Two US lawmakers have asked a group of doctors and researchers to disclose the amount financial and other support they have received from five companies that manufacture medical devices.

The manufacturers include Abbot Labs, Medtronic Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, companies that, in the past, have been the subject of defective medical product lawsuits.

The lawmakers, Senators Charles Grassle and Herbert  Kohl, have been looking into the financial ties between doctors and industry. They have sponsored legislation that would force drug companies and device makers to disclose their spending on doctors.

Despite manufacturer claims, the safety of several medical devices, especially heart stents and particularly drug coated stents - is far from established.  Several studies have linked the devices to blood clots and heart attacks.

In fact, a recent study indicated that Medtronic’s Endeavor drug-coated stent was associated with more heart attacks and deadly blood clots than another stent made by Johnson & Johnson.

Faulty medical devices can cause injuries, even death. If you or a loved one has been harmed because of a defective stent or other medical device, contact an attorney for professional insight into developing litigation. This may be the only way for you to recover some of the costs you and your family bear for these mistakes.

A defective drugs attorney has filed an action on behalf of an infant against Glaxo SmithKline in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia.

The infant’s mother was prescribed the antidepressant Paxil during her first trimester by her physician, who was unaware of any warnings that the drug shouldn’t be taken by a woman who is pregnant. The pregnancy proceeded without incident and the baby was delivered at full term.

After leaving the hospital the child began to experience problems and was eventually referred to a pediatric cardiologist. An echocardiogram was performed and the parents were told that the baby had a number of cardiac deformities including severe aoritic stenosis, coarctation of the aortic valve and mitral stenosis.

At only 5 months of age the baby underwent a balloon valvuloplasty to improve blood flow through the aorta. Now, at age five,  this child is scheduled for a another heart operation and will likely have many more before he graduates elementary school.

This family isn’t the only one in this country battling drug manufacturers over adverse side effects. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Glaxo SmithKline claiming that children were born with significant congenital cardiac abnormalities after their mothers used Paxil during pregnancy.

The financial burden of caring for a child or other loved one harmed by defective drugs is enormous. It is important to contact a trained and experienced defective drugs attorney for professional insight into a possible Paxil settlement.

Negative reports keep flooding in regarding Merk & Co. Inc.’s popular vaccine, Gardasil. Gardasil was approved two years ago by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent the spread of human papillomavirus, a virus that is known to cause cervical cancer in a small percentage of the women and girls who contact it.

According to the FDA, Gardasil has been the subject of about 8,000 “adverse event” reports since the drug went on the market. Complaints range from nausea to paralysis and a total of 15 reported deaths. Approximately 16 million American girls and women have been given Gardasil, which has in general been widely supported by schools and other institutions, especially here in Texas.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention contends that none of the reported deaths were due to the receipt of Gardasil, but continues to investigate the negative reports.