KFF HEALTH NEWS – The data included some personal information, such as health details, ancestry trees, and geographic locations. 23andMe said it had not heard of any “inappropriate use” of the stolen data, but the company is requiring all users to change their logins and setup more secure two-factor protections.
The New York Times: Data Breach At 23andMe Affects 6.9 Million Profiles, Company Says
Hackers, using old passwords from customers of the genetic testing company 23andMe, were able to gain access to personal information from about 6.9 million profiles, which in some cases included ancestry trees, birth years and geographic locations, the company said on Monday.
In October, a hacker posted a claim online that they had 23andMe users’ profile information, the company wrote in a Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure on Friday. (Carballo, 12/4)
In legal news —
Reuters: Convictions Should Outlive Defendants’ Deaths, US Tells Appeals Court
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday urged a federal appeals court in Boston to break new ground by holding that a defendant’s conviction outlasts his death and does not get wiped away just because he died before his appeal could be heard, in a case involving a former biotech chief executive’s securities fraud conviction.
Prosecutors in making that argument to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that every other federal appeals court would under their precedents vacate former PixarBio Corp CEO Frank Reynolds’ conviction following his 2022 death. (Raymond, 12/4)
Reuters: After $97 Million Med-Mal Verdict, Doctors Sue Insurer For Making Them Tort Reform ‘Pawns’
The Iowa Supreme Court was supposed to hear oral arguments next week in the appeal of a record-setting $76 million medical malpractice judgment against an obstetrics and gynecology clinic accused of causing an infant’s severe brain injuries. That appeal is now stayed amid a blitz of accusations and counterattacks, in both state and federal court, by the medical clinic and the company that provided its malpractice insurance.
A case that began as a dispute over the tragic consequences of one infant’s birth has transformed into a high-stakes examination of an alleged conflict between the interests of a policyholder that allegedly wanted to settle and avoid trial and an insurance company that was dedicated to changing malpractice law. (Frankel, 12/4)
Until last week, the Department of Health and Human Services was facing a lawsuit from two people who said the state had put them at severe risk of entering a nursing home by providing them less in-home care than it had deemed necessary. In one case, a 38-year-old woman with disabilities was receiving only a “small portion” of the 68 hours of weekly care the state had allotted her, according to the lawsuit.
A federal judge has certified the case as a class-action lawsuit, pointing to evidence that there could be dozens, even hundreds of people who face the same risk of being institutionalized for the same reasons. (Timmins, 12/4)
An Orange County plastic surgeon who dubbed himself “Dr. Laguna” is under fire from dozens of former patients and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office amid claims of horribly botched procedures, medical negligence and a brief suspension of his medical license following the death of a patient. The chief of the plastic surgery department at a south Orange County hospital calls Dr. Arian Mowlavi “a danger to the community.” (Emery, 12/4)
Reuters: As Ozempic Cases Mount, Consumer Lawyers Push To Consolidate Lawsuits
Attorneys representing people who say they weren’t properly warned about harsh side effects associated with blockbuster weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are pushing to centralize the lawsuits in a Louisiana federal court, filings show. About 20 lawsuits over the drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, have been filed since August against pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, court records show.
Attorneys from Morgan & Morgan, which has brought nine of the lawsuits, filed a motion on Friday asking the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to consolidate the litigation over the drugs in the Western District of Louisiana. (Jones, 12/4)
Reuters: As Bayer Confronts Mounting Roundup Losses, All Eyes On Philadelphia Trial
With Bayer facing investor pressure to resolve thousands of lawsuits over its Roundup weedkiller after being hit with $2 billion in verdicts in recent weeks, all eyes are on a trial wrapping up in Philadelphia.
Plaintiffs have won the last four trials over their claims that the product causes cancer, each time securing a larger verdict. Those losses ended a nine-trial winning streak for Bayer, shattering investor and company hopes that the worst of the Roundup litigation was over. (Pierson, 12/5)
Bradley Little, a physical education teacher in Arizona, was leading his class through a school hallway in 2017 when he collapsed. Little feared he was having a stroke. Or, in a sign of the times, that he’d been shot. He tried to stand, but his leg wouldn’t move. A student ran for help.
Firefighters arrived and hoisted Little onto a gurney. At the hospital, an X-ray revealed that the artificial hip implant in Little’s right leg had “suddenly and catastrophically structurally failed,” according to a lawsuit Little would later file in federal court. The implant severed at its “neck” — a 2-inch-long titanium part linking Little’s thigh to his torso. (Kelman and Werner, 12/5)
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
