Maternal Death Rates on the Rise in the U.S. and Data Suggests it is Largely Preventable

by HGD Staff

America boasts one of the best healthcare systems in the world, but despite our claims of world-class healthcare, our maternal death rates are among the worst in the industrialized world. This may come as a shock, but it is a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) tracks data across the globe, and based on 2015 figures, the U.S. had approximately 14 maternal deaths per 100,000 child births.

The CIA reports 45 countries with better maternal outcomes than the U.S. Here are just some of those countries that have lower maternal death rates:

• Greece
• Slovakia
• Denmark
• Finland
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• Japan
• Italy
• Kuwait
• Croatia
• Montenegro
• United Arab Emirates
• Kazakhstan
• Saudi Arabia

So, what is the problem? Why do so many American women die each year during birth? The answer may be as simple as negligence.

Understanding Hospital and Healthcare Negligence

There are many ways that a hospital can go wrong during labor and delivery, but in a recent report from USA Today, it was revealed that two specific precautions may be widely ignored in birthing rooms across the country.

High blood pressure during delivery can lead to the mother suffering a stroke, also called a cerebrovascular accident (CVA). But strokes are relatively easy to predict and prevent in this context, at least as long as healthcare workers are doing the right thing.

Second, rapid blood loss can lead to shock, which, in turn, can cause death, paralysis, hypoxia, brain damage, and other serious conditions. Prevention starts with weighing absorbent padding measuring blood loss during labor and delivery. The sooner that excess blood loss can be identified, the sooner hospital staff and doctors can take fast actions to prevent the consequences.

But this is just the beginning. Maternal death rates are just that – the rates at which mothers die giving birth. These numbers do not take into account the many types of non-fatal injuries that women suffer. For instance, USA Today’s report also shed light on the fact that upwards of 50,000 women are severely injured during labor each year.

Causes of Maternal Injuries and Death

The causes of preventable maternal injury and death are fairly straightforward. In about half of all the cases, it can be attributed to a simple step or procedure that was simply not followed. Examples of these negligent actions may include:

• Failing to monitor blood pressure
• Failing to measure blood loss
• Ignoring signs of fetal distress early in delivery
• Waiting too long to notify physicians and specialists
• Failing to administer the correct medications when needed

The Price Americans Pay for Poor Maternal Care

It is practically impossible to truly measure the harm caused by careless healthcare professionals and large corporate hospital chains that put money over patient safety. Depending on the unique situation, many families suffer losses, such as:

• The loss of the woman’s income in the family
• Loss of the woman’s services to the household
• Medical bills and expenses
• Unexpected funeral and burial expenses
• A spouse may be forced to put children into daycare or hire a full-time nanny as a result of the loss
• Emotional losses, like having to explain to young children the loss of a parent

Victims’ Rights After a Fatal Childbirth Event

For the surviving family members, like spouses, children, and even parents of a woman who is killed during childbirth, there can be significant monetary compensation available, and rightfully so. Sadly, large hospital corporations and their insurance carriers often fight hard to avoid all liability, even when it is clear to everyone involved that the death was completely avoidable. If you find yourself grieving the loss of a loved one who died during childbirth, you do not have to stand by and accept the story you are given. You have the right to speak with an attorney free of charge and get real legal options to help your family move forward and pay for the unexpected and unfair expenses you will no doubt face.

At Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC, our attorneys have decades of experience pursuing justice for injured people and survivors who have lost loved ones due to terrible medical errors. Call or visit our firm online to schedule a free consultation today, and find out how we can help.

 

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Erik Heninger is invited faculty for AAJ’s Trial Advocacy College on Depositions

Erik Heninger is an invited faculty member for the American Association for Justice’s Trial Advocacy College on Depositions held in Philadelphia on June 6 to June 8.

Taking and defending depositions are critical skills for every trial lawyer.  AAJ Education’s Depositions College combines lectures, demonstrations, and small-group, interactive workshops led by experienced faculty to give you practical, proven techniques that you can apply immediately to your practice. You’ll receive individual attention and skill critique in a supportive, responsive environment with colleagues at a similar skill and practice level. You’ll learn:

• How to create an effective discovery plan
• Essential deposition techniques including sequencing, exhaustion, and boxing-in
• How to establish rules and utilize the Miller Mousetrap method
• Strategies for dealing with a difficult attorney
• How to successfully depose the defense expert witness, and more

Erik concentrates his practice on personal injury litigation focusing on brain and spinal injuries, medical negligence, trucking litigation, and nursing home litigation. He is a member of the Alabama Association for Justice, Mississippi Association for Justice, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, and AAJ. Mr. Heninger currently serves as the Secretary of the Alabama Association of Justice; represents the 10th Judicial Circuit as an Alabama State Bar Commissioner; and serves on the Executive Committee of the Birmingham Bar Association.  He is a member of the Alabama Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) And authored of numerous articles, including “A Brief Analysis of Nonverbal Communication in the Courtroom,” published in Alabama Trial Lawyers Journal, and has taught on various trial advocacy topics nationwide. Mr. Heninger is a Fellow of AAJ’s National College of Advocacy, and a member of AAJ’s Nursing Homes and Spinal Cord Injury Litigation Groups.

