Florida Injury Attorney Blawg
From time to time, I will list in this blog recent important information regarding manufactured products used by American consumers. Today’s entries:
Darvocet and Darvon: Popular prescription pain medications, go by the generic name propoxyphene. FDA studies show that the drug puts patients at risk of potentially serious or even fatal heart rhythm abnormalities. Propoxyphene is an opoid. Safety concerns were raised as early as 1978. Warnings were placed on boxes in 2009 of the dangers of overdoses. Now, the manufacturer, Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has agreed to withdraw the drug from the U.S. market.
DePuy Hip Replacement Parts: Some component parts in the DePuy Hip replacement system are feared to be the cause of a high rate of repeat surgies in those who have received the parts. Johnson & Johnson and DePuy Orthopaedics, its subsidiary, have announced that it is recalling the parts.
EBIce Cold Therapy: This is a cryo-therapy (“Cold Therapy”) device typically prescribed by orthopedists and podiatrists after a surgical procedure. Poor use instructions have resulted in serious nerve and skin damage similar to frost bite.
Fosomax: Manufactured by Mreck, this is a class of drugs called bisphosphonates. It is commonly used in tablet form to prevent and treat osteoporosis in post-menopausal woman. The Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons recently reported a link between bisphosphonates and serious bonce disease called Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (ONJ), a disfiguring and disabling condition of the jaw bone that causes infection and rotting of the jaw bone.
Gadolinium: A contrast agent used to enhance the quality of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), it can place people at risk of developing Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF) or Nephrogenic Fibrosing Demopathy (NFD), potentially fatal diseases. Symptoms include thickening of the skin, dark patches on the skin that appear rough and hard, joint and bone pain, as well as swelling. The U.S. FDA has asked manufacturers of the agent to includea new boxed warning on the product label.
Gardasil: Manufactured and aggresively marketed by Merck Sharp & Dohme Co. as a vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. While it is has not been proven to prevent cervical cancer, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System has over 16,000 reports of adverse events related to its administration including 50 deaths, blindness, multiple sclerosis, paralysis, blood clots and death. Parents should proceed with caution before allowing their children to be vaccinated.
Paxil: An anti-depressent manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Public Health Advisories have recently been issued for Paxil regarding, among other things, an increased risk of heart birth defects, peristent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN), and omphalocele (an abnormality in newborns.
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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. is a South Florida based law firm committed to the judicial system and to representing and obtaining justice for individuals – the poor, the injured, the forgotten, the voiceless, the defenseless and the damned, and to protecting the rights of such people from corporate and government oppression. We do not represent government, corporations or large business interests.
Contact us at 866-785-GALE or by email to learn your legal rights.