Health Hazards

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When powerful corporations put their profit over your health, Searcy Denney is not afraid to stand up to them on your behalf.

The proliferation of recalls of toys, drugs, food, and hygiene products made in foreign countries has called national and international attention to the US corporations that, to increase profits, outsource production and, apparently, outsource their responsibility not to endanger your health. Toymaker giant Mattel had to recall nearly a million toys because the lead paint used in its Chinese-produced toys could poison children. The Food and Drug Administration warned that bargain-basement toothpaste made in China contained DEG, used in anti-freeze and as a solvent.

Some of the most blatant examples of corporations forsaking their moral obligation to produce safe products are in the marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical devices more dangerous than the conditions they purport to cure.

Frequently accused of kowtowing to the pharmaceutical industry by dragging its feet on recalls, in 2010 the FDA recalled several popular drugs manufactured by big-name corporations such as Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline. And for good reason!

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil was nailed by the FDA for “unacceptable quality issues” related to 43 children’s medicines, including Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl. In May 2010, a report surfaced that Johnson & Johnson had initiated a cover-up of a potential Motrin recall in 2008, alleging that the company bought up bad lots rather than, as it had promised the FDA, conducting checks to see if a recall was warranted. Big Pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline also made headlines after evidence mounted that the diabetes drug Avandia increased cardiovascular risks. Avandia had been banned entirely by the European Union, and consumer groups and the FDA’s own safety reviewers wanted it banned in the United States. But a timid FDA merely limited its use to patients with type 2 diabetes who had exhausted other drug possibilities.

The recent history of medical devices, too, is peppered with examples where manufacturers have ignored or denied risk of injury or death. Automated external defibrillators, insulin pumps, intravenous infusion devices and glucose meters were cited in a February 2011 report about high-risk medical devices that skipped critical steps in the FDA approval process and ultimately had to be recalled. The report, issued by the National Research Center for Women and Families, found that more than 75% of medical devices recalled as death risks had not undergone an FDA premarket approval process requiring clinical testing and inspections.

In these kinds of cases, the attorneys at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley have extensive experience representing victims and families whose lives have been devastated by corporate greed.

• Our mass tort cases include claims for patients harmed by Avandia, hormone replacement drugs, pain pumps, Yaz birth control pills, and other dangerous pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
• We represent contact lens wearers who, because they used a Bausch & Lomb lens cleaner called ReNu with MoistureLoc, are experiencing the pain and suffering of a fungal eye infection, fusarium keratitis. Bausch & Lomb recalled the lens cleaner in April 2006, four years after being warned by the FDA that they were putting customers at risk of this infection. Several hundred cases of fusarium keratitis are being investigated by public health authorities.
• In 2007, we gained a $25.8 million recovery for a Florida breast cancer patient who suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage because a Walgreens pharmacist gave her ten times the dosage called for in a prescription for the blood-thinner Coumadin. The woman, who suffered physical and neurological damage and was deprived of the tools to fight her cancer, did not live to see the jury verdict.

Even after cigarettes have been proved to cause cancer, Big Tobacco arrogantly continues its assault on public health.

Attorneys at Searcy Denney represent Florida tobacco victims empowered by a Florida Supreme Court decision affirming that cigarettes cause cancer, that nicotine is addictive, and that Big Tobacco has misled the public about the potentially lethal dangers of smoking. Our clients are suffering from cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, and/or peripheral vascular disease . . . all thanks to the tobacco industry’s greed and blatant disregard of public health.

• In November 2010, a Bronson, FL jury awarded $80 million to the daughter of a lung cancer victim who died after a 60-year addiction to nicotine in the cigarettes of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Searcy Denney attorney David Sales represented the daughter.
• In August 2009, attorneys Bill Norton, David Sales, and Laurie Briggs represented the husband of an Escambia County, FL woman who died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as a result of her addiction to nicotine. A jury awarded the husband $7.8 million in compensatory damages against tobacco giants R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris USA, and Liggett Group.
• Attorneys David Sales and James Gustafson from our firm, along with attorney Gabriel Zambrano, garnered a $3.3 million jury verdict  against R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris on behalf of the widow of an Aluchua County man who started smoking 20 years before the first warning labels appeared on cigarette packages.

At Searcy Denney, we know that no amount of money can really compensate for the injury, illness, or loss of a loved one. But by holding greedy corporations accountable, we can make sure our clients are not financially devastated by medical costs and consequent pain and suffering.

We are convinced that the only way to persuade corporations to stop deliberately putting your health at risk is to hit them where it hurts, in the pocketbook. If you or a family member has suffered an injury or illness that can be attributed to corporate disregard for your health, please fill out our Contact Form, or call us to learn more and arrange for a confidential free consultation.