Surgeon Sued for Giving Anesthetized Patient Temporary Tattoo

In a lawsuit filed recently, a Camden County woman accused her orthopedic surgeon of “rubbing a temporary tattoo of a red rose” on her belly while she was under anesthesia. The patient discovered the tattoo below the panty line the next morning, when her husband was helping her get dressed to go home after the operation for a herniated disc, her attorney, Gregg A. Shivers, said in a phone interview yesterday. “She was extremely emotionally upset by it,” said Shivers. The suit, filed on behalf of Elizabeth Mateo in Camden County Superior Court, seeks punitive and compensatory damages from Steven Kirshner, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with offices in Marlton and Lumberton, both in Burlington County. Kirshner does not deny placing the tattoo – and has left washable marks on patients before to improve their spirits, his lawyer, Robert Agre of Haddonfield, said last night. He said none have complained.

Please click on the link below to read the Philly.com article:

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080716_Surgeon_sued_for_giving_anesthetized_patient_temporary_tattoo.html

For more information on defending medical malpractice and nursing home matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at The Citron Law Firm, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Trial Intensifies Concerns About Safety of Vytorin

In a clinical trial, the cholesterol lowering drug Vytorin did not help people with heart-valve disease avoid further heart problems but did appear to increase their risk of cancer, scientists reported. The scientists who reported on the trial, called Seas, cautioned against panicking over the cancer findings, saying that even well-designed clinical trials sometimes produce chance results. A review of two other, much larger trials did not find a similar risk, they said. Vytorin and Zetia, a companion drug, are prescribed each month to almost three million people worldwide and are among the world’s top-selling medicines. But other cardiologists and epidemiologists said that the cancer risk could not be so easily dismissed. The findings of the Seas trial will heighten concerns about Vytorin’s safety and effectiveness, said Dr. Steven Nissen, a former president of the American College of Cardiology and a longtime critic of Vytorin. Six months ago, a fourth clinical trial, called Enhance, also failed to show that Vytorin benefited patients, leading a panel of top cardiologists to recommend using Vytorin and Zetia only as a last resort. Since that recommendation, Vytorin and Zetia prescriptions have plunged.

Please click on the link below to read the New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/business/22drug.html?_r=2&ref=health&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

For more information on defending medical malpractice and nursing home matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at The Citron Law Firm, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.