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HGD’s Taylor Bartlett and Lew Garrison Appointed to 3M Combat Arms Earplug MDL Leadership

 

HGD Partners Taylor Bartlett and Lew Garrison were both appointed to serve on the Plaintiff Leadership team for the 3M Combat Arms Earplug Products liability litigation in the United States District Court. Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division.

Taylor was appointed to serve on the Discovery and ESI Subcommittee, and Lew was appointed to serve on the Law, Briefing, and Legal Drafting Subcommittee.

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Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC Files Class Action Against Mercedes for Knowingly Selling Cars with Defective Wood Trim

by HGD Staff

ATLANTA, GA: (May 15, 2019) – A new class action lawsuit out of Georgia alleges that Mercedes Benz USA, LLC and Daimler AG knowingly sold hundreds of thousands of Mercedes E-Series with a defective wood trim that becomes discolored and fades when exposed to sunlight. The suit claims Mercedes knew about problems with the walnut wood trim as early as 2009 but instead of addressing the defects, allegedly told dealerships to hide the problem. Attorneys from Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC’s class action group filed the class action complaint on behalf of Plaintiff Teri Callen.

Callen purchased a 2014 Mercedes-Benz E350 with 11,000 miles that came with a Mercedes certified pre-owned warranty as well as the remaining standard warranty. The car was equipped with the burl walnut wood trim and a mechanic first pointed out the fading to Callen in November of 2018. The burl walnut wood trim was located on the center console, each door, and the dashboard and had become faded, discolored and cloudy in appearance. When Callen contacted the Mercedes dealer, she was allegedly told that the pre-owned warranty did not cover the trim. Callen says that Mercedes refused to replace the walnut trim in her Mercedes even though they had issued multiple technical service bulletins describing the identical problem with the burl walnut wood trim. Plaintiff further alleges that dealers charge between $3000 to $5000 to replace the wood trim.

In 2010, Mercedes issued the first technical service bulletin L168.10-P-505 to dealers that addressed the discoloration and fading of the burl wood trim. The bulletin warned dealers and technicians about the wood trim fading from “inadequate UV (ultra violet) ray protection.” The suit also alleges that rather than replacing the trim, Mercedes instructed technicians to remove the the SRS (airbag) label as well as any other label or protection material from the wood panel to an area on the instrument panel or lower control panel so that the fading would be less obvious. Several subsequent versions of the second Technical Service Bulletins were issued by Mercedes and stated all 2010-2016 E-Series vehicles were affected with the fading and discoloration issues of the burl walnut trim. Plaintiff Callen says Mercedes refused to replace the walnut trim even though the automaker issued technical service bulletins about identical fading and discoloration problems.

The Mercedes burl walnut wood trim lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division – Teri Callen, et al., v. Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC.

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Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC, is a national law firm  and our attorneys defend valuable rights for our clients. To determine if you should file suit, consult one of our qualified lawyers as soon as possible to understand your options.  We do not charge any fees upfront. In fact, we will only charge attorney’s fees if we obtain a financial settlement for you. If you do not win, we get nothing.  Call us today for your free case evaluation:

Contact: Attorney Jim McDonough 

(404) 996-0869 jmcdonough@hgdlawfirm.com

 

No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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Jury Awards Couple $2.055 Billion in Suit Against Bayer’s Roundup for Causing Their Cancer

By Sara Randazzo and Ruth Bender

This article is being republished from the WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (May 14, 2019).

A jury Monday awarded $2.055 billion to a California couple who blamed Bayer’s Roundup weedkiller for causing their cancer, the largest such verdict to date and one that adds significant pressure to a company struggling to contain the fallout from last year’s acquisition of Monsanto Co.

The verdict by the Northern California jury is the third straight trial loss for Bayer over the safety of Roundup. Bayer is facing a revolt from shareholders over the Monsanto deal, which exposed Bayer to some 13,400 claims tying Roundup to cancer.

Two previous trial losses have helped wipe more than 30% off Bayer’s share price. Last month, a majority of Bayer shareholders refused to endorse management’s actions in the past year, indicating that investors lack confidence in how the company is being run.

The company now has until August to reevaluate its legal strategy and try to appease investors before the next scheduled trial. That trial will be the first to unfold outside the San Francisco Bay Area, often seen as an unfavorable setting for corporate defendants. It will be in St. Louis, the former headquarters of Monsanto and now home to Bayer’s global seed business.

Bayer has appealed a $78.5 million verdict reached in August, the first Roundup case to go to trial. It has said it would appeal the second, a more than $80 million jury award decided in March.

Some investors have pushed Bayer to settle the cases soon, though companies facing product-liability claims often bring a dozen or more cases to trial before seriously entering settlement talks.

