Scholarly Support for Xarelto Lawsuit Allegations

Various court cases have been filed against Bayer AG and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The main complain in almost all these cases is that the patients were exposed to the risk of uncontrolled bleeding while taking the Xarelto anticoagulant. Various studies on this product seem to add credibility to such claims, which resulted into thorough review of the cases.

Xarelto Predisposed Users to Vitreous Hemorrhages

Drs. Judy Hun and John C. Hwang carried out a study to observe the effects of taking this drug in patients within their practice. Their study focused on patients between the ages of 70 and 89. The patients had been using traditional anticoagulant medications before, but switched to Xarelto, following its approval by the FDA in 2011. The empirical observation by these doctors is that the patients who started using this drug had increased eye-bleeding or vitreous hemorrhage cases. Such occurrences coincided with the patients’ change in drug regime.

During the study, the two doctors observed that bleeding cases were more likely to occur in patients who had been using other anticoagulants, such as warfarin, and later changed to this new-generation anticoagulant. The two doctors, Hwang and Hun, later on published their findings in an issue of JAMA Ophthalmology in June 2015. Based on their findings, acute vitreous hemorrhage happened a short period after a patient had shifted medication to rivaroxaban.

Rivaroxaban increased the risk of internal bleeding

Another major study on the effects of this drug was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) issue of April 2015. According to this study, taking this anticoagulant increased the risk of intestinal bleeding by two-fold, as compared to taking warfarin. During this study, the researchers investigated more than 46,000 medical records and observed that this form of bleeding was considerably higher in patients who had been taking warfarin before shifting to rivaroxaban.

The consolidation of the lawsuits

The more than 2,800 individual lawsuits against the Xarelto anticoagulant and its manufacturers, in the United States, have been merged to form the Multidistrict litigation (MDL) No. 2592. In all these individual law suits, the main complain is that the drug exposed its users to dangerous and uncontrolled bleeding, if they got injured while using the medication. In some cases, the drug is said to have led to the death of patients. The merged cases are now being overseen by Judge Eldon Fallon in the Eastern District Court of Louisiana.

4 Features that Help an Attorney’s Website Stand Out

Every business, whether it is a law firm, corporation, accountancy firm, auto dealership, retailer etc. need to have a presence on the web these days if they don’t wish to be irrelevant. In this web-connected world, people have come to depend on the internet for everything. From finding their plumbers to hiring an attorney, they first do a search on the internet. This means that those who fail to have a website are going to lose out on a lot of potential clients and they will probably end up with competitors. Most attorneys have come to realize this and have made their websites.
Yet, they still fail to get the desired results. Why? This is because they do create a website, but they use a common design template and don’t make the effort of making it different from the thousands others on the web. Bear in mind that a standard or poorly designed website will only confuse and frustrate. If you truly want to attract customers and get engagement and conversions, your website has to have some unique features. Read on to know the 4 features that an attorney’s website should have to stand out in the crowd:

Number 1: Responsive Design

With technological advancement, more and more people are using smartphones and tablets for accessing websites. For some of them, almost 50% of the traffic comes from mobile users. This makes it necessary to have a responsive design on attorneys’ websites, which enables them to provide a tailored experience across all devices of varying screen resolutions. There is no need for mobile users to engage in any panning and pinching as the website automatically adjusts to their screen.

Number 2: Social Media Profiles

Social media has also gotten pretty big nowadays. People have come to rely on it and your website needs to have links to your social media profiles where potential clients can have a look at what you and others have to say about your services. Your presence on social media can also help customers in trusting you as it gives them a way to know more about you and what you have accomplished. Hence, your website should have the appropriate social media tags.

Number 3: Client Testimonials

Attorneys are privy to some of the most private details of their clients’ lives. This explains why people do thorough research before coming to an attorney. They will not pick a lawyer out of a hat; they will find out everything they can. One way you can provide assurances to potential clients is by ensuring that your former or existing clients have posted testimonials on your website. Visitors tend to rely on the word of others than on yours and this can help in conversion.

Number 4: Contact Information

It is essential for lawyers to give users several ways to get in touch with them. Your contact information should be clear and easily available on the website. While the immediacy of need to contact can vary in situations, it is important to provide options because this will also indicate your availability and reliability.

 

Being A Court Reporter

If you’re organized and enjoy learning about various aspects of the law, then consider a career in court reporting Scottsdale AZ schools offer. This is a job where you have to pay attention to detail, and you have to be able to understand what those in the room are saying. You are responsible for taking down the statements and questions from the judge, attorneys and those who are on trial. It’s an important job because attorneys could have questions about what was said in a trial, or they could have a question about a sentence that was given by the judge.

There are a few software programs that are now being used to make it easy to record what is said in the court room as each word has to be recorded verbatim. You can sometimes use a recording device and go back at a later time to type everything that was said. There are times when the judge might ask that you read back something that was said. This is when you have to be able to quickly look through the statements to find the time during the trial that the judge is talking about while making sure you have all of the comments recorded from everyone involved during that specific case.

