Wisconsin Zimmer Persona knee implant recall lawsuits

See my recent post at our firm site on Wisconsin Zimmer Persona knee implant recall lawsuits.  Sometimes what a consumer thinks might be a medical malpractice case can prove to be a products liability case.  These recalled Zimmer Persona knee implants are making a lot of orthopedic surgeons look bad.


Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Xarelto lawsuits in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Xarelto lawsuits are currently being investigated by our firm. The primary problem with Xarelto aka Rivaroxaban is internal bleeding, which can cause death or hospitalization. Please go to our firm's Xarelto page to get more information.



Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Pro Hac Vice Admission, Co-Counsel, Local Counsel, and Referrals

Out-of-state lawyers interested in working on or referring a Wisconsin personal injury lawsuit, please see my recent post Wisconsin Pro Hac Vice Admission, Co-Counsel, Local Counsel, and Referrals.


Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Wisconsin Dog Bite Liability

Find out Who's liable for a dog bite in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Yaz and Yasmin Settlements in Wisconsin

Our recent blog post on Wisconsin Yaz and Yasmin cases at our firm web site: Wisconsin Yaz and Yasmin Settlements

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

ExamWorks - IME's are Big Business

Previously, I wrote about Wisconsin IME doctors, medical defense doctors, and defense ("independent") medical exams and the latter two posts linked to a company formerly known as Verity Medical.  Well, Verity Medical was bought and so you get an idea of how BIG a business it is for insurance companies (and their lawyers) to hire defense medical examination brokers to get them doctors willing to fight legitimate insurance claims - I present ExamWorks. 

Depending on the day, ExamWorks, publicly traded (NYSE symbol EXAM), has been worth about $225,000,000.00 to $900,000,000.00.  How's that for big business!  And that's only one IME broker.  Here's the list companies purchased by ExamWorks between 7/14/2008 and 2/28/2011:

• MES Group, Inc., Warren, MI
• National IME Centres Inc., Thornhill, ON
• Royal Medical Consultants, Inc., Tampa, FL
• BMEGateway, Woburn, MA
• UK Independent Medical Services, Durham, England
• Health Cost Management, Beaverton, OR
• Verity Medical, Madison, WI
• Exigere, Bellevue, WA
• SOMA Medical Assessments, Toronto, ON
• Direct IME, Toronto, ON
• Network Medical Review, Rockford, IL
• Independent Medical Services, St. Paul, MN
• 401 Diagnostics, Sacramento, CA
• Metro Medical Services, East Rockaway, NY
• American Medical Bill Review, Redding, CA
• Medical Evaluations, Minneapolis, MN
• Abeton, Portland, OR
• Medical Assurance Group, Phoenix, AZ
• MedNet I.M.S., Atlanta, GA
• QualMed, Mount Laurel, NJ
• IME Operations of Physician Practice, Boynton Beach, FL
• The Evaluation Group, Southfield, MI
• Benchmark Medical Consultants, Sacramento, CA
• IME Software Solutions, Farmington Hills, MI
• Florida Medical Specialists, Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Marquis Medical Administrators, Roseland, NJ
• Ricwel, Dublin, OH
• CFO Medical Services, Roseland, NJ
• Crossland Medical Review Services, Syosset, NY
• Southwest Medical, Dallas, TX

There are still hundreds, if not thousands, of other "independent medical examination" brokers out there selling doctors to fight diagnosis, causation, allege problems are pre-existing, argue treatment was unnecessary, asserting injuries aren't permanent, etc.

FYI, too, though the companies have become savvy at hiding doctors who work for them, here's a list of the doctors in the area who were working for Verity Medical, and likely now ExamWorks:

• Mark R. Aschliman, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Stephen E. Barron, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• David H. Bartlett, M.D. – Ortho Surgeon – Knees & Shoulders
• Paul D. Belich, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Paul A. Cederberg, M.D. - Orthopedic Surgeon
• Steven C. Delheimer, M.D. – Neurosurgeon
• Steven Donatello, M.D. – Pain Management
• Anthony A. Ferguson, M.D. – Ortho Surgeon - Foot/Ankle
• James C. Foster, M.D., MPH – Occupational Medicine
• Steven P. Friedel, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Dan B. Futch, D.C. – Chiropractor
• James G. Gmeiner, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon/ Spine Specialist
• J. Jay Goodman, M.D. – General/Vascular Surgeon                            
• Thomas W. Grossman, Jr., M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Steven I. Grindel, M.D. – Ortho. Surgeon/Upper Extremity
• Gary N. Guten, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon – Knee Specialist
• Timothy S. Hart, M.D. – Orthopedic/Hand Surgeon
• Scott A. Kale, M.D. – Internal Medicine
• William B. Kelley, M.D. – General Surgeon
• William R. Klemme, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Norman Kohn, M.D. – Neurologist
• Kevin J. Kulwicki, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Paul L. Liebert, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Daniel P. Lochmann, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Thomas A. Lyons, M.D. – Neurosurgeon
• Hani Matloub, M.D. - Hand Surgery
• William T. Monacci, M.D. – Neurosurgeon
• William D. Moore, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• J. Christopher Noonan, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Michael R. Nordstrom, M.D. – Otolaryngology
• Marc J. Novom, M.D. – Neurologist
• Gregory Nystrom, D.C. – Chiropractor
• Ellen O’Brien, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Thomas J. O’Brien, M.D. – Ortho. Surgeon/Spine Specialist
• Timothy S. O’Brien, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Dan M Olson, D.C. – Chiropractor
• Michael W. Orth, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Michael C. Reineck, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Francisco Sanchez, M.D. – Neurosurgeon
• Thomas W. Schueppert, M.D. – Ortho. Foot & Ankle Surgeon
• James E. Self, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• David A. Solfelt, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon
• Morris M. Soriano, M.D. – Neurosurgeon
• Sridhar V. Vasudevan, M.D. – Physical Medicine & Rehab
• Michael A. Weiner, M.D. – Plastic/Hand Surgeon
• Gilbert Westreich, M.D. – Neurology
• John M. Williams, Sr., M.D. – Occupational Medicine
• Michael G. Wirth, D.C. - Chiropractor
• Randal Wojciehoski, D.O., DPM – Internal/ER Med./Podiatry
• John S. Xenos, M.D. – Orthopedic Surgeon

Note, according to New York lawyer Eric Turkewitz, Allstate (Allstate's Obstructing Justice, Allstate exposed, Insurance Companies again,  Allstate's issues continue) is getting its stable of IME doctors from ExamWorks.  Surely, that can be no surprise.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

(888) 232-1274 Milwaukee Family Chiropractic?

(888) 232-1274 is a phone number for what appears to be an outfit attempting to contact personal injury car accident victims.  Callers from 888-232-1274 identify themselves as working on behalf of Milwaukee Family Chiropractic.  These Milwaukee Family Chiropractic reps include: Mr. Presley, Yolanda, Tanya, and Shalanda.  Individuals calling from this phone number contact people after Wisconsin motor vehicle accidents.  In fact, they even call individuals as far away as Madison, Wisconsin.

After googling, I found this site.  Anonymous web users report individuals stating they were called the day after a traffic accident and received multiple calls from same number, 888-232-1274.  Others report receiving ambiguous messages stating they were "calling in regards to your accident."  Most everyone reports that callers leave no company name.  Often, people called were not even injured. Some opine that Milwaukee Family Chiropractic is working on behalf of unethical personal injury lawyers. I say unethical because in Wisconsin it is unethical for personal injury attorneys or reps to cold call accident victims.  I hope that this is not the situation, but based on the information below it appears they may be working with at least one Wisconsin lawyer.

I googled "Milwaukee Family Chiropractic" because one report I received regarding its involvement was from a known source and I found this site.  Interestingly, comments there give sordid details about this outfit and have serious allegations including the involvement of a personal injury attorney.

If you get a call from (888) 232-1274, ignore it and don't respond.  In fact, if you get any cold calls from doctors, lawyers, chiropractors, clinics, or anyone else, other than your own car insurer, do not talk to them or respond.  If you're seriously hurt after a car accident, get a referral from a lawyer you trust for reputable lawyers who focus on personal injury cases.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Wisconsin Drug & Medical Device Immunity Proposal is Misplaced

Below is an article I recently wrote for the Wisconsin Association for Justice:

Wisconsin State Senator Rich Zipperer of Pewaukee has recently proposed a bill under the pretense of attempting to create Wisconsin jobs.  The proposed law would bar claims for injury or death by Wisconsin citizens injured by dangerous drugs or medical devices simply because the drug or device had been FDA approved.  Not only is it impossible to imagine how such a law would create a single Wisconsin job, but the simple truth is that such a law is horrible for Wisconsinites.

First of all, under the proposed law, it doesn’t matter whether or not the manufacturer or seller of the dangerous drug or medical device is based in Wisconsin.  This is critical to the claim that the proposed law would help create Wisconsin jobs.  Under the bill, the manufacturer or seller could be based in any state in the nation or country in the world.  Thus, the law won’t encourage any manufacturers or sellers of drugs or medical devices to move from Illinois or China to Wisconsin.  In fact, the only other state in the nation to have a similar law is Michigan, which granted drug manufacturers such immunity in 1996, and it has one of the highest jobless rates in the country.

