In addition to the experienced in-house medical and legal staff employed by Aaron M. Levine and Associates, we are also affiliated with medical doctors and scientists, and researchers who are on the forefront of their respective fields.
How Our Work Is Done
An example of our groundbreaking projects supported by eminent experts includes demonstrating the casual link between breast cancer and in utero exposure to DES. Our international expert team in DES breast cancer consists of a pathologist, molecular biologist, epidemiologist, breast oncologist, plastic surgeon, and toxicologist. All of these experts have peer reviewed articles naming DES as a teratogen and carcinogen. All of these experts have examined the scientific evidence in their various disciplines and agree that prenatal DES exposure is a significant risk factor for breast cancer in DES daughters over the age of 40.
For any defective medication and harmful devices, the key to winning a medical product liability case is in the effectiveness and qualifications of the medical and scientific experts available to testify. Three important areas are:
Fault:
Was the drug or device manufacturer at fault? Did they depart from accepted standards of care and prudence in their field? Did they fall to adequately test? Did they ignore the scientific literature suggesting the risk involved? Was the drug or device defective and unreasonably dangerous? Was it over promoted, did the distributor fail to warn? An expert in this field must have experience in the field, familiarity with the industry and what are the usual and customary standards and proper conduct in that field, whether it is manufacturing a diet pill or delivering a baby. In the DES exposure example, we call upon our associated experts who have the academic qualifications, experience, and the familiarity with the literature in the 1950's and 1960's to impress the judge and jury as to the state of the art back then. These experts can show a jury that the drug manufacturers knew DES caused cancer and birth defects because of scientific studies that existed at that time.
Causation / Epidemiology:
Did the negligent act, the defective drug or the departure from accepted standards of prudent and careful medicine actually cause or significantly contribute to the injury? In most medical cases, the victim is suffering from some medical condition that forced a trip to the doctor or the taking of a pill that could be the cause of the ultimate disease. It also could be caused by trauma, infection, genetic or other factors not related to the defective drug, device or medical care. The injured victim is required to prove, through an expert, that the drug, device or care in question actually caused the injury complained of. Usually, this is done through treating physicians, scientists and epidemiologists familiar with the studies, tests and literature of the drug or device under question or similar products, as well as the underlying anatomy and pathology which could explain how the drug, device or care could cause such an injury in the general population or animals. We call upon our associated Obstetricians, Gynecologists, Epidemiologists, Reproductive Endocrinologists and Pathologists who have testified in winning cases.
Damages or Extent of Injury:
In order to obtain compensation, we must present additional medical and therapeutic experts to tell the court about your injury and the ramifications, future medical problems, prognosis, limitation of employment, inability to go about life's activities, or future medical needs. We call upon our experts, treating physicians, disability experts, life planners, actuaries, who have given prior testimony translating these factors into present value dollars. Some of the other experts we know on a first-name basis and who work with us consistently are in the fields of:
- Anesthesiology
- Neuropsychology
- Autopsy Examination
- Neurosurgery
- Biomechanical Injury
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Blood Analysis / Disease
- Pediatric Occupational Therapy
- Cancer
- Gynecological Oncology
- Chemistry
- Pediatrics
- Clinical Medicine
- Pharmacology
- Disability Evaluation
- Pharmacy & Marketing
- Drug Toxicology
- Radiology
- Economic Valuations
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Human Factors
- Safety Engineering
- Laboratory Services
- Surgery
- Microscopic Pathology
- Toxicology
- Neonatology
- Trauma
- Neurology
- Plastic surgery
We are affiliated with trial attorneys in every major population center in America who are available to us should local issues arise.
Easing the Hurdles of Proof in the Courtroom by Standing on the Precedence We Built
When it comes to consumer drug product safety and women's health, we at Aaron Levine & Associates have the expertise and practice to take on your medical lawsuits. We wrote the book on proving product identification in DES cases in the encyclopedia of proof which is in most law libraries throughout America. 46 Proof of Facts 2d 51. We made critical case law in Shields v. Eli Lilly* on the issue of product identification. Aaron Levine & Associates was instrumental in providing the legal profession with instructions and checklists for how to obtain and present this information. Our background in women's health can work to your advantage in the court room. Let our attorneys' help you receive the justice you deserve.
Statutes of Limitation
In most states, the door to the courthouse shuts in the consumer's face within two or three years from the date of injury. But medical drugs often have complicated and vague effects that can take years to manifest. The wrongful conduct of those who manufacture the drugs and medical devices in litigation today has been concealed to a large degree. The question then becomes, when did a victim's statute of limitations start to run? Statute of limitations questions are complex and require unique expertise.
In Dawson v. Eli Lilly¹ we convinced the court that it would not be fair in a complicated DES medical products case, where the facts are often confusing and beyond ordinary comprehension, to start the three year period until there was notice of the negligence of the manufacturer. Again, with this case, Aaron M. Levine & Associates has created instrumental precedent in this area for all medical products.
Product Identification and Proof of Exposure
Though the effects of defective drugs and harmful devices is long lasting, too often the legal repercussions take too long as time passes, and information is forgotten. One thing we must help our clients prove in any drug product case is who made the harmful drug or device, or product identification.
We have taken on the most challenging types of drug product identification, such as in DES and Darvon. DES is an extreme case that requires us to find out who made the pill that their mothers took while pregnant with the injured daughter over 50 years ago. DES manufacturer identification is a litigation issue that the lawyers at Aaron Levine & Associates are all too familiar with.
It has been a half-century since DES was popular. Since that time pharmacies have closed, pharmacists have become unavailable or forgotten the brand of DES they had in the stores at the time of the mother's prescription. Certainly the records of the prescription no longer exist. Prescribing physicians and their records are also often unavailable.
In six states you can sue the industry but you only get a share of the market, not full compensation. However, in the other states you need proof of a particular brand. How do you prove that you were actually exposed to DES and even more difficult, what brand of DES your mother purchased?
To combat this problem, we have created a network of physicians, pharmacists, pharmacy investigators and marketing experts who are able to discover the proof necessary to establish the fact of your exposure and the brand to which you were exposed in most cases. Our DES work is a shining example of our commitment to women's health, but our legal services reach far beyond this particular drug. In Darvon and Darvocet, our established pharmacist network is assisting us with identifying which one of the various generic companies made the pills that caused several heart injuries or death. At Aaron Levine & Associates, our attorneys recognize the importance of swift and accurate legal actions for the injured victims and families affected by defective medical products, malpractice, personal injury, and other women's health issues.
Adequate Warnings to the Consumer
In any product liability case, the nature, scope and presentation of the product's real risk is an issue that requires close scrutiny. Russell v. GAF¹ is our appellate case that resulted in a dramatic change in the responsibility of manufacturers to clearly broadcast product warnings. We obtained the first decision in our jurisdiction that requires manufacturers to put a warning on each and every item until it gets into the hands of the consumer. This ruling, reinforced in Payne v. Soft Sheen Products, Inc., ¹ another case we were involved in, has had special relevance in drug and product liability injury cases, where the manufacturer or distributor has the responsibility to warn doctor and patient.
Notes:
- If you would like a copy of any of these decisions please email or call us.
