Personal Injury Law
Charlottesville Personal Injury Lawyer 
Post Frequency: 1/day Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 05:00:00 Recent Entries: 330
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Maclaren Failed to Report Finger-Chopping Danger
Posted on November 20, 2009Maclaren recently recalled strollers made as far back as 1999 because the stroller hinge can cause a child's finger to be amputated when placed in the hinge upon opening or closing the stroller. Twelve children have had their fingers amputated! The New York Post reported that Maclaren knew about the defect as early as 2004, when the first finger amputation was reported...
Validity of Pfizer Neurontin Drug Study Questioned
Posted on November 17, 2009Studies on the Pfizer Inc. drug Neurontin may have been skewed in order to have favorable results, reports Bloomberg. The drug is intended to treat epilepsy, however the studies focused on uses for Neurontin that had not yet been approved by the FDA...
Aluminum Bat Manufacturer Found Liable For Player?s Death
Posted on November 16, 2009After twelve hours of deliberation, a jury in Lewis and Clark County, Montana recently sided with the parents of former Miles City American Legion baseball pitcher Brandon Patch, who died after being struck in the temple by a batted ball in a 2003 baseball game against the Helena Senators...
DOJ Indicts Stryker Biotech On Charge Of Fraud
Posted on November 16, 2009The Justice Department has reported that Stryker Biotech LLC, the medical device manufacturing division of Stryker Corp., and its top management have been indicted on federal charges of fraud due to a marketing scheme for bone-growth products OP-1 implant and OP-1 putty...
Corruption in Psychiatric Healthcare
Posted on November 15, 2009The Chicago Tribune reported startling ties between psychiatrist Dr. Michael Reinstein and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The doctor, worth about a half million dollars to the drug maker, did research on the antipsychotic drug, Seroquel. Dr. Reinstein claimed his research found the best-selling drug had the pleasant side effect of decreased appetite, resulting in patient weight loss, despite the fact that Seroquel and similar drugs have been linked to weight gain and diabetes...
Hospitals Rarely Disclose Adverse Events to Patients
Posted on November 13, 2009Medpage Today reported that hospitals rarely give their patients explanations when they experience adverse effects of treatment. A survey revealed that over sixty percent of the time, patients do not receive explanations for adverse events. However, when patients were told about adverse events, they were twice as likely to rate the quality of care highly...
Dangerous Strollers Recalled
Posted on November 12, 2009Maclaren recently recalled one million strollers after reports that childrens' fingertips were amputated by becoming stuck in a hinge mechanism. About fifteen reports of finger amputation have been made. The incident occurs when a child's finger becomes caught while opening the stroller and locking it into place...
Toyota & NHTSA Ignore Runaway Vehicles
Posted on November 10, 2009Both Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have been ignoring customer reports for years! More than 1000 reports of sudden acceleration have been made since 2001, as reported in an LA Times article. However, the majority of cases have been discarded due to Toyota finding them insignificant or irrelevant for various reasons...
Toyota Backs Down from Misleading Statement
Posted on November 10, 2009The American Association for Justice reported on a disagreement between Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) in regards to the acceleration problem in Toyota vehicles. Toyota released a statement stating that the NHSTA had confirmed "that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver's floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured...
Zero Motorcycles Recalled Due to Crash Hazard
Posted on November 09, 2009About 200 Zero X and Zero MX Off-Road Motorcyles from the Model Year 2009 have been recalled because the throttle can get stuck in the open position or get disconnected. This can cause the motorcycle to go to full power when in the "Easy" or "0-25" mode without warning...
Toro Turn Mowers Too Hot to Handle, Result in Burn Injuries
Posted on November 05, 2009Liquid-cooled models of Toro Z Master ZRT Mowers were recently recalled. There have been six burn reports thus far, caused by the coolant overflow container becoming over-pressurized and spraying hot coolant on the mower's operator. About 4,100 defective mowers have been produced, including models Z580, Z580-D, Z593-D and Z595-D, all of which use fuel-injected, liquid-cooled Kawasaki gas or liquid-cooled Kubota diesel engines...