Secondly, the only consumers affected by the law are Wisconsin citizens.  Wisconsinites injured or killed by a dangerous drug or medical device lose their legal rights under the proposed law.  These are legal rights that citizens of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and other states retain.  What does this mean?  Well, if such a drug or device kills a Wisconsin family member, the Wisconsinites get no day in court and no justice.  However, if such a dangerous drug or device kills a family member from Minnesota or elsewhere, those citizens get their day in court.  It is hard to imagine how such a law benefits Wisconsin.

Finally, and most importantly, the FDA’s rubber stamp does not mean that dangerous drugs and medical devices will not get to market.  It also does not mean that manufacturers or sellers of such products will act responsibly both before and after obtaining FDA approval.  Where manufacturers and sellers of such products do not act responsibly before or after obtaining FDA approval, they must be held legally responsible to those injured or killed. 

An outstanding article from the American Association for Justice entitled “They Knew and Failed to…: True stories of corpations that knew their products were dangerous, sometimes deadly” recounts true stories behind numerous FDA approved dangerous drugs and medical devices.  Some products mentioned in the article include:

·         Guidant Heart Defibrillators

·         Medtronic Sprint Fidelis

·         Bjork-Shiley Heart Valve

·         A.H. Robbins Dalkon Shield IUD

·         G.D. Searle Copper-7 IUD

·         Playtex Super-absorbent Tampons

·         Renu Contact Lens Solution

·         Johnson & Johnson’s Propulsid

·         Bayer’s Trasylol

·         GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia

·         Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa

·         AstraZeneca’s Seroquel

·         Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Evra

·         SSRIs – Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft

·         Chiron’s Flu Vaccine

The article conclusively shows how irresponsibly individuals at drug and medical device companies can act and that such negligence can occur both before and after obtaining an FDA rubber stamp.  Too frequently, product warnings turn out to be wrong, design flaws discovered, and problems and side effects revealed.  Yet, often those responsible for these dangers ignore or attempt to hide such dangers.  In such instances, the manufacturers or sellers must be held accountable.

 Senator Zipperer’s proposed law does nothing to create Wisconsin jobs, only harms Wisconsin consumers, and wrongly assumes that manufacturers and sellers of dangerous drugs and medical devices will act responsibly.

Wisconsin personal injury attorney Frank Pasternak is managing partner of Pasternak & Zirgibel S.C. in Brookfield, Wisconsin.  He is on the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Association for Justice and a Charter Member of the American Association for Justice President’s Club.  He is AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell and listed on the “Top 50” Wisconsin “Super Lawyers” list published in Milwaukee Magazine. His practice focuses on personal injury and wrongful death cases particularly cases involving serious accidents and liability for asbestos caused mesothelioma.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Wisconsin Product Liability Law Proposal

Despite the fact that the Chamber of Commerce ranks Wisconsin in the top half of states to do business in, Governor Scott Walker has recently proposed several changes to Wisconsin tort law, including product liability law changes, claiming these will create jobs. None of the proposed changes will do that and one of these proposed changes will immunize sellers of dangerous and defective products that cause injury or death. No seller of a dangerous or defective product should ever be given what is essentially a blanket immunity.

For a very sad example of how products can kill people, read Asbestos & Insulation Contractors at my Wisconsin Asbestos & Mesothelioma blog.

Wisconsin Injury Attorney

Habush v. Cannon Part XI

Habush v. Cannon & Dunphy continues to be litigated. The future court activity in Milwaukee County shows motion hearings in January and February and then two separate trials. One trial will begin April 4, 2011 and the other June 6, 2011. Given that I just searched Yahoo, Bing and Google and still got a "Cannon and Dunphy" paid for result in Google, I'm sure Habush is anxious to precede. The paid result comes up whether one searches Google for "Habush" "habush habush rottier" "Bob Habush" "Rottier" or "Dan Rottier."

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Wisconsin asbestos mesothelioma decision

Wisconsin Asbestos & Mesothelioma Blog has a post on a recent decision from the Court of Appeals in a Wisconsin mesothelioma car brakes case.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Phone Call and A Check

In How many lawyers do you need? I discussed hiring attorneys and lawyer advertising. Now, I'm going to rip a specific form of lawyer advertising, which is the former client or an actor holding a check and saying something like: all I did was call personal injury attorney ____ and I got $____. Those commercials and similar ones make me sick. They make those of us who represent real victims who were badly injured and who respect the legal profession and our civil justice system look like leeches, which may be a fair description for lawyers running those ads, but not for real Wisconsin personal injury lawyers.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Preemption Garbage Strikes Wisconsin

Blunt v. Medtronic, 2009 WI 16, is another bad example of how the U.S. Supreme Court has screwed up products liability law for consumers. Blunt is likely consistent with the litany of horrific decisions from federal courts, but the result is simply unfair to consumers. Bottom line, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that this personal injury case was preempted because the FDA approved a defective product that Medtronic effectively recalled. Yeah, that's great, let's assume that the FDA always gets it right and bar consumers from suing for injuries received from an "approved" product even after the manufacturer has essentially admitted the product was bad.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Unethical Ambulance Chasing?

