The U.S. is in the midst of one of its worst drug crises, and yet the FDA just approved a more powerful opioid. Will this drug help patients or worsen the Opioid Epidemic?
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Seeking truth, transparency, and resolution for injured consumers
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California Fires
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Abilify
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Taxotere
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Invokana/Invokamet
Tied to Amputations
Monsanto's Roundup
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Attune Knee Systems
Tied To High Failure Rate
and Repeat Knee Surgeries
Viberzi
Tied to Hospitalization and Death
Viagra
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Essure Birth Control
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Recalled Medtronic Insulin Pumps
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Actemra Arthritis Medication
Tied to Death
Ambien
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Gadolinium
Tied to Brain Injuries
and Permanent Disability
Monat
Tied to Scalp Irritation & Hair Loss
Automotive Recalls/ Takata Airbags
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Uber & Lyft
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and Bad Accidents
IVC Filters
Tied to Migration, Puncturing
Organs and Severe Injury
Recalled Hernia Mesh
Tied to Corrective Surgeries,
Disability and Severe Injuries
Onglyza & Kombiglyze
Tied To Heart Failure
Opioid Addiction
Tied To Addiction & Death
Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI)
Tied To Kidney Disease/Failure
Talcum Powder
Tied To Ovarian Cancer
Blood Pressure Medications
Tied To Cancer
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Periscope Group provides information, resources, and compassionate legal counsel, advocating on behalf of those facing injustice due to prescription drug complications and medical device failures.
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We have unique access to a network of trusted legal representatives that will work with you to gain financial settlement for your losses when possible.
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With over 20 years in health advocacy, we stay abreast of the latest medical complications to educate the public and petition congress for scalable change.
Featured Health & Wellness Resources
California’s Deadly Camp Fire: How To Receive Financial Support
California is again facing treacherous fires that are destroying land, homes, and lives. If you lost everything in this fire, find out how to receive financial compensation here.
Is Your Doctor on Probation? Most Patients Don’t Know
Most patients have no idea if their doctor is on probation or if he had to undergo disciplinary action. A new CA law has changed that. Should other states follow suit?
The Dangers of Dietary Supplements
Dietary supplements aren’t as safe as most people believe them to be. Drug interactions and illegal ingredients can cause consumers to be critically ill. Learn more here.
Video: Dear Governor, What’s a Vagina Worth!? Help us halt vaginal mesh now!
Vaginal mesh was never tested in one vagina before it was put in hundreds of thousands of women. Learn about the dangers of mesh and what you can do to help now—amidst the greatest scandal in women’s health history.
Other Countries Address Mesh Problems While the U.S. Stays Silent
Many countries are apologizing to the women who have been harmed by transvaginal mesh. Why is the U.S. government staying silent?
Our in-house legal counsel, Matthew J. Daher, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Utah and his law degree from the University of Missouri – Columbia School of Law. Matt has devoted his entire practice to civil litigation, and has spent his career representing the rights of individuals who have been injured by pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical malpractice, defective products, and motor vehicle accidents. As in-house counsel for Periscope Group, Matt leads our internal legal team and liaises with our external partners.
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Periscope Group provides information, resources, and compassionate legal counsel, advocating on behalf of those facing injustice due to prescription drug complications and medical device failures. Contact us today to see how we can help!
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LATEST ARTICLES
FDA Approves 1000X Stronger Opioid in the Midst of Addiction Crisis
We’ve all heard about the Opioid Crisis and maybe you’ve even had your doctor reduce or halt your prescription of Vicodin, Percocet, or Tylenol with Codeine (to name a few) in recent years.
Ironically, as prescriptions are decreasing concerning this highly addictive medication, the FDA has just approved Dsuvia, an opioid that is five to 10 times stronger than fentanyl and 500 to 1000 times more powerful than morphine.
Doesn’t this seem counterproductive to solving this drug epidemic that plagues the U.S.?
What is Dsuvia?
Dsuvia is made by AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and is intended for “the management of acute pain severe enough to require an opioid analgesic and for which alternative treatments are inadequate,” explains Dr. Pamela Palmer, anesthesiologist and chief medical officer at AcelRx.
This new drug comes in pill form and is intended to dissolve under the tongue. Additionally, since it is such a potent medication, it’s only supposed to be distributed and monitored in medical settings to prevent drug abuse.
