Cipro Lawsuit Lawyer in NY & PA– Tendon Rupture Cases
August 1, 2008 7:10 am Choosing a Lawyer, Keeping Your Family Safe, Lawsuits, Miscellaneous
Several people, knowing of my prior experience with other mass tort cases like asbestos and Vioxx, have called me recently to ask if my office is handling Cipro lawsuit cases in NY and PA? The answer is Yes, we are.
For those of you who do not know what a “Cipro lawsuit” is, I will explain in detail below. But before doing that I thought it would be useful to explain how my firm, a small firm in Upstate NY with attorneys admitted in NY and PA, handles what are essentially national mass tort cases. How do the Davids fight the Goliaths? How do the “little guys” fight the drug company “giants”?
We do so by smart collaboration with other attorneys all over the country (and sometimes, all over the world). For technologically savvy attorneys, the old days of having to “go it alone” are long over. Today, with the tools of the internet, listservs, web conferencing and database sharing, I can sit in my office in Elmira, NY and have access to the information a lawyer as close as Rochester, NY or as far away as China, has just learned in his case. I can download and search millions of pages of documents that were scanned in a warehouse in Mississippi. I can pick the brains of my fellow attorneys handling the same types of cases.
In the appropriate mass tort case, I can associate with national class counsel for their assistance in representing my client. When we do this, the client does NOT pay a single penny more in fees than if I chose to handle the case on my own so it’s a Win/Win for my clients– they get the benefit of the personal attention of a smaller firm while having the firepower of a larger national firm while still paying the same attorney fee (almost always, 1/3rd of the amount recovered after deduction of expenses).
Over the years, my firm has had great success handling these cases and we look forward to doing the same with the Cipro cases. So let me explain what a Cipro lawsuit is all about.
First some background. Cipro (Ciprofloxacin) is an antibiotic manufactured and sold by Bayer A.G. and is also marketed under the brand names Ciproxin and Ciprobay. Cipro belongs to a group of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones that are prescribed to fight many types of bacterial infections. Cipro has been linked to an increased risk of tendon ruptures, tendonitis, and other serious injuries in users.
In July, 2008, the FDA announced it would require a “black box” warning on all Cipro prescriptions. The “black box” warning is the most serious warning that the FDA can require of prescription medication. In the case of Cipro, the warning was required due to the increasing incidence of cases of tendon ruptures, a serious injury that can leave patients incapacitated and needing extensive surgery. The tendon ruptures have increasingly occurred among patients taking Cipro and other fluoroquinolone antibiotics. The drug types within the fluoroquinolone family include:
* Levaquin (levofloxacin).
* Factive (gemifloxacin mesylate).
* Avelox (moxifloxacin HCL).
*Cipro XR and Proquin XR (ciprofloxacin extended release).
*Noroxin (norfloxacin).
*Floxin (ofloxacin).
*Cipro (ciprofloaxacin).
Hundreds of Cipro users have suffered painful tendon ruptures and tendonitis, particularly in the shoulder, hand, and Achilles tendon in the foot. Tendons are cords of tissue that join muscles and bones and are essential in movement.
People injured by Cipro may be eligible to be financially compensated for their medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other damages. If you have been seriously injured as a result of taking Cipro, you should immediately consult an experienced injury attorney to determine your legal rights.
I hope you found this information helpful but if you have any questions, feel free to post them in the Comments below or email me directly at jreed@zifflaw.com.
Thanks for reading,
Jim Reed
NY & PA Accident & Malpractice Lawyer
Elmira, NY
My Bio
Here are some Cipro articles for additional information:
- Fluoroquinolones Receive Black Box Label by Fda
- U.S. drug safety officials require stronger warning on some antibiotics
- FDA Warns Of Tendon Risk For Antibiotics
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 am
I would hope that the legal community would not stop at litigation involving just the tendon injuries. This class is associated with far more serious and permanent damage than just that. Having been abandoned by the medical community as well as the media, it appears that the only ones who give a damn about our serious and crippling medical problems appear to be attorneys. Perhaps if enough lawsuits are filed seeking justice for those whose lives have been destroyed perhaps someone will sit up and take notice.
