Medications Category Archives — DC Medical Malpractice & Patient Safety Blog Published by Washington, D.C. Personal Injury Lawyers

December 28, 2022

For seniors, big changes coming with federal health coverage plans

Editor’s note: The blog will shift in ’23 to more episodic publication.

Just a reminder: 2023 will begin what could be consequential changes in aspects of older Americans, notably those age 65-plus and covered by Medicare.

As part of law of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats in the Congress and pushed by the Biden Administration, diabetics on original Medicare will see their cost for lifesaving insulin capped at $35-a-month under Part-D prescription drug plans. As the official Medicare site reports:

December 23, 2022

Half of those hurt or killed in crashes used drugs or alcohol

by Patrick A. Malone

As federal, state, and local officials seek to slash the nation’s spiking road toll of injury and death, law enforcement authorities need to crack down on the scary prevalence of motorists who get behind the wheel while intoxicated by marijuana or alcohol.

Indeed, as NPR reported:

“A large study by U.S. highway safety regulators found that more than half the people injured or killed in traffic crashes had one or more drugs, or alcohol, in their bloodstreams. Also, just over 54% of injured drivers had drugs or alcohol in their systems, with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active ingredient in marijuana, the most prevalent, followed by alcohol, the study published [Dec. 13] by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found. Although the study authors say the results can’t be used to gauge drug use on the roads nationwide, they say the high number of drivers, passengers, and other road users with drugs in their systems is concerning.”

December 14, 2022

Watchdog agency taking fire for big problems safeguarding food and drugs

by Patrick A. Malone

In regular places, when alarms blare and it becomes clear that a big, important something is broken and threatens folks’ well-being, those with common sense race to make needed fixes. Washington, D.C., is different. And members of Congress, the White House, and top federal bureaucrats already may be dodging a desperately needed reckoning for the Food and Drug Administration.

This health watchdog is taking body blows about two of its biggest responsibilities — ensuring the safety, effectiveness, and affordability of prescription drugs, and its oversight of these same qualities with the nation’s food supplies.

The agency finds itself jamming the brakes on its hotly contested efforts to hurry prescription drugs onto public markets. And an independent foundation, which is often supports the agency and its work, has ripped the operations of its multiple food regulatory programs, calling them ineffective and lacking needed leadership and direction.

December 11, 2022

Big investors aid struggling vaping pioneer in $1.7 billion settlement

by Patrick A. Malone

While regular folks will count their pennies and fret about affording gifts for loved ones during an inflation-plagued holiday season, plutocrats have given the hoi polloi a rare glimpse of the major loot they see in the business of peddling health-wrecking e-cigarettes and vaping.

The concerning disclosures are emerging as part of the financial struggles for the industry pioneer Juul to stave off fierce federal regulation, angry customers, and plummeting business to survive.

In its latest step, Juul — the high-tech company that helped to create the e-cigarette and vaping fad and then saw its fortunes plunge with increasingly stern federal oversight of its products —has settled more than 5,000 lawsuits with 10,000-plus individual plaintiffs.

November 30, 2022

As STD epidemic rages, the sexually active scorn a familiar protection

by Patrick A. Malone

In some not-so-great news for the nation’s sexual well-being, the rubber has hit the road for too many guys.

The familiar and oft-ridiculed prophylactic could play a significant role in battling an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) that has engulfed the nation, the Washington Post reported. But condom use has declined significantly, for example, as a leading means for family planning, falling in opinion surveys from 75% in 2011 to 42% among men polled.

Public health experts confront multiple challenges in trying to slash the soaring tide of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, partly because medical advances with HIV-AIDS mistakenly have the sexually active, especially young men, believing that they can forgo condoms and be safe, the newspaper reported:

November 22, 2022

Walmart, with $3.1 billion plan, joins big pharmacies in settling opioid suits

by Patrick A. Malone

Walmart has offered to pay $3.1 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits filed against the deep-pocketed retailing giant, accusing it of complicity through its nationwide pharmacy operations in the lethal opioid abuse and overdose crisis.