Other regulations include that a patient may only be on Dsuvia for 72 hours and the prescription will be required to have the same black-box warnings as all opioids concerning the risk of abuse, addiction, and overdose (but who reads a label when you’re admitted in a hospital?).
The Problem with Dsuvia
Opioid abuse has been rampant in the U.S. and offering a new opioid that is significantly stronger may only add fuel to the fire.
“It doesn’t seem reasonable to place another potent opioid on the market at this time, especially when we’re currently still writing 200 million prescriptions for opioids a year,” stated Dr. Raeford Brown, chair of the FDA advisory committee on analgesics and anesthetic drug products. “The need to put a drug like this on the market is not demonstrated.
The ability to manage that drug once it gets past the FDA is not demonstrated…. We know from looking at other potent opioids that have been put on the market in the last four years that once these drugs get past the FDA, there’s very little, if any, control over them, no matter what the sponsor says prior to the time they come on the market.”
More than 115 people die each day in the U.S. from an opioid overdose and opioid misuse costs our country approximately $78.5 billion a year. It seems obvious that offering a stronger drug will only create larger problems, especially when the FDA lacks the funding and manpower to perform post-market monitoring.
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Sources
“Amid deepening addiction crisis, FDA approves powerful new opioid”. CNN. Accessed November 5, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/02/health/new-opioid-dsuvia-fda-approval-bn/index.html
“What is Dsuvia? What you should know about the new opioid drug that’s 10 times stronger than fentanyl”. ABC News. Accessed November 5, 2018. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/dsuvia-opioid-painkiller/story?id=58875487
“FDA ADVISORY COMMITTEE BRIEFING DOCUMENT”. FDA. Accessed November 5, 2018. https://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/Drugs/AnestheticAndAnalgesicDrugProductsAdvisoryCommittee/UCM622858.pdf
“Opioid Overdose Crisis”. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Accessed November 5, 2018. https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
California’s Deadly Camp Fire: How To Receive Financial Support
Once again fires have ravaged California’s forests and have left a multitude of residents displaced. Acres have been destroyed, there is just a charred footprint where thousands of homes once existed, and residents are shocked and wondering how will they ever pick up the pieces to their now broken lives. And for the fourth time in 12 months, faulty electrical equipment has been linked to the devastation.
While all of the fires in the past year have touched our hearts, “Camp Fire” has hit one of our own team members here at Periscope Group. Laura, the manager of our Call Center, has been busily gathering clothes, toiletries, and other essentials for her parents who lost their home in Paradise, CA. This is their story.
Chris and Jenny’s Story
Chris and Jenny bought their retirement dream home in July 2018 off of Pentz Road in Paradise, CA. Just months later, on November 8, Chris walked outside and quickly noticed that the fire was so close that he could see the smoke swirling at the base of the flames. Just ten minutes later, Chris and Jenny tossed two backpacks containing three days’ worth of clothes, the contents of their safe, their two dogs, and a two-drawer metal filing cabinet into their cars. Chris advised Jenny to “make sure your bumper is touching my bumper the whole way down.” Amidst ash, flames, and wind, they desperately hurried to escape the quickly moving firestorm. Jenny would later describe it as moving through a “Biblical hell.”
They escaped to Chico to find refuge with a relative only to be relocated later that night since the fire was quickly spreading. They moved on to stay with Chris’ aunt who lives in Live Oak.
On the Sunday after their escape, a next door neighbor who was a city official went on an escorted expedition to find out what remained of her home. To her shock and heartbreak, her home had been leveled by the fire along with all of the neighboring homes… including Chris and Jenny’s.
Chris and Jenny have decided not to rebuild. Paradise is unique as compared to some of the other California fire locations in that it’s more of a “mom and pop” type town. There are no big businesses that will start over and many people don’t have the resources to pick up where the fire left off.
Other than the few items that they piled in the car, Chris and Jenny are now left with nothing. Photographs, childhood memories, and their dreams of retiring in Paradise have been reduced to ash. The emotional devastation has been as painful as the physical one.
How Could This Happen… Again?
While Chris and Jenny’s story is upsetting, they are in no way alone in this struggle to rebuild. Three fires last year – Butte, Tubbs, and Thomas – caused hundreds of thousands of acres to be wiped out, cost hundreds of millions of dollars, destroyed over 8,000 structures (most were private homes), and 25 people died. The current Camp Fire exceeds even these tragic numbers. As of November 13, 6,522 residential structures and 260 commercial buildings have been destroyed, 120,000 acres have been burned, and 42 people have lost their lives making this the largest and deadliest fire in California history.