Rather than retype this comment over and over, as so many sites are running with this story, I would beg pardon from the host of this site to allow me to paste this comment, which has been spell and grammar checked for errors as well as submitted to those other sites. I believe it captures the concerns of those who have been injured by this class and hence a relevant comment to this story, as well as adds the facts that have been deliberately excluded by the FDA within their press release:
Tendon rupture is the least of the patient’s concerns. This class is associated with irreversible peripheral neuropathy, fatal liver and kidney damage, fatal hypo and hyperglycemia, SJS and TEN, toxic psychosis, spontaneous ruptures not only of the tendons but also muscles, ligaments and cartilage, the list of serious adrs is boundless. More than half of the drugs found in this class have been removed from clinical practice due to severe and even fatal adverse reactions.
I just received a report of a 14year old male who tore the cartilage in both knees requiring extensive surgical intervention as a result of being on levaquin to treat a nail infection. Not to mention they young lady who has been in a wheelchair for the past decade due to the damage done to her tendons which rendered them beyond surgical repair. She was given cipro for an earache.
Within the NDA (new drug application) for levofloxacin we find clinical studies that revealed an adr rate in excess of 40% (one or more reactions) and a number of listed fatalities. We find these same numbers with all the NDAs for this class. This tendon issue we are now discussing was first revealed to the FDA back in 1982 (bailey et al). The FDA did NOTHING until Public Citizen filed a petition in 1996 seeking both black box warnings and dear doctor letters. The FDA did neither. Another petition was filed by the Attorney General of the State of Illinois in 2005 seeking these same actions. In 2006 Public Citizen once again petitioned the FDA. Rather than respond to these petitions as required by law, the FDA stonewalled the petitioners for more than three years. It was not until suit was filed in Federal Court by Public Citizen to compel the FDA to respond to these petitions did the FDA do anything.
And what they did was nothing more than a ’slap to the face’ to those of us who have had our lives destroyed by these drugs. It is far too little, far too late. And we would not even be tossed this ‘bone’ if this lawsuit were not pending. This is nothing more than a blatant attempt by the FDA to avoid full disclosure of the true safety profile of this class which will be required when they lose in Federal Court.
Bayer issued a European “Dear Doctor Letter” in February of 2008 in regards to fatal liver injury as a result of being on Avelox. Yet we see no such letter being issued here in the States, nor do we see the FDA requesting one either. This class has been crippling and killing patients since the mid sixties. For more than forty years now the FDA has hidden the true safety profile from both the patient as well as the treating physician.
Those who have an interest in reading this forty years worth of medical journal entries, case reports, newspaper articles, clinical studies, etc., that documents all that I state here are invited to log unto http://www.fqresearch.org The FDA is also grossly misleading when they state that the risk factor is one in one hundred thousand. The actual risk is .5% to 16% depending upon which citation you prefer to reference as well as the year in which it was published.
I find the manufacturers to be grossly misleading the patient and physician alike when they state that this class is a safe and effective antibiotic with minimum side effects. I have forty years worth of medical documentation that proves that they are anything but for those who care to read it, rather than this line of misleading and false information being provided by the FDA.
Mr. David T. Fuller
Director
Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Research Foundation
http://www.fqresearch.org
fqresearch@aol.com
davidtfull@aol.com
Of further interest is the fact that over in Europe restrictions have recently been place on both Avelox as well as Norfloxacin due to severe adverse reactions.
I had written an open letter as well as an extensive editorial in response to a propaganda video a doctor from John Hopkins had posted on Medscape in a blatant attempt at damage control concerning these new warnings. Within his video he both trivializes and minimizes these adverse reactions as well as attempts to provide even more false and misleading information concerning the true safety profile of this class. Those who have an interest in reading this additional information may do so by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/5vqfsy
Tequin and Temofloxacin are two other drugs to be found within this class as well.
