Statement of Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D On Behalf of the National Center for Health Research Before the FDA Advisory Panel Convening to Discuss Dermal Fillers

When a family member or friend is placed in a nursing home, it is the expectation that their loved one will receive adequate care and attention. The facility itself takes on the responsibility of caring for that person appropriately. There are instances when elderly people in assisted living facilities are abused or neglected by those who have been tasked with keeping them safe.

Were women filing pelvic mesh lawsuits in New Jersey overcharged a 40% contingency fee by their Texas lawyers? Should they be able to recoup millions as a result?

For many years, Congress (especially women in Congress) criticized the FDA for not requiring companies applying for approval to include enough women, people of color, and people over 65 in clinical trials. As a result, many drugs and devices were approved on the basis of studies primarily of relatively young, mostly white males.

Paragard is an IUD (intrauterine device) implanted in the uterus to prevent pregnancy. The device is made by Cooper Surgical and received an FDA New Drug application approval in 1984. Among the three IUDs on the market - Mirena, Skyla and Liletta - Paragard is the only one that uses copper, not a hormone. Unfortunately, there have been thousands of reports of problems in women implanted with Paragard, including at least 15 deaths.

In honor of Women's History Month, we’re honoring Minnie Hale Daniel, the first woman to graduate from law school in Georgia. She went all the way through law school knowing women were FORBIDDEN from being lawyers in Georgia. And when she finished, she set out to change that law.

The dreaded ERISA lien. The vendors representing ERISA self-funded health plans’ interests certainly want you to believe that it must be reimbursed in full. They will cite the US Airways v McCutchen case, tell you that they are not subject to equitable doctrines, and, therefore, do not have to reduce for attorney fees, limit, or waive their full recovery even if your client was not made whole from a compromised settlement. How do you get an ERISA plan to be fair and equitable?

A former FDA IT project manager left the agency to focus on patient safety and on finding the numbers needed for true patient safety and advocacy.

Bayer stopped selling its Essure birth control device in the U.S. late in 2018 due to thousands of reports from the public of complications.

Personal injury settlements involving Medicare beneficiaries will often have conditional payment claims by Medicare and/or Part C plan liens. Since accurate and complete information regarding Medicare’s payments may be unavailable during settlement negotiations, practitioners may find themselves engaged in guesswork.