Toyota Unintended Acceleration Incidents
Posted on November 04, 2009For those interested in hearing an analysis of the Toyota Unintended Acceleration incidents, from the perspective of a vehicle defect expert, you may want to read this. Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson
AstraZeneca?s Seroquel Subject of $520 Million Settlement
Posted on November 04, 2009AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company, has reached a $520 million agreement to settle two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits over the sale and marketing of its best-selling psychiatric drug Seroquel. According to research firm IMS Health, Seroquel was the top selling anti-psychotic medication in 2004 with about $17 billion in sales...
Big Lots Bunk Beds Result in Child Injuries
Posted on November 03, 2009Big Lots has recalled about 20,000 wooden bunk beds because the slats supporting the mattress and the side supports can break, causing the bed to collapse. This is clearly dangerous because children or adults could fall or be crushed during a collapse! The wooden bunk beds have a three step ladder and can be viewed here ...
FDA Slow In Banning Fraudulent Drug Researchers
Posted on November 01, 2009In a report scheduled for release on Thursday, Congressional investigators say the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pays little attention to its duty to ban investigators that are convicted of fraud; it is so disorganized that it takes an average of four years to complete its actions...
Botulism Fear Shelves Plum Organics? Baby Food
Posted on November 01, 2009Plum Organics, a California-based company, recently announced that it is recalling its apple and carrot flavored baby food for fear of botulism poisoning. The company stated its product does not meet FDA requirements. While there have been no illnesses reported, the possibility is not taken likely; botulism is a rare, serious paralytic illness...
John Deere Compact Tractors May Cause Injury
Posted on October 30, 2009About 90 John Deere Compact Utility Tractors have been recalled because the differential that was installed is the wrong size. This causes the tractor to veer left when the brakes are applied. Clearly, this is a hazard to operators and bystanders...
Exxon Contaminates NYC Water
Posted on October 29, 2009Exxon Mobil was found guilty of contaminating groundwater in New York City with M.T.B.E., a substance that makes gas burn cleaner, but also dissolves easily into water. Although health risks from consuming M.T.B.E. are unclear, it causes the water to have an odor and taste so bad that the water is not drinkable! NYC asked for compensation for construction of several water treatment plants to make well water in Queens drinkable...
A Delayed Response to Off-Road Dangers
Posted on October 27, 2009The Associated Press reports that the government is finally taking action in regulating the use of dangerous off-road recreational vehicles, known as ROVs or side-by-sides. The vehicles have a roll cage and look like a mix between a golf cart and a mini Jeep...
Studies Show E. coli In Ground Beef Not Ceasing
Posted on October 26, 2009Studies show that more than 70,000 Americans become sick each year due to E. coli bacterial infections. Most of these infections come from contaminated beef made into the most 'American' of foods, the hamburger. Of the 70,000 infected, about 2,000 are sick enough to be hospitalized and in some extreme cases, victims become paralyzed or die; death happens in about 60 patients annually...
Tasers and Heart Troubles
Posted on October 26, 2009Recently, there has been controversy over the use of tasers. Constable Victor Trevino in Texas banned his deputies from using tasers after reading a manufactuer's report that the device could cause heart troubles if fired into the chest, as described in this article...
Baby Food Could Cause Botulism
Posted on October 26, 2009An article in the Washington Post reports that Plum Organics of Emeryville, CA is recalling some of their products. Carrot and apple baby food portable 4.22-ounce pouches with UPC 890180001221 and a "best by" date of May 21, 2010 did not meet the FDA guidelines for acidity level...
Apple iPod Potential Fire Hazard
Posted on October 25, 2009The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating many reports of the Apple iPod overheating, and in some cases, catching on fire. In its own investigation, a news organization in Phoenix, Arizona, found three cases of the iPod catching fire...
Nissan and Infinity Recall 143,000 Vehicles
Posted on October 25, 2009Nissan and Infinity have recalled approximately 143,000 vehicles it manufactured in cold states. Road salt can cause corrosion which may affect the tire pressure monitors on the vehicles. The vehicles recalled are: • 2008–10 Infiniti M35 and M45...
Procter And Gamble Scolded By FDA For Using Vitamin C In Products
Posted on October 25, 2009FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulators are scolding Procter and Gamble for adding Vitamin C to its Vicks cold formulas, a combination not allowed by federal regulations; the FDA issued a warning to the consumer products company, stating medications such as Vicks Nyquil and Dayquil have not been approved to contain Vitamin C...
Jury Slams Lasko for Child's Death in Faulty Fan Case
Posted on October 25, 2009The Philadelphia Daily News reported on October 15 that Lasko Products, Inc., a fan manufacturer based in West Chester, Pennsylvania, was "smacked" with a $13.5 million verdict on Wednesday, October 14 after a 13-day trial in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court...
Guardian Insurance Cancels Policies in Certain States
Posted on October 25, 2009Guardian Life Insurance, a New York-based insurance company, has begun canceling lines of coverage and specific policies in entire states in order to avoid paying high-cost claims; they are canceling coverage in entire states, such as Colorado, and certain policies in states such as New York, New Jersey and South Carolina because they are barred from discriminating specifically against policyholders that file large claims each month...
Runaway Toyota Vehicles Take Lives
Posted on October 23, 2009Recent reports of fatal crashes involving Toyota and Toyota-made Lexus vehicles are frightening! The crashes involve the cars accelerating uncontrollably, reaching speeds of 120 MPH, and leaving drivers with no ability to brake! The company's apologies seem sincere, however they are blaming the acceleration problem on the floor mat causing the accelerator to get stuck...
Post-LASIK Problems Underplayed and Unreported
Posted on October 22, 2009Aggressive marketing has made the well known vision correction surgery known as LASIK surgery (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) a $2 billion industry, with it coming under fire for overstating the benefits of the surgery and downplaying its risks...
Older Jeep Grand Cherokees May Be Fire Prone
Posted on October 18, 2009The Center for Auto Safety has sent a petition to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, calling for the recall of over three million Jeep Grand Cherokees, claiming that the vehicles have a design flaw in their gas tanks that makes them potential fire hazards...
Ford Recalls Another 4.5 Million Automobiles for Fire Hazard - 16 MILLION TOTAL
Posted on October 13, 2009Ford Motor Company ("Ford"), in the continuing saga of the defective cruise control deactivation switches on its, issued the single largest recall in the history of the United States Tuesday, October 13, 2009, because of a potential safety defect in certain models of its vehicles...
Popular Contraceptives Raise Health Concerns
Posted on October 08, 2009Oral contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin are the top-selling pharmaceutical line for Bayer Healthcare, largely because the products' marketing presents them as much more than just pregnancy prevention. In fact, the franchise had worldwide sales of $1.8 billion last year, based on Bayer successfully positioning the brands as the go-to medication for women under the age of thirty-five...
Controversial Medical Device - Menaflex - Approved By FDA
Posted on October 07, 2009In a bid to get a controversial knee-surgery device known as Menaflex approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ReGen Biologics relied too heavily on two consultants with strong ties to Congress and the FDA. One consultant previously worked as the FDA's associate chief counsel for medical devices and had regular contact with the agency about the device; the device was approved last December despite staff objections...
Professional Football Careers May Lead to Memory-Loss
Posted on October 04, 2009A recent telephone study done by the University of Michigan at the request of the NFL has found that retired NFL players may be more prone to cases of dementia and Alzheimer's disease than non-football players of the same age. The survey asked over 1,000 former NFL players if they'd ever been diagnosed with a memory-loss related condition or disease...
FDA Pulls the Plug on Flavored Cigarettes
Posted on October 04, 2009The FDA has banned flavored cigarettes from the market as its first act since being given the authority to monitor and regulate the marketing and manufacturing of tobacco products. It is widely viewed that flavored cigarettes serve as a draw to usher teenagers into smoking, eventually leading to a regular habit with studies showing that almost one in every three teenagers who start smoking become daily smokers...
Obama Appointment for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is Stunning
Posted on September 30, 2009President Obama made a strange appointment regarding who would become leader of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA"). Although Obama has passed an order stating he would limit lobbyists' power to enter the government as high officials to influence policy from within, he appointed Anne Ferro, a major trucking industry lobbyist in Maryland, to lead this agency that oversees truck safety...
