errors ranging from the improper administration of medications to sponges (or other items) being left inside a body during surgery to surgery performed on the wrong part of the body. 

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Bayer AG has begun the process of settling medical injury lawsuits regarding its Magnevist contrast agent; Magnevist contains gadolinium.

The company is one among several, including General Electric Company and Tyco International Limited, being sued over complaints that the gadolinium-containing contrast agent was responsible for causing a potentially fatal organ hardening disease, called Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF).  Since May 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that gadolinium-containing contrast agents carry a black box warning.

Bayer’s Magnevist is used during magnetic resonance imaging scans to define tissues clearly. Gadolinium was approved for use in imaging scans in 1999, but the compound was found to increase the risk of NSF in patients who have weak kidneys. NSF is a rare debilitating disease that affects the skin, eyes, joints, and internal organs, causing them to harden. The disease can be fatal. Symptoms of NSF, include:

• Burning or swelling
• Tightening of skin
• Changes in skin texture
• Muscle weakness
• Stiffness in the joints

Since the link between NSF and gadolinium became clear, many patients seriously injured by the drug have hired medical injury lawyers to recover compensation for their injuries.

Bayer has begun negotiating approximately 40 cases that linked Magnevist contrast agents with NSF. Apart from Magnevist, there are 4 other contrast agents containing gadolinium - Ominiscan, OptiMARK, MultiHance, and Prohance.

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New York-based company, Universal ABC Beauty Supply International Inc., recalled 34 weight loss products after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned of risks from consuming the products.

The FDA informed the company that the diet pills and supplements contain Sibutramine, a drug that can lead to a substantial increase in blood pressure and an accelerated heart rate. This could cause health risks in people with a history of cardiac problems. None of the products have been approved by the FDA, although, Sibutramine has been approved by the agency for use as a weight loss drug. Because these weight loss products have not received FDA approval, there can be no guarantees of the safety and effectiveness of the products.

The list of weight loss products, includes:

1. ProSlim Plus
2. 3 DAYS fit
3. EIGHT FACTOR DIET
4. 24hours Diet
5. Slim 3 in1 M-18 ROYAL DIET
6. 3X SLIMMING POWER
7. Extrim Plus 24hours Re-BURN Formula
8. Slim 3in1 EXTRA SLIM FORMULA
9. Slim 3in1 SLIM WAIST FORMULA
10. SLIM EXPRESS 360 C
11. SLIM EXPRESS 4in1
12. ROYAL SLIMMING FORMULA
13. BODY CREATOR
14. Slim Waistline
15. BODY SHAPING
16. PERFECT SLIM
17. Perfect Slim 100% Natural Herbal Essence
18. IMELDA Perfect Slim
19. Slim Waist Formula
20. Super Slimming
21. 2 DAY DIET
22. Powerful Slim
23. BODY SHAPING
24. SUPER FAT BURNER
25. SLIMMING FORMULA
26. SLIM FAST 2
27. SLIM FAST
28. Slim up
29. 7 DAYS DIET
30. Perfect Slim Up
31. JM Fat Reducer
32. SlimBurn
33. 21 Double SLIM
34. TRIM PLUS 2

There have been no reports of illness or injury related to these products; the company said it will discontinue the recalled defective drugs. The company is offering refunds on unused pills. If you have any of these weight loss supplements in your home, discontinue use and contact the company.

Diet pill and supplement companies make up a billion dollar industry. However, some pills may have side effects, including nervousness, diarrhea, accelerated heart rate, tremors, increase in blood pressure, and cardiac arrest. Just because pills promise to give you a slim figure does not mean they are completely harmless and contain no side effects. Medical injury lawyers advise people who use these drugs to follow all dosage instructions carefully and consult their physician before they begin taking them.

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Last week, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials held what the New York Times called a “rare” meeting to discuss the many controversies surrounding the agency's device safety record; medical attorneys think the meeting is past due.

The director of the FDA’s Office of Device Evaluation, Dr. Donna-Bea Tillman, called for an “all hands meeting,” to include all scientists in the device evaluation section. Shockingly, a meeting like this has not been held at the FDA in years. Then again, when you consider the agency's medical device safety record, it really is not very surprising.

The meeting is the most recent in a series of developments surrounding the FDA's record in approving devices. At least 9 scientists this year wrote to Principal Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, alleging that approval procedures in the device section were being "severely distorted." The letter also alleged that scientists at the agency, who were raising their voice against such unethical practices, were facing retaliation by FDA higher-ups. The matter has been serious enough to warrant a Congressional investigation. Soon, the Institute of Medicine could also begin probing these serious concerns about the device section.

Things seem to be heating up at the medical device section of the FDA. Two things are apparent at this point:

• There are serious failures in the medical device division of the FDA.
• These problems are not going to be solved by mere patch-up work.  Rather, the section needs a complete overhaul to root out unethical practices, and make approval processes corruption-proof.

Any changes that come about at the medical device division cannot be a day too soon.

Defective Medical Devices

It is the FDA's responsibility to protect American consumers from dangerous medical devices. If they fall down on the job and let corrupt individuals get in the way of important safety evaluations, we are all at risk.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective medical device, a medical injury attorney can help you recover physically, emotionally, and financially.

Contact a medical injury lawyer, at Arnold & Itkin LLP for a free consultation and to find the answers to any questions you might have.

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On the heels of the Hepatitis B contamination crisis at a New Jersey clinic and the Nevada clinic Hepatitis C scandal, comes another incidence of medical malpractice at a South Dakota urology clinic that could have exposed patients to Hepatitis B, C, and HIV.

This month, the Siouxland Urology Center sent a letter to patients asking them to visit the clinic for free testing of HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and other infectious diseases that could have been contracted by the use of contaminated medical equipment at the center. Now, five residents of Iowa have filed a class action lawsuit against the Siouxland Urology Center and its owners. The clinic is in Dakota Dunes, on the South Dakota - Iowa border.

Last week, the South Dakota Department of Health stated that it identified a possible risk for infection from cystoscopy procedures performed at the facility. A survey of the center revealed that staff used saline solution bags and other single use products on more than one patient before discarding them. According to the Health Department, it has not identified any blood borne infections due to the lack of safe medical practices at the facility.

What is frightening is that the center admitted that since it opened in 2002, more than 5,000 cystoscopy procedures have been performed at the facility.

Inviting patients who you could have exposed to dangerous, possibly deadly diseases by your own negligence, for "free testing" is a like closing the stable gates after the horses are out. These infectious diseases have no known and permanent cure. Patients who contract these diseases can only maintain a lifestyle that keeps symptoms under control. It is appalling that the six doctors who owned the Siouxland Urology Center failed to stop the negligent medical practice of reusing disposable medical equipment. That is the kind of negligence you might expect from a jungle clinic in a Third World country, not from a specialty medical center in the U.S.

Siouxland Urology Center has challenged the health department's statement that using bladder exam equipment on more than one patient can expose them to the risk of disease.

Medical Malpractice

Medical injury attorneys often come across instances in which health care professionals who have been accused of malpractice, continue to remain in a state of denial even when their negligence has been exposed.

If you or a loved one has been infected with a dangerous disease or injured by the negligence of a doctor or clinic, a medical injury attorney can help you find the resources you need to recover.

Contact a medical malpractice attorney, at Arnold & Itkin LLP for a free evaluation of your case. 

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