Through groundbreaking and passionate advocacy, Sybil Shainwald has advanced a deeply personal commitment to social justice and womens' rights. Since the beginning, Sybil Shainwald’s legal career has focused almost exclusively on women’s health issues—often taking on cases other lawyers thought impossible to win. Throughout her career, Sybil Shainwald has litigated thousands of cases involving drugs and devices harmful to women and their children. 

 

Breaking News:

A definitive US study concluding that breast cancer risk among DES exposed daughters over 40 is 82% greater than the unexposed. The excess was larger among women with vaginal epithelial changes.  Follow the links below to read more:

 

New England Journal of Medicine Study

 

MSNBC - Pregnancy Drug Raised Daughters' Cancer Odds

 

TIME - DES Daughters: Banned Pregnancy Drug Linked to Infertility, Prematurity and Cancer

 

USA Today - Risky Pregnancy Drug Raised Daughters' Cancer Odds

LAP Band Surgery

The LAP Band is a type of weight loss surgery that alters the actual size of your stomach.  It is dangerous and being targeted to women.  The surgery is portrayed as being simple and having few risks, but this is not the case.  We are aware of at least three recent death cases that have been filed.  In Neelu Pal v. New York University, a doctor here in New York gave the facts regarding the dangers of the procedure.  It was shown that the level of expertise, preparation, and care has been substandard. Women who do not fit the criteria are still receiving the surgery.  Do not have this surgery and contact us if you have any questions.

 

 

If you would like to speak with someone at our offices about LAP Band Surgery, please call us at 212-425-5566 or send an email to:  shainwald@shainwaldlaw.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newsday - Sunday January 9, 1994 - $42.3 Million Award in DES Daughters Suit

 

New York – A Manhattan jury awarded $42.3 million Friday to 11 women who had reproductive problems after their mothers took a synthetic hormone prescribed to reduce miscarriages during pregnancy.

 

“It’s a great victory for the women’s health movement,” said Sybil Shainwald, the lawyer who filed the lawsuits against three small drug companies that manufacture DES.

 

DES, or diethylstilbestrol, is a synthetic hormone manufactured by an estimated 300 drug companies and prescribed to 5 million pregnant women between 1947 and 1971. After doctors reported a link between mothers who took DES and rare clear-cell cervical and vaginal cancers in their daughters, the Food and Drug Administration barred pregnant women from using the drug in 1971. DES also has been linked to breast cancer in the mothers, infertility and other reproductive problems in their daughters, and infertility and possibly testicular cancers in their sons. The defendants, Emons Industries of York, Pa., which was known as Amfre-Grant Pharmaceutical when it made DES; Carnick Pharmaceutical; and Boyle & Co. of California, which would have to pay a percentage of the awards, say they will appeal. State Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman ordered the jury to assume that DES caused the plaintiffs’ health problems and to determine damages. Lawyers on both sides objected. Gammerman plans to schedule a trial next month to determine whether DES caused the problems and whether the three companies are liable.

How To Read Your Medical Records

Infertility Glossary

As a potential client, the importance of becoming more familiar regarding your medical records and terms are crucial in understanding your case. A common infertility glossary of terms is provided below:

 

Medical Glossary - A Guide to Infertility Acronyms

 

 

 

Doctor - Patient Checklist

Print out this guide and bring it with you to your doctor’s appointment.

 

 

The Doctor - Patient Checklist

 

As Seen in the April 4th 2011 Edition of New York Magazine

Sybil Shainwald has been in the forefront of the women’s health movement since its inception.  Through groundbreaking and passionate advocacy, she has advanced a deeply personal commitment to social justice and women’s rights and has pioneered in many areas of women’s health.

 

Her efforts have resulted in winning landmark cases against the pharmaceutical industry and the successful litigation of thousands of cases involving drugs and devices harmful to women and their children worldwide.  In addition to ongoing diethylstilbestrol litigation, Shainwald has pending litigation for other defective products from corporate America such as defective birth control pills including Lybrel, Lap-Band surgery, vaginal mesh, Mirena IUDS, Fosamax, Boniva, Lupron, and Uterine Artery Embolization.  Additionally, Shainwald has pending litigation for medical malpractice and unnecessary surgeries.  Ms. Shainwald was instrumental in changing the statute of limitations in New York State to a discovery statute thus transforming the practice of mass torts. 

 

In addition to advocacy in the courtroom, her writings and testimony before the FDA and Congress have had a significant impact in raising the awareness of the national consciousness on crucial women’s health issues.  Shainwald has received numerous awards for her advocacy.   She was the first woman to receive the President’s Medal from New York Law School, its highest honor.  She was also was the recipient of The Dean’s Award for Distinguished Achievement from Columbia University.  In March of 2010, Ms. Shainwald was honored with the Edith I. Spivack Award from the New York County Lawyers Association’s Women’s Rights Committee. 

The Sidney Shainwald Public Interest Lecture Series

 

The Sidney Shainwald Public Interest Lecture Series at New York Law School, established in 2004, has attracted notable and distinguished speakers: special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, Kenneth R. Feinberg, gave the inaugural lecture, “the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund: Public Law and Private Pain”; United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy discussed “Justice—What’s Ahead?”; United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer spoke on “Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice”; and in 2007 United States Senator Chuck Hagel discussed “Re-Introducing America to the World.”

 

Read More

Current Articles

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a new warning that Avastin, a cancer treatment drug made by Roche Holding AG, may affect fertility in women.  Following the results of a recent clinical trial, the FDA has added the risk of “ovarian failure” to the drug’s label.  Avastin is currently approved to treat certain types of cancer, but the FDA has been evaluating this approval after an advisory committee recommended it be rescinded late last year. 

 

Follow these links to learn more:

http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/05/fda-adds-risk-of-ovarian-failure-to-avastins-warning-label/

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/10/05/fda-adds-fertility-risk-warning-to-avastin-label/