Private Insurance Bureaucracies Abusing the System?
Posted on September 30, 2009A House subcommittee held a hearing last Tuesday regarding private insurance bureaucracies' abuse of the health insurance system. "The hearing was part of a continuing Democratic effort to promote an overhaul of the nation's health care system by focusing on alleged abuses by health insurers" reported The Washington Post in a September 17 article entitled, "House Subcommittee Hearing Focuses on Alleged Insurer Abuses"...
Judge Rules Toyota Suit Remain Unsealed
Posted on September 30, 2009A federal judge in Los Angeles has refused to seal a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Dimitrios Biller, a former in-house attorney for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. Biller claims Toyota hid and destroyed evidence in many rollover lawsuits. While Toyota argues the suit violates the confidentiality agreement in Biller's severance package and will cause the company to suffer more harm if the complaint is not sealed, the judge ruled it would be pointless to seal the complaint since information regarding the lawsuit is already on the Internet...
Bayer Warned By FDA Regarding Birth Control Products Quality
Posted on September 24, 2009Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulators have written a letter warning drugmaker Bayer about quality control issues in the company's plant in Berghamen, Germany. This plant is responsible for making drospirenone, the key ingredient for popular birth control drugs like Yaz and Yasmin; these products were Bayer's top selling pharmaceuticals last year, with global sales of $1...
Supplements - More Dangerous Than They Appear (Or Advertised)?
Posted on September 24, 2009In its September 7th article 'What's Really in Supplements?' The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)discusses the harmful side effects of a growing trend in the American dietary and strength conditioning communities: the taking of over-the-counter supplements. Many supplements purport to aid in the building of muscle mass or in weight loss, claiming to do what prescription or illegal drugs do via an herbal means...
Toxic Water Is Major Problem In US Cities
Posted on September 17, 2009Residents in an area near Charleston, West Virginia have started to avoid contact with tap water after scabs began developing on their arms, legs and chests where the bathwater, which is polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals, caused painful rashes...
Ghostwriting Issues Abound in Scientific, Medical Publications
Posted on September 17, 2009A September 11 article published in the New York Times entitled, 'Ghostwriting Is Called Rife in Medical Journals,' reports on the findings of a recent survey conducted by the editors of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that addresses the amount of ghostwriting that takes place in the creation of scientific literature...
Toyota May Be Forced To Reopen Rollover Crash Cases
Posted on September 13, 2009Toyota Motor Company is already facing demands that roll-over crash cases it settled or won be reopened, after a former company attorney, Dimitrios Biller, accused the automaker of hiding records sought by plaintiffs' attorneys. Biller worked with Toyota from 2003 to 2008 managing records for the company's litigation; he resigned, however, in 2008 after he disagreed with Toyota's insistence on hiding data...
Feds Seek to Change Drugmakers' Practices With Pfizer Settlement
Posted on September 13, 2009A record $2.3 billion settlement with Pfizer has reinforced the Obama administration's stance on health-care fraud. Recently, 'Pfizer unit Pharmacia & Upjohn pleaded guilty to a single felony charge that accused the company of marketing its anti-inflammatory drug Bextra for broader uses and higher dosages than those approved by the Food and Drug Administration...
New Legislation May Aid Consumers Harmed By Foreign Manufacturers
Posted on September 13, 2009Many products consumed these days, from children's toys to medicines, are made in countries where, often, manufacturing standards are almost nonexistent. Therefore, when products have defects, it is extremely difficult to hold these foreign companies responsible in the United States' Court System...
Toyota Issues Recall in Nineteen States - Corollas and Scions
Posted on September 07, 2009Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., is launching a voluntary Safety Recall on nearly 96,000 Toyota and Scion vehicles. Per the press release from Toyota: 'On certain 2009 and 2010 model year Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, and 2008 and 2009 Scion xD vehicles all equipped with 1...