In the past I talked about Wisconsin personal injury attorneys sending letters to recent car accident victims, similar Wisconsin law firm's letters, and accident lawyers who post about recent accidents.

In the newest twist, NY injury attorney Eric Turkewitz talks about the ethics of personal injury lawyers creating Flight 3407 related websites and buying related Google Adwords in Flight 3407 (Buffalo Crash) Web Site Established By Law Firm (Contravening Ethics Rules?) and DC Firm Jumps Into Cyber-Solicitation Fray, Chasing Buffalo Air Crash Clients.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin Car Accident Deaths Down

According to this report from the Governors Highway Safety Association, Wisconsin car accident deaths were down 20% in 2008 from the year prior. This article from the Wall Street Journal explains that nationally car accident deathss were down about 10% in 2008. Interestingly, the WSJ article sets forth various speculative reasons for the decrease, including the fact that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety uses "the power of shame to push car makers to beef up their designs for crash-worthiness." What about the power of product liability lawsuits holding car manufacturers responsible for failing to incorporate reasonable crashworthy designs? Not that I'd expect the WSJ to ever give personal injury lawyers any credit for positive change.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Wisconsin Cheerleading Lawsuit

Wisconsin's Supreme Court issued Noffke v. Bakke yesterday and it's been discussed in the news, Wall Street Journal's Blog, and by legal professors, Legal Profession Blog and Sports Law Blog. The Blogosphere discussion seems to focus on cheerleading as a contact sport, which I'm sure law scholars can debate ad infinitum.

Simple lawyers like me though wonder, why didn't a jury get to decide whether this fellow cheerleader and school district acted reasonably? I ask that rhetorically because I know the reason is because a prior Wisconsin legislature and governor decided to give IMMUNITY.

Noffke v. Bakke shows two types of immunity statutes in Wisconsin - governmental immunity (school districts, cities, villages, etc.) and recreational immunity (certain sports, activities, etc.). In my opinion, immunity laws are a horrible form of tort reform, which occurs too often in Wisconsin personal injury law.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

True Justice from the new Dept of Justice?

In a prior post, I explained how federal agencies can and have been used to strip Americans of legal rights. In Revival of Justice: What Obama's DoJ appointees should do first, Yale Law School's Judith Resnik sets forth some ideas for the new administration to revive true justice.

The highlights from my perspective are:

• Acknowledge that the courts are for all citizens;
• Stop government lawyers from cutting off access to courts for civil litigants;
• Don't use support "tort reform" laws ("reform" is really short for deform);
• Give consumers, employees and tort victims more access to court;
• Stop mandatory arbitration (see e.g. your credit card contract);
• Let consumers with tiny claims aggregate in classes so they can get lawyers; and
• Eliminate immunities for government officials and private contractors.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Ingenix Lawsuit Settled

UnitedHealth Care through an outfit called Ingenix allegedly engaged in some insurance company behaviors I've mentioned. So it settled the lawsuit relating to that paying $350,000,000.00 to resolve class action lawsuits and $50,000,000.00 to the NY AG.

I found one interesting aspect of such lawsuits to be the hypocrisy of doctors bringing the cases since they are typically the ones seeking to limit your rights in medical malpractice litigation.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Accident insurers put on the boxing gloves

I saw this from the American Association for Justice and it says what you need to know about Allstate and car accident insurers listed as the worst insurers, like Farmers, Liberty Mutual and State Farm. I might add Progressive, American Family and Sentry Insurance. Car accident insurance companies really want:

~ Premiums not claims
~ To deter valid lawsuits
~ The public to think lawsuits are bogus
~ You to feel guilty for making legitimate claims
~ You to say "I'm not the kind of person who files a lawsuit"
~ Jurors to think plaintiffs are dishonest
~ Your rights minimized and theirs preserved
~ Verdicts for damages to be less than fair
~ Caps on damages
~ And judges who won't hold them accountable.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Allstate's Obstructing Justice

Allstate guarding profits scheme is the title of an article in the Miami Herald today. Seems pretty consistent with what I've said about insurance companies before. Some highlights: "Allstate is facing contempt charges in Missouri -- with a $25,000-a-day fine -- and now it can't sell new auto policies in Florida, in part, because it wants to protect a report written by a corporate consultant." "According to an attorney who has seen the report from consultant McKinsey & Co., it advises Allstate on how to improve profitability: pay less on claims and take a longer time to pay those claims."

No Surprise. CNN exposed Allstate. Sentry Insurance sued an 81-year-old woman for failing to shovel snow. State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate and USAA have been accused of trying to take advantage of Katrina Hurricane victims. And American Family Insurance has extreme profits, denies claims, is pro-tort reform, and pays "when pigs fly.".

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney