Dangerous Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Lawyer

Improperly designed, manufactured or labeled drugs or medical devices can cause serious injuries or even death. We believe that device and drug companies who place profits above people must be held responsible for their actions.

If you or someone you love has been injured through the use or prescription of any of the following, we may be able to help.

• DePuy Hip Implants
• Wellbutrin
• Accutane
• NuvaRing
• Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella
• Fosamax
• Drugs associated with Steven-Johnson Syndrome
• Levaquin

Injuries and illness caused by prescription medications can have a serious impact on your life.  For more information on specific medications and possible side-effects, click on a link above or continue scrolling down the page.

DePuy Hip Implants

In August of this year, DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced a recall of DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System hip implants after an unusually large number of reported hip failures and revision surgeries. As a result, hip implant recipients will likely have to undergo a debilitating second, and in many instances third and fourth, hip replacement surgeries. Many may have also suffered additional, long-term injuries, including metallic poisoning.

Feazell & Tighe, LLP has joined other law firms in contending that a design flaw with the DePuy metal hip implant makes them difficult to implant at the proper angle and prone to fail. If the metal-on-metal hip replacement is improperly positioned, it could cause small particles of metal to cause inflammatory reactions, impacting the surrounding tissue in the hip joint and causing loss of bone. Metallic poisoning, called metallosis, is among the most damaging side effects of a defective metal on metal hip implant. The heavy metals chromium and cobalt have been found to enter the circulatory system of a patient through the lower portion of the hip. It also acts as a gateway for toxic debris to enter the bloodstream.

Medical research reports published by the National Institute of Health described “aggressive clinical metal inflammatory failure” of the hip implant, necessitating removal of the faulty device and treatment for the metallic poisoning it caused. In May 2010, The London Times reported that physicians had linked metallic particles released from the device to vision loss, muscle damage, hip pain, hearing loss, and extensive soft tissue damage.

The DePuy hip recall involves the ASR Hip Replacement Systems, specifically the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular sold between 2004 and 2009. The DePuy hip recall involves 29 models of the ASR 100 and 300 Acetabular Implants in cup sizes ranging from 44mm to 70 mm.

Hip replacement recall victims are encouraged to immediately schedule a doctor’s appointment. Comprehensive diagnostic tests should determine the extent of any hip implant failure and identify the presence of toxic metals in the bloodstream.

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

Wellbutrin®

Feazell & Tighe, LLP is currently reviewing potential Wellbutrin lawsuits involving women who, if during early pregnancy you took the antidepressant drug Wellbutrin, Wellbutrin SR or Wellbutrin XL and had an infant(s) born with a congenital heart defect, we are investigating claims that the heart defect may have been caused by exposure to this drug.

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

Accutane®

Until it was pulled from the market in 2009, Accutane was one of the most prescribed acne drugs in the country.

Our firm is currently reviewing potential Accutane side effect lawsuits involving individuals who have taken Accutane and suffered from the following:

• Crohn’s Disease
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Ulcerative Colitis

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

Avandia®

Individuals with diabetes have suffered a heart attack, ischemic stroke or other cardiac condition while taking Avandia should contact one of our lawyers. This prescription drug is used to treat patients suffering from type 2 diabetes, also referred to as adult onset diabetes. Because Avandia may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, the majority of a federal medical advisory panel recommended on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, that the FDA should either withdraw Avandia from the market or severely restrict sales.

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

NuvaRing®

Feazell & Tighe, LLP is investigating potential cases involving women who have suffered serious injury or died while using the vaginal ring contraceptive NuvaRing, which has been linked to serious events such as blood clots, pulmonary embolism, stroke and heart attack.

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

NuvaRing Side Effects

The following side effects have been associated with the use of combination hormonal contraceptives, including NuvaRing:

• blood clots
• cerebral thrombosis
• heart attack or myocardial infarction
• pulmonary embolism
• stroke or cerebral hemorrhage

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella®

We are currently reviewing claims involving women under the age of 35 who are non-smokers and have experienced adverse side effects following the use of Yasmin, Yaz or Ocella, birth control pills linked to serious heart-related health problems that include blood clots, heart attacks and stroke.

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

Fosamax®

Feazell & Tighe, LLP is reviewing cases involving individuals who have suffered serious injury, including Fosamax femur fractures, or wrongful death after use of Fosamax.

Fosamax is a bisphosphonate drug that is marketed, advertised, distributed and sold for the treatment of osteoporosis and Paget’s Disease. This drug is manufactured by Merck and has additionally been prescribed for off-label uses for conditions such as bone cancer.

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

Fosamax Side Effects

Fosamax side effects may include:

• Fosamax femur fractures

A study released in the March 20, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that women on long-term Fosamax use suffered an unusually high rate of femur fractures. The fractures had a signature horizontal pattern and all occurred as a result of falls from standing hright or less. The study, conducted by the Hospital for Special Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, included fifteen women who were on Fosamax more than five years before their femur fracture.

• inflammation of bone marrow
• “Dead Jaw Disease”

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

Drugs Associated with Steven-Johnson Syndrome

This little-known syndrome results in horrible pain, burning and disfigurement. The Syndrome, also known as Toxic Epidurmal Necrolysis, can result in the top layers of skin blistering until it dies and sheds, as well as mucous membrane damage.

Among the drugs most commonly associated with SJS or TEN are:

• Allopurinol
• Bactrim® and other sulfa antibiotics
• Carbamazepine (mood stabilizers such as Tegretol®)
• Celebrex® or other Cox-2 inhibitors
• Dilantin® and Phenytoin
• Ibuprofen (Advil® and Motrin®)
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Daypro®, etc.)

If Stevens-Johnson Syndrome is not treated at its onset, the disorder may lead to a number of extremely serious conditions that can include:

• blindness
• hearing loss
• organ failure
• death

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.

Levaquin®

Two more lawsuits were recently filed against Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, alleging that the popular antibiotic Levaquin causes tendons to rupture. Levaquin is used to treat bacterial infections of the lungs, sinus, skin and urinary tract. Hundreds of people across the county have filed suit alleging that the drug causes tendonitis, tendinopathy and tendon ruptures, often involving the Achilles tendon, and that the drug maker failed to warn about these risks.

For further information, contact the attorneys at Feazell & Tighe, LLP at austin@feazell-tighe.com or toll-free at 877-508-0589.