Window Coverings Recalled After 3 Strangulation Deaths
Posted on September 07, 2009Because three children have been strangled on product cords, millions of window coverings are being recalled by six companies: Lewis Hyman, Pottery Barn Kids, IKEA, Lutron, Vertical Land and Victoria Classics. Some of the coverings were also sold at Target and Expo Design Center stores...
?Don?t Let Us Get Sick? ? Consumer Reports Surveys Patients, Nurses on Hospital Sanitation
Posted on September 07, 2009Consumer Reports ("CR") recently took a 'side-by-side' survey regarding the sanitary conditions of hospitals across the country. In 2009 it interviewed 731 nurses who worked in different areas of the hospital (ranging from the E.R. to the operating room), and in 2008 it heard from 13,540 readers who reported their various experiences with staying in hospitals, whether personal or referencing a family member, during 2007...
New Study Shows Imaging Tests Expose Patients To Excessive Radiation
Posted on September 07, 2009According to a new study in The New England Journal of Medicine, at least four million Americans under the age of sixty-five are exposed to high doses of radiation annually from medical imaging tests; more than 400,000 of these patients receive very high doses, more than the maximum annual exposure permitted for staff at nuclear power plants or anyone else who works with radioactive material...
Four Out of Five Ain?t Bad? ? Research Finds 1 out of 5 Trucks Unfit
Posted on September 02, 2009Recently, a new batch of statistics has emerged from research done by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) regarding motor carrier safety violations. Violations found include such unsafe practices as "overloading trucks, allowing unqualified or untrained drivers behind the wheel, failing to maintain tires and brakes, and salary systems that encourage truck drivers to exceed speed limits and maximum driving hours...
Fire on Ice ? More Maytag Fridges Recalled
Posted on September 01, 2009Due to an electrical failure, Maytag has expanded its initial March recall of 1.6 million refrigerators to an additional 42,000, now including refrigerators under the Maytag, Magic Chef and Performa by Maytag and Crosley umbrellas. The failure is being cited as a potential fire hazard which causes the compressor to kick on at random and may lead to overheating...
Family Medicine Doctor Numbers Declining
Posted on September 01, 2009In recent years, there has been a decline in the number of medical students who want to pursue family medicine, though many say it is the frontline for wellness and preventive-care programs that can help reduce healthcare costs. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the number of U...
Little Tikes Issues Recall On 1.6 million Toy Workshops and Trucks
Posted on August 28, 2009Little Tikes has issued a voluntary recall on 1.6 million toy workshops and trucks after a toddler choked on a plastic nail. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said the recall covers five toy models sold by Little Tikes as far back as March 1994...
Toys ?R? Us to Keep Things Safe with "The Great Trade-In Program"
Posted on August 28, 2009In the August 26, 2009 Charlottesville section of Craigslist.com, there were 71 new posts in the "Baby+Kids" subsection of "For Sale." Going solely off of the post titles (admittedly, I disregarded a thorough analysis of each post's contents for the sake of search-brevity), out of those 71 posts, 3 were for strollers (4%), 2 were for car seats (3%), 2 were for highchairs (3%), 8 were for swing sets/play sets (12%), 5 were for cribs/beds/bassinets (7%), 12 were for clothes (17%), 2 were for food (3%), 5 were for bikes/scooters/walkers (7%), 10 were for miscellaneous toys (14%), and 2 were for child backpacks/harnesses (for carrying children) (3%)...
Antidepressant Use in US Doubled To Over 10% in Ten Years
Posted on August 27, 2009A recent study released by Columbia University has found that compared to data from 1996, the number of Americans taking antidepressants doubled to 10.1 percent of the U.S. population in 2005, increasing across both income and age groups. Another recent study also found that diagnoses of major depression in adults increased from 3...
Study - Gym Class Injuries Increased Dramatically Since 1997
Posted on August 27, 2009A new pediatric study has shown that children these days are more likely to get injured in gym class than they were a decade ago. Dr. Lara McKenzie of National Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, the lead researcher on the study, suggests the reason for this 150% increase in physical education (PE)- related injuries treated at emergency departments from 1997-2007 could be a lack of supervision a decrease in full- time school nurses, and a change in the PE curriculum...
