Vested Interest - News and Notes - May 2005 Issue

Graco Fined $4 Million for Lack of "Timely" Reporting

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is winning praise from supporters and critics for slapping Graco Children’s Products with a record $4 million penalty. The CPSC is on pace this fiscal year to break its annual record for civil penalties, having already hit Polaris, Dynacraft, Sears, Johnson Health Tech and Horizon Fitness with $3.4 million in sanctions since October 1. But consumer advocates say the agency needs to be even more aggressive to protect the public from potentially dangerous products. The CPSC fined Graco for failing to inform it "in a timely manner" about 12 million products, from strollers to toddler beds, that "posed a danger to young children nationwide. Also, the agency announced a recall of 1.2 million toddler beds because a child’s arm or leg could become trapped in the footboard or guard rails. The beds were sold by Graco from February 1994 to March 2001. (ATLA Law News Digest – March 24, 2005)

Amnesty Slams Taser, Cites Deaths

According to an Amnesty International report, there were 103 Taser stun gun related deaths in the United States and Canada between June 2001 and March 2005. In the first three months of this year, there were 13 Taser-related deaths, compared to six during the same period last year, the report said. The stun guns have been touted as less lethal than other ways of subduing combative people in high-risk situations, but Tasers have come under increasing scrutiny as a number of deaths have been blamed, at least partially, on the devices. (ATLA Law News Digest – April 7, 2005)

Making Pills Safe for Kids

First there were reports antidepressants increase suicidal behavior in children. Then came news of a possible cancer risk from creams used to treat baby eczema. Even a drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder became suspect and sales were suspended in Canada after several deaths in children. Part of the worry is that most drugs taken by children have not been adequately tested on them. The chief of obstetric and pediatric pharmacology branch of the National Institute of Health & Human Development is working to change that. Late last year, his office, acting under a 2002 law passed by Congress, ordered its first set of tests of drugs used in Children. (ATLA Law News Digest – April 14, 2005)

Drugs for Dementia Tied to Deaths

Federal drug regulators are now saying that older patients with dementia who are given antipsychotic medicines are far more likely to die prematurely than those given dummy pills. The warning adds to growing worries about the safety of widely prescribed drugs. The FDA said it would now require manufacturers of the medicines to place black-box warnings, the agency’s most severe, on the labels of all the drugs. In 2003, the agency required manufacturers to add a warning about an increased risk of diabetes from antipsychotic medications. Zyprexa and Symbyax from Eli Lilly, Risperdal from Johnson & Johnson, Seroquel from AstraZeneca, Abilify from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Clozaril from Novartis and Geodon from Pfizer are all affected by the warning. (ATLA Law News Digest – April 14, 2004)

Hospital-Acquired Infections Rising

According to a new report issued by Colorado-based Health Grades Inc., hospital-acquired infections are worsening in the United States, even though the problem is widely recognized. The problem of such infections provides a good indication of which hospitals are prone to errors overall. "Hospital-acquired infections rates worsened by approximately 20 percent from 2000 to 2003 and accounted for 9,552 deaths and $2.60 billion, almost 30 percent of the total excess cost related to the patient safety incidents," the company said in its report. Health Grades found more than 300,000 patients died after suffering some sort of adverse, hospital-related incident in 2001, 2002 and 2003. (MSNBC.com – May 2, 2005)

Federal Judges Don’t See Problem with Frivolous Suits

According to an overwhelming majority of federal judges who participated in a recent survey, so-called frivolous litigation is not a major problem in the federal court system. The survey, conducted by the Federal Judicial Center, was based on the responses of 278 federal district court judges. Seventy percent of the respondents called groundless litigations either a "small problem" or a "very small problem," and 15 percent said it was no problem at all. Only 1 percent called it a "very large problem," 2 percent called it a "large problem" and the rest rated it as a "moderate problem" in their courts. The survey asked judges their opinion on proposed changes to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which since 1993 has allowed, but has not required, judges to impose sanctions on attorneys who bring frivolous lawsuits. Eighty-seven percent said they favored retaining Rule 11 in its current form. In addition, 91 percent of the judges surveyed opposed provisions in the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, which won House approval in the last Congress, what would require judges to impose mandatory sanctions on attorneys who bring frivolous lawsuits. (ATLA Law News Digest – April 14, 2005)

Medical Students Say Malpractice Reform Should Focus More on Patients Than on Caps

"Today thousands of physicians will descend upon Capitol Hill to voice support for medical liability reform to address the rise in medical malpractice premiums. These physicians will be lobbying for a federal cap on non-economic damages. The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the nation’s largest, independent medical student organization, expresses concern that this approach may prevent just, effective, patient-centered reform. Much of the debated has centered on the potential effectiveness of caps on non-economic damage awards to reduce premium increases. AMSA opposes any proposal that involves caps alone; instead, reform should focus on a more comprehensive approach that includes reducing medical errors and increasing oversight of the insurance industry. There is little doubt that the rising costs of medical liability insurance affects the professional decisions of health care providers, but the causes of high medical malpractice rates are more complex than jury award size," says Dr. Brian Palmer, AMSA national president. "As future physicians, AMSA believes priorities for reform should include a system to share the potentially life-saving information learned through medical error reporting and fostering better communication between physicians and patients. AMSA believes that solutions to medical malpractice must be determined in collaboration among physicians, plaintiff and defense attorneys, patients and other vested parties. Instead of ‘injuring’ the patient twice, we need to focus on preventing the mistakes. By investigating and addressing factors that contribute to errors in clinical care, we are taking the first step in protecting patients’ rights and improving medical care." (AMSA Press Release – April 20, 2005)

New Report Finds No Link Between Spike in Doctors’ Insurance Rates and Medical Malpractice Lawsuits by Injured Patients

The latest national data on physician malpractice payments show no evidence that the spike in doctors’ insurance rates is due to lawsuits by patients, a new study by Public Citizen confirms. At the same time that insurance rates in some areas have been climbing, the number and total value of malpractice payouts to patients have been flat since 1991 and, in fact, show a significant decline since 2001, when the spike in insurance rates began, the study found. The data shows that from 1990 to 2004, only 5.5 percent of doctors account for 57.3 percent of all malpractice payments. In addition, only 11.4 percent of doctors who have made three or more malpractice payouts have ever been disciplined. For the full press release, please go to http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1925.