Drug maker GlaxoSmith Kline has agreed to begin settling cases where plaintiffs allege the use of antidepressant Paxil caused birth defects.

 Only one case in Philadelphia’s mass tort Paxil program has gone to trial. Children born with birth defects where a mother is taking the Paxil drug during pregnancy is such [...]]]> Source: The Legal Intelligencer, June 2010

Drug maker GlaxoSmith Kline has agreed to begin settling cases where plaintiffs allege the use of antidepressant Paxil caused birth defects.

 Only one case in Philadelphia’s mass tort Paxil program has gone to trial. Children born with birth defects where a mother is taking the Paxil drug during pregnancy is such a devastating circumstance. We at the Lewis Law Firm want to hear from any family who has not yet exercised their rights to seek compensation. Contact us.

 Posted: Gayle Lewis, Esquire

_ You or a loved one were significantly injured from a surgical error or complication of surgery

_ You or a loved one were significantly injured from improper medical care or treatment

_ You or a loved one were diagnosed with breast, ovarian, prostate or other cancer after a year [...]]]> You MAY have a medical malpractice case if:

_ You or a loved one were significantly injured from a surgical error or complication of surgery

_ You or a loved one were significantly injured from improper medical care or treatment

_ You or a loved one were diagnosed with breast, ovarian, prostate or other cancer after a year or more of having symptoms

_ You or a loved one experienced stroke, heart attack or pulmonary embolism after being discharged from a hospital ER

_ You or a loved one contracted a serious infection while in a hospital

_ You or a loved one have bed sores or broken bones from a fall during a nursing home stay

_ You or a loved one experienced significant injury while being treated at a Veterans’ Hospital

_ You or a loved one were prescribed the wrong medication or too much medication

_ Your baby experienced hypoxia, birth asphyxia or brain injury following delivery due to a delay in delivery

_ Your baby experienced shoulder dystocia or nerve injury to the shoulder, arm and hand following delivery

_ You or a loved one are having a hard time getting answers from your doctor or hospital

_You or a loved one are having problems getting your medical records from your doctor or hospital

_ The records from your doctor or hospital do not accurately reflect the care you received

If you have checked Yes to any of these questions and (IN PA and NJ) the medical treatment at issue occurred within the past 2 years, you MAY have a medical malpractice case.  The Lewis Law Firm, PC will provide you with a free initial consultation to determine whether you have a medical malpractice case.

Complications, including significant injury or death, following medical treatment create confusion in addition to pain and loss.  You may have “a gut feeling” that something went wrong.  You may be too uncertain or even embarrassed about questioning medical care to consult with a lawyer.

The above is a quick check list of “red flags” which might indicate that your “gut feeling” is correct.  Obviously one can never determine from a checklist whether you actually have a medical malpractice case.  But these are certainly some good questions to start with.

Posted by David Marc Schwadron, Esquire

ACOG has now published a revised version of it’s guidelines for Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) monitoring. In practice Bulletin #106, ACOG has sought to improve consistency of common terms and to reduce variability (bad word choice) in FHR interpretation.

FHR was used in less than [...]]]> Source: ACOG (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) July 2009

ACOG has now published a revised version of it’s guidelines for Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) monitoring. In practice Bulletin #106, ACOG has sought to improve consistency of common terms and to reduce variability (bad word choice) in FHR interpretation.

FHR was used in less than 45% of pending deliveries in 1980 and 85% in 2002. Oddly, the rates of perinatal mortality and of cerebral palsy (CP) have remained the same despite advances in monitoring. Some of the more interesting findings include the following: false-positive rates of EFM (Electronic Fetal Monitoring) for predicting cerebral palsy exceeds 99%; Pulse oximetry has not been shown to be clinically useful for assessing fetal status; Interpretation of FHR tracing is subject to high inter (between) and intra (within)-observer variability (not a good thing).

Hyperstimulation and hypercontractility are no longer recommended terms. Only Medical Malpractice lawyers will recognize why that is so funny. (Not “Ha! Ha!” funny either).

The best recommendations are also the most obvious: woman with high-risk pregnancies should undergo continuous FHR monitoring when used during labor (as opposed to…?) nurses and physicians should review the EFM frequently–approximately every 30 minutes in the first stage of labor and every 15 minutes in the second stage.

posted by David Marc Schwadron, Esq.

Significantly, the results were said to be similar for those infants with and without encephalopathy. The theory advanced to explain this is [...]]]> A little too close to home here, but results of a recent British cohort study suggest that infants who required resuscitation are at increased risk for low IQ scores by 8 years of age.

Significantly, the results were said to be similar for those infants with and without encephalopathy. The theory advanced to explain this is called “continuum of reproductive casualty” meaning that even mild perinatal events may have long term effects on cognition. The study ultimately examined the IQ scores of 5887 children in a British school who were around 8.6 years of age on average.

Up to 14% of neonates may require resuscitation after delivery. Mine did. It should be noted that children delivered more than 8 years ago were more likely to receive 100% oxygen during resuscitation. Such a level of forced oxygenation was associated with poorer outcomes, forcing a practice change. Still, in calling the results “surprising” clinicians have noted some limitations of the study in that only 51% of the original cohort group of 10,609 children were followed to school age (British system school age) and that the mean (average) IQ scores among the resuscitated and asymptomatic children were not different from the control group.

My neonate is currently 5.6 years of age. One to follow.

posted by David Marc Schwadron, Esq.