"Wii-mote" Charging Stations Recalled For Potential Fire Hazard
Posted on August 20, 2009The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced that Griffin International Cos. has recalled about 220,000 'Wii-mote' charging stations after the product hurt consumers hands due to a burning battery. According to the CPSC, the company's Chinese manufactured Wii controller accessories, the Psyclone Essentials and React four-dock battery recharging stations, can overheat and pose a burn or fire hazard...
Former Insurance Executive Outs Insurance Companies in Healthcare Debate
Posted on August 19, 2009Wendell Potter, the former head of communications for health insurance giant Cigna, understands why many people across the country are showing up to town hall meetings extremely upset when members of Congress try to explain why the government needs to expand its role in the health care system...
Bill Will Hold Foreign Companies Accountable For Defective Products
Posted on August 14, 2009The Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2009, a bipartisan bill that was recently introduced in the U.S. Senate, aims to help victims of tainted Chinese drywall hold foreign manufacturers more accountable for their defective products. The act would cut down the red tape faced by American consumers who try to sue foreign companies...
Federal Concerns About Electronic Cigarettes Are Growing
Posted on August 13, 2009Because so little is known regarding what is in electronic cigarettes, regulators are growing more and more concerned due to the increase in popularity of the product over the past several years. Preliminary tests carried out by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) show e-cigarettes, which are battery operated tubes that deliver a nicotine vapor instead of burned tobacco smoke, contain some of the dangerous carcinogens that traditional cigarettes do, but at lower levels...
Popular Dietary Supplements Alleged to Contain Steroids
Posted on August 12, 2009Federal authorities filed court papers last month alleging that two over-the-counter dietary supplements commonly used by high school football players contain steroids. Tren Extreme and Mass Extreme, manufactured by American Cellular Labs, are marketed as a potent legal alternative to steroids...
Texting Drivers Significantly Raise Crash Risk
Posted on August 10, 2009The first study of drivers texting while operating their vehicles shows that the crash risk of doing so is much higher than previous estimates from laboratory research and significantly surpasses the dangers of other driving distractions. The study, which involved outfitting the cabs of long-haul trucks with video cameras over a year-and-a-half, showed that a texting driver's collision risk is 23 times greater than when not texting...
Federal Agency Withheld Data On The Risks Of Distracted Driving
Posted on August 06, 2009In 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a long-term study that would determine the danger posed by cell phone use behind the wheel; they began the study after evidence showed multitasking was a serious and growing threat on the roadways...
Doctors Urged Not To Induce Labor Unless Medically Necessary
Posted on August 06, 2009Under revised guidelines released recently by the nation's association of obstetricians and gynecologists, physicians are being advised not to induce labor for non-medical reasons prior to thirty-nine weeks into a pregnancy. These guidelines, which are the first to be released since 1999, arrive after concern about the increase in the numbers of these procedures in the last twenty years; in 1990 the rate of induced labor was 90 per 1,000 births, however, this number increased to 225 per 1,000 births in 2006...
Hospitals In VA, MD, DC Must Report Avoidable Mistakes
Posted on August 06, 2009Over the past year, there have been hundreds of incidents of death or serious medical harm that were disclosed by hospitals in the Washington DC area, preventable errors that until recently have not required public reporting. Under laws that took effect last year in Virginia and a few years earlier in DC and Maryland, hospitals must report to health officials the many serious injuries that patients may suffer in the course of treatment...
Xolair Possibly Linked To Heart Problems
Posted on August 04, 2009The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that an ongoing clinical trial for the asthma drug omalizimub, commonly known as Xolair, and suggests patients taking the medication may have a stronger risk of blood clots, stroke, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias and heart enlargement when compared to patients not treated with the drug...
Tractor-Trailers Make Interstate 81 A Dangerous Ride
Posted on August 03, 2009Interstate 81 runs from central Tennessee to the Canadian border, offering picturesque views of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains as it winds through Virginia. Drivers, however, report nerves and fear because of the incredible number of tractor-trailers on I-81...
