AstraZeneca statement after the trial is telling:

In case after case, jurors, judges and even plaintiffs' lawyers themselves have found that plaintiffs simply cannot show through any accepted scientific method that AstraZeneca is responsible for their alleged injuries.

In the cases that have been prepared for trial to date...the facts show that the plaintiffs either already had diabetes or had so many pre-existing risk factors that they were already at a significantly increased risk of diabetes before they first took Seroquel.

This statement is actually true. But what is telling is what the statement does not say. It does not say that AstraZeneca did not bury studies or that the clinical trial data does not show that Seroquel causes diabetes. It does not say AstraZeneca was not negligent. What it says is that in individual Seroquel lawsuits, the company’s argument on individual causation has been successful. But this is just one case. Winning one trial against a carpetbag plaintiff (he was from Louisiana) does not speak to how many valid claims there are in the remaining 10,000+ cases. A lot of baseball teams are going to start the year at 1-0. But they shouldn’t start printing playoff tickets quite yet.

Clearly, there are many other claims against AstraZeneca that are pending where liability will not be proven. But if even half of the remaining claims can be proven and the company does not take the clear opportunity it has for a favorable settlement, the $650 million spent to date defending Seroquel lawsuits is going to seem like a modest down payment and the verdicts against Seroquel are going to start piling up.

Admittedly, it does not feel this way because of the rapid succession of Seroquel lawsuit defense victories on summary judgment and now this trial, but this may only be Chapter 5 of the Seroquel litigation.

• 2009 had the lowest number of payments in the 20 year history of the National Practitioner Data Bank.
• Mirroring the Congressional Budget Office's findings, medical malpractice litigation's share of overall health care costs dropped to 0.46%.
• In the last ten years, health care spending rose 83%, while medical malpractice payments actually fell 8%.

Public Citizen also dropped another bombshell that, if true, is just stunning. It said that the hospital rating company HealthGrades estimated in 2004 that more than 190,000 deaths in the United States are caused by medical errors. This doubled the famous IOM study's finding of 99,000 deaths in 1999.

There were 3,537 payments made in medical malpractice wrongful death cases in 2009. This tells us that the problem is not malpractice lawsuits but medical errors. The real way to continue to decrease the costs associated with medical malpractice is get rid of bad doctors, support the good ones (which is the vast majority), and find ways to find new ways to decrease the incidence of medical errors.

• Product Liability Lawsuits
• Become a M&Z Facebook Fan
• Miller & Zois Kids Foundation

Honda Motor Co. announced it will recall more than 400,000 2007 and 2008 Element small trucks and Odyssey minivans because of braking system problems that could make it tougher to stop the vehicle if not repaired.

Brake pedals on these vehicles can "feel soft" and, according to Honda, must be pressed closer to the floor to slow the vehicle. If unfixed, Honda says the problem could cause a car accident because of the loss of braking power.

Maybe Honda is largely out in front of the problem. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported three minor car accidents from braking problems associated with this recall. Still, accidents from braking problems are rarely reported in part because no one believes the drivers who claim their brakes fail.

So Honda owners should rush out and get their brakes fixed? Of course. But there is a problem: the replacement parts have not arrived at Honda dealers yet. But if you are having braking problems now, you will be first in line. I suggest calling your dealer although my guess is the hold times are going to be unreal.

This is the second Honda recall in the past two months. Last month, Honda recalled 952,118 vehicles for air bag problems. My how Honda and Toyota - the golden children of the car industry - have fallen. I wonder if this will stick on them.

A personal heads up to Honda owners who take their vehicles in for the recall: I took my Toyota in today for its recall and lo and behold, the dealer recommended about $300 in repairs for a cabin filter, alignment, and some issue with the battery that I still don't understand. They also suggested it was time to rotate my tires although this was just done recently. Moral of the story: these dealers are going to make money hand over fist from this recall. I rejected all of the repairs out of principle (which might be cutting off my nose to spite my face, I don't know).

Will defibrillator lawsuits come out of this? While defibrillators are a frequent source of lawsuits, I think the answer is no because I don't think anyone has suffered a meaningful injury as the result of this recall. But it is hard to say because Boston Scientific is not disclosing what manufacturing process change they made or how long it might be before they return to the market. Not an encouraging sign for an industry that, as this Bloomberg article points out, has been difficult to trust.

I can't help but wonder if the lack of transparency is going to alienate both doctors - who in a sense are the real consumer - and shareholders who have seen a fall in the stock price of BSX as a result of this recall.

• Medtronic lead recall
• Overview of Product Liability Claims
• Drug Recall Lawyer Commentary on Recall

What is frustrating for many is that these hip replacements were not recalled long ago. The high failure rate of the Depuy ASR hip replacement was well documented in Australia to the point where it was taken off the Australian market last year. The whole industry has been misfiring it seems: there are also lawsuits pending against Zimmer and Stryker.

The F.D.A. has received about 300 complaints on the Depuy ASR hip implant involving patients in the United States who received it since 2008. The vast majority of patients who received ASR hip implants had to have the device replaced, forcing the patient to endure another difficult surgery.

There has not been a DePuy ASR hip class action lawsuit filed. Information on these potential hip replacement claims are coming in very quickly. If you have a potential hip replacement lawsuit, call 800-553-8082 or get a free on-line consultation.

• More information on DePuy ASR lawsuits
• New York Times Article

More Poligrip Recall Information

• Denture Cream Lawsuit Website
• Super Poligrip Warning Update
• Denture Cream MDL Approved
• Other Problems With Zinc: Nasal Spray
• Denture Cream Lawsuits

There is a Poligrip recall in Japan for all of their denture cream products containing zinc. In the United States, there has not been a Poligrip recall per se but Glaxo has "discontinued" selling Super Poligrip. I'm not sure what the difference is between a Poligrip recall and discontinuing selling Poligrip except that it allows a lawyer to eventually ask the judge in a lawsuit that plaintiffs' lawyer not refer to any Poligrip recall because there was no recall.

Not everyone who has used Poligrip is necessarily going to be entitled to money damages in a lawsuit. Our law firm is accepting inquires only from patients who have suffered a meaningful injury from excessive zinc. Symptoms of zinc poisoning include lack of coordination or difficult maintaining balance, numbness, tingling or weakness in the hands or feet, difficulty walking, pain or loss of sensation, and/or paralysis.

If you are considering filing a Super Poligrip lawsuit because of the injuries you have suffered as the result of excessive zinc, call 800-553-8082 or get a free on line consultation.

Botox is well known for its ability to provide relief - albeit short term relief - for those of us who suffer from wrinkles. You might expect the Plaintiff to be middle aged and probably a woman. But this case involved the off label use of Botox in the treatment of a seven year-old girl with cerebral palsy. Some believe that Botox helps fight limb spasticity that sometimes comes with cerebral palsy.

Plaintiffs' Botox lawsuit alleged that their daughter died as a result of an overdose of Botox, which led to respiratory failure and pneumonia. This is a classic product liability claim: Plaintiffs claimed that Allergan failed to adequately warn their daughter's pediatrician of the risks of Botox.

I do not know enough about these cases to give any sort of informed opinion. I fear off label uses of any drug, including Botox, but I also wonder whether the risks are small relative to the upside of providing an effective means of treating an awful cerebral palsy side effect.

Allergan gets just a brief rest: it faces another Botox lawsuit that is going to trial in Oklahoma City next month.