What else do these fires have in common? All of them have been linked to malfunctioning equipment owned by PG&E or Southern California Edison (SCE). In this recent Camp Fire, an Electric Safety Incident Report stated that, “On November 8, 2018, at approximately 0615 hours, PG&E experienced an outage on the Caribou-Palermo 115 kV Transmission line in Butte County. In the afternoon of November 8, PG&E observed by aerial patrol damage to a transmission tower on the Caribou-Palermo 115 kV Transmission line, approximately one mile north-east of the town of Pulga, in the area of the Camp Fire.”
What Can You Do About It?
We know that if you’re in this situation, you’re probably feeling heartbroken, devastated, lost, confused, and so much more and we want to help. Our legal team has assisted countless people who have lost everything due to mass fires and they can sort through insurance forms and other crucial paperwork to get the funding owed to you. Call (800) 511-3838 or contact us to speak with our Call Center today (and you can even request to speak to Laura!). We want to help you in any way we can.
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Sources
Image Source: KQED News
Is Your Doctor on Probation? Most Patients Don’t Know
Most patients either call their doctor’s office or visit a website to make an appointment. We think about what health complaints we want to share, write down any questions we may have, and just hope that we don’t have to sit in the waiting room too long.
However, have you ever consider if your doctor ever had to undergo disciplinary action for sexual misconduct or for improperly prescribing a drug? After all, if they committed a crime like this and caught, wouldn’t their medical license be taken away? Not necessarily. Is your doctor on probation for misconduct?
The New California Law
It’s horrible that so many women have been assaulted, but a plethora of good has come from the female Olympic athletes who spoke out against their team doctor and the women who voiced their stories in the #MeToo movement.
One example of progress can be found in the new California law enacted in September 2018 called the Patient Right to Know Act. This law states that physicians are required to inform patients when they were put on probation for harming those under their care. There is already a public directory in place that shares this information, but most patients are unaware of its existence (if your doctor is in California, you can look for your doctor’s name here. For other states, conduct a Google search that says, “how can I find out if my doctor is on probation in {your state here}?” The website for your medical board should appear.)
With this new law in place, physicians on probation after July 1, 2019, are required to alert clients about their status before an appointment.
Doctors may be put on probation for the following reasons:
- Sexual misconduct against a patient
- Drug abuse that can be harmful to patients
- A criminal conviction which resulted in harm to patients
- Inappropriate prescribing resulting in patient harm
“It’s never made sense that doctors have had to tell their insurance companies, hospitals and clinics when they are put on probation, but not the people who are most at risk — their patients,” stated Lee Harris, president of the Consumer Attorneys of California.
According to the LA Times, surgeons, osteopaths, naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, podiatrists and acupuncturists are also bound by the new law.
The relationship between you and your doctor is important and you need to feel safe, heard, and cared for to receive the optimum care that you deserve. If you don’t feel this way about your doctor, it may be time to search for a new one. Furthermore, this only affects California. We think other states should follow their lead.
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Sources
“California doctors must tell patients if put on probation for sexual misconduct under new law”. LA Times. Accessed October 31, 2018. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-doctor-probation-law-20180920-story.html
“New Law Requires Doctors on Probation to Disclose Discipline to Patients”. NBC San Diego. Accessed October 31, 2018. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/New-Law-Requires-Doctors-to-Disclose-Past-Discipline-to-Patients-493909811.html
Periscope Group is not owned by or operated on behalf of any attorney or law firm. We are not affiliated with any drug or medical device companies. We do not host advertisements nor do we accept advertising requests. We are here to help YOU, the consumer, become better educated and supported. You pay absolutely nothing for our help. It’s as simple as that.
Periscope Group is not owned by or operated on behalf of any attorney or law firm. We are not affiliated with any drug or medical device companies. We do not host advertisements nor do we accept advertising requests. We are here to help YOU, the consumer, become better educated and supported. You pay absolutely nothing for our help. It’s as simple as that.
© All Rights Reserved • 2017 • Periscope Group, 4155 Blackhawk Plaza Circle, Suite 100, Danville, CA 94506 Legal Disclaimer
© All Rights Reserved • 2017 • Periscope Group, 4155 Blackhawk Plaza Circle, Suite 100, Danville, CA 94506 Legal Disclaimer