Some attorneys will request the assistance of a court reporter to transcribe cases and to make copies of court records that will be filed for clients. While in the court room, you will use a stenograph machine. It has 22 special keys, each one sending information to the machine before a lengthy document is printed. You will use this document to make an official transcription of the day in court. There are about 70 schools that offer training in court reporting. It takes about two years to become a court reporter. Much of the training is done on the job as you won’t really get a feel for the work until it’s done in the setting. A high skill level in grammar and the English language is required. It’s also beneficial if you take a course in Spanish or another foreign language as there are workers and those who are on trial who don’t speak English.

San Diego Makes 911 System Improvements

It sounds like your worst nightmare: you need help right away because you have been in an accident, kidnapped, or suffered a serious injury. Fortunately, you have managed to get to a phone to call 911. You wait patiently assuming that help will be on the way soon. However, the 911 dispatcher isn’t responsive to your questions or doesn’t seem to understand how urgent your situation is. You may have even ended up on hold, awaiting the chance to speak with a 911 dispatcher.

 

It sounds shocking but this is exactly what prompted the city of San Diego to make updates to its 911 system after the death of a Mira Mesa infant in a dog mauling.

 

Infant Death Leads to New Calls for 911 System Improvements

 

On April 21, 2016, a family in Mira Mesa suffered a devastating animal attack which ultimately resulting in the death of their infant child. The parents said that they were in bed watching TV when the mother coughed, startling the family dog causing it to bite their newborn baby. The couple had called 911 twice before driving to the hospital after the family dog attacked their baby. The baby was later pronounced dead at the hospital, according to police.

 

Had there been a prompt response to the couple’s 911 call, the outcome might have been different. However, the failure of the San Diego 911 dispatcher system meant that it took the couple longer to get help than if the call would have been answered promptly. In addition, without the aid of the 911 dispatcher, the couple was not instructed on how to deliver urgent medical treatment to their infant child while the child was in transport to the hospital.

 

The 911 system also failed other residents in two home invasion cases in Bankers Hill and La Jolla. The residents both waiting an average of 7 minutes to get hold of 911 dispatchers after intruders were discovered in their homes during the night. In the Bankers Hill case, the intruder escaped. In the La Jolla case, the two suspects were later found hiding under neighbors’ cars and were arrested by the police.

 

Although these two home invasion incidents did not result in any injuries for the victims, the poor response times of San Diego’s emergency dispatch system has left people in life-threatening situations. Long call wait times are a threat to public safety and are not acceptable.

 

Why Did San Diego’s 911 System Fail Its Residents?

 

The city faults the pension crisis and economic recession for the poor service delivered by its 911 system. The San Diego 911 call system experienced a series of budget cuts from 2008 to 2012, resulting in a lag in call pickup times.

 

These budget cuts have resulted in fewer dispatchers being available to answer calls despite the fact that call volumes have increased. While the city has made some recent attempts to fix the situation, by adding 16 emergency and non-emergency lines, these improvements were only able to address the busy signals that some 911 callers experienced. However, the updates did nothing to address the increasing wait times.

 

According to officials, the wait times to speak with a 911 operator in 2015 averaged roughly 13 seconds. San Diego’s 911 system has a goal to answer calls within 10 seconds 90 percent of the time, but only reached 67 percent in April of this year. In 2015, this target was only reached 80.67 percent of the time with a total call volume of 672,834 calls.

 

Upcoming Improvements

 

The city plans to implement more aggressive policies to improve the 911 call system. Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s plan for updating the 911 call system, include:

 

  • Additional funding for dispatcher recruitment and retention.
  • Analysis and reporting to improve performance and efficiency.
  • Modernization of the dispatch system and procedures.
  • Monthly public reports regarding the 911 call statistics to be made available to the public.
  • A public awareness campaign to notify residents not to hang up because it wastes resources and causes systemic delays. The campaign will also remind residents to avoid using 911 for non-emergency situations.

 

However, the mayor’s plan isn’t expected to be implemented until 2017, which is when the department’s computer-aided dispatch system will also be updated. In the meantime, the mayor has authorized Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman to allow police officers and city staffers to work overtime as 911 dispatchers.

 

While these improvements may help alleviate some of the problems in the interim, the city still has a lot to do in order to pinpoint all of the bottlenecks in its system. With a lack of insight into system failures that are not staff-related, it could be some time until the San Diego 911 system delivers on its promises of shorter call wait times. In the meantime, more than one million San Diego residents are still at risk of experiencing 911 system delays.

 

If believe you or a loved one has been severely harmed due to the failure of your local 911 system, you should speak with a lawyer right away. Send us an email or call Walker Law at (619) 839-9978 to schedule your free consultation.

 

Sources:

 

http://timesofsandiego.com/life/2016/04/25/did-911-fail-san-diego-parents-as-dog-mauled-baby/

http://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2016/04/22/newborn-baby-apparently-killed-by-dog-in-mira-mesa/

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/may/03/faulconer-911/

http://www.emsworld.com/news/12203706/calif-citys-mayor-vows-improvements-to-9-1-1-response

http://fox5sandiego.com/2016/05/03/mayor-addresses-911-dispatcher-staffing-issues/

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/may/03/faulconer-911/

http://www.10news.com/news/city-addressing-911-dispatch-issues-050316

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/public-safety/two-home-invasions-two-families-who-waited-on-hold-with-911/