Vested Interest - News - June 2006 Issue

Missouri Lawmakers Approve Overhaul to Med Mal Insurance

Lawmakers voted to give the state insurance director the authority to veto medical malpractice rates that are “excessive” or otherwise inappropriate in an effort to help cut doctors’ insurance rates. The House gave final approval by a 155-4 vote that gives the state more authority to regulate medical malpractice insurance providers while also requiring that more information about insurance coverage be reported to the state. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 18, 2006)

Study Links Casino Smoke, DNA Damage

Five years of research led by a University of Nevada, Reno department head in Reno and Las Vegas casinos have concluded there is a direct correlation between exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace and damage to the employees’ DNA. The researcher has said DNA damage leads to a higher risk of heart disease and cancer down the road. Funded by a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Heath, the clinical trial followed 125 employees who work on the gambling floors of casinos in both northern and southern Nevada. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 18, 2006)

Airplane Air Found Not to Cause Blood Clots

Reduced air pressure and oxygen levels do not appear to promote the formation of deadly blood clots on long commercial flights, an ailment sometimes called “economy-class syndrome,” a new report said. The findings seem to bolster the belief that clots develop in otherwise healthy people mainly because they sit in cramped quarters that slow blood flow, especially in the legs, not because of cabin environment. The study was published in the JAMA. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 18, 2006)

FDA Panel Urges Prominent Warning Labels for Antibiotic

FDA Administration safety reviewers have linked the antibiotic Ketek to 12 cases of liver failure, including four deaths, and they are recommending adding a prominent new label warning that “severe, life-threatening, and in some case fatal” liver toxicity has been reported in patients taking the drug. The findings, in a confidential May 16 memorandum by the FDA’s Division of Drug Risk Evaluation, raise new questions about Sanofi-Aventis SA antibiotic. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 25, 2006)

ADHD Drugs Send Thousands to ERs

Accidental overdoses and side effects from attention deficit drugs likely send thousands of children and adults to emergency rooms, according to the first national estimates of the problem. Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated problems with the stimulant drugs drive nearly 3,100 people to ERs each year. Nearly two-thirds, overdoses and accidental use, could be prevented by parents locking the pills away. Other patients had side effects, including potential cardiac problems such as chest pain, stroke, high blood pressure and fast heart rate. Concerns over those effects have led some doctors to urge the FDA to require a “black box,” its most serious warning, on package inserts for drugs such as Ritalin, Concerta and Adderall. Yet even doctors advising the FDA don’t agree on whether that’s warranted. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 1, 2006)

Psychiatric Drugs Fare Favorably when Companies Pay for Studies

Drug companies fund a growing number of the studies in leading psychiatric journals, and drugs fare much better in these company-funded studies than in trials done independently or by competitors, according to a recent report. About 57 percent of published studies were paid for by drug companies in 2002, compared with 25 percent in 1992. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 1, 2006)

Safety of Tasers Questioned Again

The safety of Tasers is under new scrutiny after a study by a Wisconsin scientist showed that shocks from the guns cause the hearts of healthy pigs to stop beating. The finding contradicts previous studies that showed Taser shocks did not cause heart disturbances in pigs, whose hearts are similar to those in humans. John G. Webster, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin who conducted the study, said the earlier studies contained serious errors because they did not account for the fact that pigs have a thick layer of muscle insulating their hearts from their skin. Humans do not. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 1, 2006)

Diversity of Juries May Lead to Fairer Verdicts

Researches have found that more diverse juries, specifically ones that include black and white members, are more likely to share information, make fewer errors in evaluating the facts and perhaps reach fairer verdicts than all-white juries. The study, conducted with mock jurists, was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The difference in jury performance could not be attributed solely to the input of minorities, the study found. Sometimes the mere presence of minorities changes the behavior of white jurors. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 1, 2006)

Product Liability Suits Going Down

Total federal products liability lawsuits filed in the U.S. declined by 14 percent last year and is on pace to decline an additional 16 percent in 2006. The data was compiled with information gathered from the LexisNexis Market Intelligence database and released by LexisLexis U.S. The data shows a gradual rise in federal lawsuits filed under Nature of Suits 365, the designation for personal injury-products liability claims, began in 2001, when just over 5,000 NOS 365 filings were made. That number grew to more than 13,000 cases filed in 2002, rose to 17,000 in 2003 and then soared to nearly 28,000 lawsuits in 2004. A slight falloff occurred in 2005, when the number of products liability filings declined to less than 24,000, and the year-to-date lawsuits in 2006 are on pace for less than 20,000 cases to be filed this year. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 1, 2006)

Merck Admits a Data Error on Vioxx

In an admission that could undermine one of its core defenses in Vioxx-related lawsuits, Merck said it erred when it reported in early 2005 that a crucial statistical test showed Vioxx-caused heart problems only after 18 months of continuous use. Outside scientists said that Merck’s admission, when considered along with other clinical trials of the drug and studies tracking real-world Vioxx use, supports critics’ longstanding claims that Vioxx caused heart problems quickly. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 1, 2006)

Young Docs Prefer 30-Hour Shifts to Taking Naps

According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, only 22 percent of University of Chicago residents forward pager calls to another resident in order to take a nap during long shifts. Under work rules passed in 2003, residents are not supposed to average more than 80 hours a week or work more than 30 hours in a row. They’re suppose to get one day off per week and at least 10 hours off between shifts. The study found that while most residents on the nap schedule kept their pagers on for their own patients, they declined to take calls for patients not under their direct care. Residents on the nap schedule slept an average of three hours, five minutes a night, 41 minutes longer than a standard schedule. Nap schedule residents also slept more soundly and reported less fatigue. However, the study was too small, 38 first-year interns, to determine whether the nap schedule improved patient care. (Chicago Sun-Times – June 6, 2006)