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
My husband took Cipro 500mg in 1998. Around 11 months “after” taking it he had his first rupture in 1999, another in 2000 & also 1 more in 2001. Muscles are also affected by ruptures. The quadriceps needs to be listed as possible tendons involved in ruptures on the warning as well as muscles can also rupture. These ruptures & avulsions came without warning that this was going to happen. The doctors didn’t know why this happened. In 2004, he took Cipro XR 1000. This was the second time he had ever taken a Cipro medicine. Around 11 months “after” the rupturing began again in 2005. He had 3 ruptures in 2005. Again the doctors didn’t know what caused this. Ruptures & tendinitis aren’t the only adverse reactions that occur after taking these medicines. There are far worse ones that aren’t being mentioned. My husband has quite a few of them as does so many other people. I feel the current warnings are still rather misleading. My husband was in his early 40’s & in great physical condition. “After” on the warning that mentions rare occurrence of tendinitis & tendon ruptures can occur while or AFTER taking these medicines means more than a few weeks or months but instead a much longer period of time. My husband is disabled now because of all his injuries.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Previously HEALTHY, ACTIVE mom of twin boys…
20 pills of AVELOX and LEVAQUIN (prescribed for sinus infection) completely altered and interrupted my life and the lives of those I love.
FLUOROQUINOLONES such as CIPRO, LEVAQUIN, AVELOX
(and more), are TOXIC chemotherapeutic agents commonly prescribed by doctors as “antibiotics”.
The Black-box warning for tendon damage is just the tip of the iceberg!! The ADVERSE-REACTIONS caused by these drugs are NOT mere “side-effects”, but the result of damage to DNA, due to the TOXICITY of this class of drug. These severe reactions are often permanent and disabling. These reactions may also be delayed resulting in “misdiagnosis” because the doctor and patient fail to connect the “symptoms” to the drug.
In 2003 I ingested 20 pills total of AVELOX and LEVAQUIN, as prescribed by my doctor to treat a sinus infection. My life has been hell on earth ever since, w/ the progression of severe, disabling adverse reactions. Today as I post these words, I can add Premature Ventricular Contractions (heart-palpitations),to the never-ending list of ADR’s. I have also recently had an X-ray of my neck because of sudden pain so severe, I could hardly hold up my head…and am now awaiting an MRI.
Every morning when I open my eyes, I awaken to this nightmare. There is a “sickness” that feels like my body has been poisoned. My hands and feet are swelled and sore…my entire body is stiff and painful…heart-palpitations, vibrations throughout my body…ringing in my ears…bleeding specks of sores on my skin…and a full, bloated feeling in my gut…I feel like I should be dead. It is only by the grace of God, and the love of my 2 children that I am able to pull myself up out of bed, and make it painfully down the stairs. Crying will do no good, as I know I must be strong to fight this horrendous ordeal that has become my life. Knowing that there are others who are living this nightmare gives me a sense of strength…and compassion. There are no more words to described what we are going through emotionally, let alone physically. How could something so unbelievably criminal have happened to us?? And why is this insanity being allowed to continue?? How many more innocent people will have their lives destroyed…how many more must suffer…how many more must die….before something is done?? Someone tell me, what will it take??
Diagnosed w/ arthralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, tendinitis both elbows, enlarged lymph nodes, PVC…and now awaiting an MRI of my neck… still seeing doctor after doctor, and specialists who can only treat the “symptoms”, but unfortunately not the cause.
The Black-Box warning for tendon damage is hardly sufficient and long-overdue.
The poisons that robbed my children of a mother were AVELOX and LEVAQUIN…20 pills. I traded a sinus infection for this life of pain and misery.
http://blog.garymoller.com/200.....-with.html
August 13th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Norfloxacin completely destroyed my life - tendinitis being the least of my worries? This stuff should only be used in life-threatening situations and the patient should be warned of the possible consequences - they should not be prescribed like handing out lollies, as they have been?
August 15th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Please forgive me for C & P my comment, those of us that are irreversibly damaged and living in unrelenting pain are trying to get the word out about quinolones to stop other people from ending up like us.
My name is Leslea and I am a Clinical Laboratory Manager, have been a Medical Technologist for almost 30 years. I am very well respected by the medical staff at my facility because if I bring up a subject, perhaps a laboratory protocol that I want to put into place or changed, I have done my homework on the subject.
With that in mind, I want to urge physicians to take heed to the fact that fluoroquinolones are not safe for a very large segment of the population. There are literally thousands and thousands of people whose lives are forever changed because of the quinolones.
I know that most, if not all, facilities with microbiology departments put out an antibiogram, at least annually, for the medical staff to reference. Please use your antibiograms to pick the least toxic and most effective antibiotic for your patient.