Reaching a settlement in the case is complicated by the fact that the product continues to be sold to consumers and farmers and doesn’t carry a cancer-warning label, which means the potential pool of plaintiffs could expand indefinitely. The company could reach a deal with the current batch of plaintiffs and set aside money to pay out future claims, or continue fighting case by case to gather more data points. People familiar with Bayer say the company isn’t planning to settle before at least a first few cases have gone through appeal.

Bayer said it is disappointed in the verdict and plans to appeal. The company added that the litigation “will take some time before it concludes” since appeals are pending and that it would “continue to evaluate and refine its legal strategies as it moves through the next phase of this litigation.”

R. Brent Wisner, an attorney for the plaintiffs, thanked the jurors for finding “that the science shows there are serious health hazards associated with Roundup and that Monsanto did nothing to warn people about the risk.”

Elizabeth Burch, a law professor at the University of Georgia, said the third trial loss was significant “given the learning curve” that might have been expected of the company after the earlier defeats. “Whatever the plaintiffs’ lawyers are doing, they have a pretty good formula,” she said.

The jury in the third case found Bayer liable for the non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnoses of Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a married couple in their 70s who used Roundup on their San Francisco Bay Area property for 35 years. The two were diagnosed four years apart, in 2011 and 2015; both are in remission.

The money awarded includes $2 billion in punitive damages and $55 million in compensatory damages to the couple. An attorney for the plaintiffs suggested to the jury that they award $1 billion in punitive damages to send a message to the company. Large damages awards are often reduced on appeal; the judge overseeing the first Roundup trial cut punitive damages in the case by more than $210 million. Bayer called the punitive awards “excessive and unjustifiable.”

The trial unfolded much like the earlier two, with sparring over scientific studies, the credibility of expert witnesses and the relative importance of a 2015 designation by a World Health Organization branch that glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup, is likely carcinogenic to humans.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs walked jurors through scientific studies of rodents, cells and human populations that they say show glyphosate and Roundup are carcinogenic. Bayer lawyers countered that hundreds of studies have shown it to be safe, and pointed to regulators like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that have approved the product. The EPA in late April reaffirmed its long-held conclusion that glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide, is safe when used as directed and doesn’t cause cancer.

The health histories of Mr. and Mrs. Pilliod also figured prominently in Bayer’s case. Lawyers for the company pointed to prior cancer diagnoses, family histories of cancer and autoimmune diseases that they said elevated the couple’s risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma — not their weedkiller use.

Bayer reiterated Monday that it believes scientific studies and the EPA’s conclusions back up Roundup’s safety, and said the jury was presented with “cherry-picked findings from a tiny fraction of the volume of studies available.”

The case was the first to go to trial of hundreds of lawsuits consolidated in California state court. A judge put the Pilliods’ case on an accelerated timeline because of their age.

Hundreds of other cases are part of multidistrict litigation in federal court in San Francisco. The judge overseeing those cases recently called off two scheduled trials and ordered the parties to try resolving the claims in mediation.

Bayer and its shareholders are now setting their hopes on the first appeal in the case of former school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, expected to be argued before a California state appellate court before the end of the year.

Costco Wholesale Corp. pulled Roundup from its shelves, but sales overall don’t seem to have suffered much from the litigation. Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., which markets Roundup to home-and-garden retailers in the U.S., said its Roundup sales increased 20% in the first three months of the year from the same period last year.

–Jacob Bunge contributed to this article.

Write to Sara Randazzo at sara.randazzo@wsj.com and Ruth Bender at Ruth.Bender@wsj.com

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HGD Welcomes Two New Summer Law Clerks

HGD began their summer clerk program today welcoming two law clerks onto the team.

Alexandra Calton is a rising 2L at Cumberland School of Law. She is originally from Eufaula, Alabama where she attended The Lakeside School. She then attended the University of Alabama and graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Her dad is a lawyer, so she knew from an early age that she wanted to be one, as well.

Eric Nelson is a rising third year student at The University of Alabama Culverhouse School of Law. Eric is a 2017 graduate of Auburn University, with a degree in Animal Science and a minor in Business. Eric is a member of the Alabama Law 2019-2020 Campbell Moot Court Board, a student-volunteer with the Domestic Violence Clinic, and is president of the UA chapter of the Christian Legal Society.

 

 

 

 

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HGD Awarded “BBJ’s Best Places to Work in Birmingham 2019”!

Team HGD is proud to announce that they have been awarded one of the “BBJ’s Best Places to Work 2019” in Birmingham in the medium size business category.

This year’s Best Places to Work recognizes 35 companies that are keeping their employees happy and cultivating an office culture that employees simply don’t want to leave.

The Honorees are the top scorers in their size categories in a recent survey conducted for the Birmingham Business Journal by Quantum Workplace.

Companies were scored on a number of factors, from trust in leadership and company policies to teamwork and communication, among several other metrics.

According to the BBJ, more than 100 companies were nominated for this year’s awards, so the 35 companies awarded the honor really do represent the cream of the crop.

 

 

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