The Bentonville, Ark., -based company insists it committed no wrong and the states, counties, cities, Indian tribes, and others who sued Walmart said it did not have as large a part as other pharmacy chains in inundating the country with powerful, prescribed painkillers.

Still, Walmart joins CVS and Walgreens in settling rather than confronting those who have found sustained success in seeking justice in the civil system, various news organizations have reported.

November 18, 2022

A busy holidays reminder: It’s use-it-or-lose-it time with health savings accounts

by Patrick A. Malone

Just how much do you love the company for which you work? Is it enough to want to fork over hundreds or even thousands of dollars that you could spend to benefit the health of you and your loved ones?

Before the hectic holidays engulf us all, your personal finances can benefit if you check your 2022 health care spending, especially taking account of sums you may have set aside in special accounts offered through your employer.

These are known as Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts, aka FSAs. As the federal government defines and explains them to its own employees:

November 8, 2022

Nation’s biggest drug stores seek to settle opioid suits for $10 billion

by Patrick A. Malone

While critics keep throwing up a false narrative about “ambulance chasing,” self-enriching lawyers, their labors and the civil legal system have proven yet again their effectiveness in wringing financial justice for those harmed by health care giants.

The nation’s largest pharmacy chains have tentatively agreed to pay $10 billion in settlements for dispensing an avalanche of addictive, debilitating, and deadly prescription painkillers.

CVS and Walgreens, which had been among the staunchest holdouts in battling opioid litigation, both defended their business practices and denied any wrongdoing. They blamed doctors for excessive prescribing of powerful opioid drugs, which, federal officials say, fueled an abuse and overdose crisis that is worsening and killed more than 100,000 Americans last year.

November 2, 2022

Fungi posing bigger health risks, as drugs’ potency wanes, experts warn

by Patrick A. Malone

People around the planet must be more wary of the fungus among us, because the too often overlooked pathogens are becoming “increasingly widespread, resistant to treatment, and deadly.”

That’s the view of the World Health Organization, as reported by the New York Times and other media organizations. WHO has sought to heighten awareness about an array of fungal infections because fewer of them can be treated well with familiar therapeutics, the newspaper reported:

“The health agency listed 19 invasive fungal diseases, including four it described as a ‘critical priority,’ that collectively kill 1.3 million people and contribute to the death of five million others each year. Many of those deaths occur among people with HIV, cancer, tuberculosis, and other underlying health conditions that leave them vulnerable to infection. Health officials say the death toll from fungal infections is likely much higher because many hospitals and clinics, especially in poorer countries, lack the diagnostic tools for detecting them. ‘The bottom line is that invasive fungal infections are becoming more prevalent, but frequently they are not recognized in patients and not correctly treated,’ Dr. Carmem L. Pessoa-Silva, a WHO official focused on disease surveillance and control, said at a news conference …’We do not have a real sense of the size of the problem.’”

October 21, 2022

Savvy consumers are getting flu and covid shots (hint, hint)

by Patrick A. Malone

As many as 4 in 20 patients infected with the coronavirus report they have not fully recovered after months and 1 in 20 of those with the disease say they have not recovered at all. The viral illness, which has claimed more than 1 million lives and has infected more than 97 million of us, still kills just under 400 people daily on average.

Meantime, the southeast and south central parts of the United States — including the District of Columbia — are reporting the nation’s highest rates of influenza cases, as this infection is showing an early season surge. Just a reminder that in pre-pandemic times, flu sickened as many as 41 million Americans annually, leading to as many as 700,000-plus hospitalizations, and up to 50,000-plus deaths.

After years now of coping with the catastrophic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, and especially with the sustained harms of long covid, and with evidence growing that this year’s flu season will be tough and break with a recent period of mild caseloads, why aren’t more folks using common sense and getting safe, effective vaccinations to increase their protection against these debilitating and lethal diseases?