Use the quinolone class only as a last resort, after other antibiotics have failed or the patient will expire if they aren’t used. Using the quinolones routinely just doesn’t make sense when other antibiotics will work. Keep in mind if this class of antibiotics continues to be used so nonchalantly they will become ineffective due to bacteria developing resistance to them.
I have personally experienced multiple system adr’s to the quinolones, and know a multitude of people like me. That is why I am writing this, I want to prevent the number of people that are damaged by quinolones from growing exponentially.
The adr’s to the quinolones are grossly under reported due to the fact that a lot of reactions aren’t recognized, but are diagnosed as an unrelated problem. If the number of adr’s to quinolones were accurately reported to the medical community, no physician would ever routinely prescribe quinolones again, unless he was some sort of sadist.
My motivation for writing this is honorable, our term would be risk management in the medical community, for the layperson it would be a passionate desire to prevent others from suffering like I am.
Just in case you are wondering, my first reaction to a quinolone caused damage to my tendons particularly my left knee. The tendons were so weak that my knee dislocated 6 times over a 7 month period, I probably should have been in a wheel chair, but I needed to work. I have a permanent baker’s cyst in that knee. The tendonitis was so painful that walking was more like hobbling.
My second reaction made my first reaction seem like a walk in the park. When I mentioned multiple systems earlier, I meant CNS, muscular, skeletal, soft tissues and connective tissue damage. Four and a half years post two doses of Avelox, I still have a multitude of symptoms, some that are not going to resolve. Although I am in severe unrelenting pain, I consider the worst part of my reaction to be the CNS or brain damage.
I have debilitating depression, which I never had prior to this. But the thing that takes the cake is the following: I am sure you can imagine that I am or actually was above average in intelligence, Avelox has destroyed my short term memory and has made me struggle to find simple everyday words when carrying on a conversation. My nickname used to be “The Steel Trap” because I never forgot anything and could recall verbatim conversations no matter how long or short the amount of time that had elapsed. My memory was what is called photographic in nature. You might be tempted to say, well you are getting older, well I don’t believe that CNS changes due to aging happen overnight unless there is a stroke involved. That, and the fact that I am not alone with this reaction, speaks very loudly to the truth of the matter.
I will quickly list the other damage I am dealing with; peripheral neuropathy, myofascial damage in my right hip that has lead to permanent gluteus median adhesions after tearing. I have chronic muscle spasms and knots in my right hip and shoulder, this is the cause of the severe unrelenting pain, the shoulder knots and spasms lead to horrible tension headaches. I also have to take Valtrex to keep shingles at bay, another wonderful symptom of the nerve damage. My tendons and ligaments in my right knee are tender to the touch and painful, my vision is altered due to floaters and blurring, luckily laboratories are notoriously noisy so I don’t notice the tinnitus too much. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. By the way, I was a healthy active person prior to this reaction, I was 47 at the time and most people would guess my age at 35 because of my personality, strength and agility, they were always shocked to find out how old I was.
Please help me in preventing any other healthy individuals from experiencing this nightmare.
I also challenge you to do your own research into the real picture of this class of antibiotics, quit taking the word of the FDA or pharmaceutical companies, they have an agenda, but it is less than honorable. You can start by going to http://www.fluoroquinolones.org .
Thank you for your time.
November 27th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I suffered ruptured arch-bearing tendons in both feet in 2003. I saw in my records some time ago that the foot doctor told my medical doctor to give me no more cipro, and that it caused my tendon rupture. I immediately started investigating the drug and asked many M.D. s if cipro caused my ruptures. Every one of them told me that it was just my feet ( I used to have very high arches), and I have had a weight problem, so they always said that it was just the combination of the two. I have a letter from the last doctor I asked in 2007 stating so.
Is there any possibility I can try to collect damages at this date? I have serious foot problems because of this and will have to have the three major sections of bones in each foot wired together to try to stabilize my ability to walk. I will have to be in a wheel chair for two months afterwards. The doctor had prescribed me 12 prescriptions of cipro over about two years time and I was taking the drug when the major ruptures occurred in 2003. I have been disabled since then. This has ruined my life. I hope there is something that can be done. Thanks.