Mass Tort Litigation and the Vital Role of Medical Review Services

Mass Tort Litigation and the Vital Role of Medical Review Services

Mass tort litigation is highly complex and reliable medical review services have a crucial role to play in the outcome of the case.

Mass tort litigation just as Class Action lawsuits, both of which involve large volume medical record retrieval, are designed to reduce the number of court cases in the system. Mass tort cases usually do not fit into a single “class� like Class Action lawsuits, and include a much broader range of claim types. Mass tort claims are filed when people are injured by medical devices, drugs and/or other products that cause diverse problems for different individuals.

Typically, one attorney or attorney groups representing multiple injured persons in individual cases utilize medical record review for attorneys, a service that considerably lightens the medical record review process. The advantage of mass tort litigation is that attorneys can share valuable information among themselves, and ensure that all injured parties receive fair compensation.

The Case of Invokana To consider an example, Invokana the diabetes drug is involved in a number of personal injury cases now and the number of lawsuits over this drug is increasing nationwide. The drug was approved for use in the spring of 2013, and to date has produced more than one billion dollars in sales. It is expected that a significant number of these cases will come to Pennsylvania.

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• Since December last year, at least fifteen cases alleging injuries associated with Invokana has been filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

• The drug is said to cause kidney failure and a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis that is caused by acid buildup in the blood.

The defendants in the case are Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharmaceuticals that failed to warn and marketed the drug improperly. The plaintiffs in the case also allege that the drug was defectively designed since it prevents the body from metabolizing excess glucose by directing it to be excreted through the kidneys.

A Number of Cases to Be Filed in Philadelphia An attorney handling a large number of cases across the country said that the largest chunk of litigation is now in the Midwest – more than 150 cases have been filed in state courts in Missouri and Illinois. Many cases have also been filed in federal court. Attorneys across the country had around a thousand other cases that were yet to be filed. So, this case is bound to get mass tort status and federal multidistrict status, as this attorney pointed out. On account of Janssen’s ties with Pennsylvania, many attorneys feel that a considerable amount of cases will be filed in Philadelphia. Attorneys representing clients in Philadelphia are reviewing the medical records to evaluate the legitimacy of the cases.

The FDA had announced in December 2015 that it added safety warnings on labels regarding urinary tract infections and excess acid in the blood. The FDA’s website pointed out that the warnings updated the prescribing and monitoring information, and included a requirement for a post-marketing study. The increase in the number of lawsuits being filed may be in the light of this warning, though attorneys feel that it may have to do more with the statute of limitations.

In preliminary objections, the defendants have argued that the jurisdiction is not appropriate and that the claims apart from being insufficient are pre-empted by federal law since the company could not make label changes without first getting FDA approval. They claimed that they are confident in the overall safety profile of Invokana that has more than five million prescriptions to date. The drug is an important medicine that could lower blood sugar in adults with Type 2 diabetes. However, it is expected that plaintiffs will soon bring in

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allegations of other conditions caused by this drug including cardiovascular problems such as heart attack and stroke; and urinary infections among other injuries. Many are also seeking punitive damages along with compensatory damages alleging fraudulent concealment and breach of warranty.

The Crucial Role of Medical Review Services Preparing and arguing a mass tort case can be overwhelming with tons of medical information to make sense of. Sorting, organizing and summarizing the voluminous medical charts would involve hours and hours of attorney and staff time. Professional medical review services that provide the service of legal nurse consultants and other experts will help prove the value of such cases to litigators right at the outset itself. 

As a first important step, a reliable and accurate case chronology is prepared that lists all the medical facts in a timeline and extracts significant information. This medical case chronology will prove useful throughout the life of a case and help the defense or prosecution to prove their case.

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The medical records are neatly organized with references and tabs that help attorneys save considerable time.

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Professional medical reviewers assist both plaintiff and defense attorneys. A comprehensive medical record review would reveal particular health conditions that stem from a defective medical device, treatment or medication. When these trends are visible in a number of plaintiffs, the case becomes stronger. As a result it would become difficult for the defense to disprove the case. For the defense, a review of the medical records would enable to find answers to specific questions the defense side may present and thereby make it possible to dismiss a potential plaintiff. It would also facilitate obtaining a medical expert witness.

Though medical mass torts may be filed at different times, common factors include numerous medical records, several plaintiffs and varying degrees of difficulty. An outside solution in the form of a good medical record review company will improve the efficiency of attorneys and their staff, giving the attorney a distinctive advantage at each stage of the litigation.

www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com

1-800-670-2809