FDA Study Identifies Toxins in Electronic Cigarettes
Posted on August 02, 2009According to a preliminary analysis by the FDA, electronic cigarettes contain traces of carcinogens and toxins. These findings contradict electronic cigarette manufacturers' statements that their products are a safe alternative to tobacco. Manufacturers claim that the battery-powered cigarettes contain nothing more than water vapor, nicotine, and propylene glycol, which is used to create artificial smoke...
Many College Athletes Have Insufficient Health Insurance
Posted on July 26, 2009In 2005, the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) began requiring universities guarantee their athletes have adequate health insurance due to many years of concerns that college athletes had insufficient health coverage. The association did not, however, establish clear standards for this coverage, which allowed colleges to decide for themselves what was adequate...
Nine Companies Pay Penalty For Lead In Toys
Posted on July 21, 2009As punishment for violating the federal lead paint ban, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced nine children's product manufacturers, importers and sellers, including Dollar General and Michael's, have agreed to pay more than $500,000 in civil penalties...
New GM Accepts New Product Liability Claims
Posted on July 20, 2009In a bid to win court approval for a quick sale from bankruptcy, General Motors Corp. (GM) has agreed to accept liability for future product defects. Additionally, GM stated that it would change the terms of its proposed asset sale to address the objections raised by twenty suppliers and was working to create a 'consensual' agreement regarding the future of a joint-venture plant with Toyota...
Bottled Water Safer Than Tap?
Posted on July 19, 2009Members of Congress were recently briefed on two new studies that question whether bottled water is safer than tap water. Following the meeting, the Congressional committee sent letters to thirteen companies requesting more information regarding the source of their water and how it is tested...
D.C. Metro Crash- Both Human and Mechanical Error
Posted on July 19, 2009Investigations will soon be underway regarding the Washington D.C. Metro's Red Line crash that killed nine people and injured dozens. Early indications have suggested a computer system malfunction, while several accounts have raised questions about whether or not the train's driver applied the brakes in time...
Woman Crusades Against Pool Filters That Killed Husband
Posted on July 13, 2009Sue Halverson has become an activist, warning the public about the dangers of a two-piece, kettle style pool filter that exploded and struck her husband in the head, killing him. With the help of an undisclosed settlement she won from the filter's manufacturer, Mrs...
Supreme Court OKs Claim For Punitive Damages In Tugboat Case
Posted on July 12, 2009In a recent 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Edgar Townshend, a tugboat crewmember who injured his arm and shoulder when he slipped and fell on the boat's steel deck. His employer, Atlantic Sounding Co., said they would not pay for his medical care or time off...
Toy Manufacturer Agrees To Penalty For Lead In Toys
Posted on July 12, 2009OKK Trading, an American based toy importer, has agreed to pay a $665,000 civil penalty settlement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) after it was shown that the company imported and sold toys that violated many child safety standards, such as having high levels of lead...
FDA's Lax Investigation Leads to Shipment of Contaminated Syringes
Posted on July 01, 2009Natalie Fullerton's parents were thrilled to see their year-old daughter recover from a double-lung transplant. Her father dutifully used fluid-filled syringes to clean a tube that doctors had implanted in her chest to deliver intravenous medication. Despite his fear, bacteria infected the toddler's blood and she was rushed to the hospital...
FDA Panel Decides Acetaminophen Doses Should Be Changed
Posted on June 30, 2009On Tuesday, June 30, 2009, thirty-nine government safety experts, who were assembled by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recommended ways to reduce deadly overdoses of acetaminophen, which is the leading cause of liver failure in the United States...
Homeopathic Drugs - "Remedies" - Potentially Hazardous?
Posted on June 29, 2009Although it was sold for many years as a drug for colds, Zicam Cold Remedy was never tested by federal regulators for safety like many other drugs. Because the drug is considered a 'homeopathic remedy,' categorized as a highly diluted drug made from natural ingredients, they can legally be sold without any checks for safety, effectiveness, or even the right ingredients by the federal government...
EPA Declares Public Emergency Due To Asbestos At Montana Mine
Posted on June 27, 2009The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared its first-ever 'public emergency,' stating the federal government will give $6 million to the health authority in Lincoln County, Montana to provide medical care to people who were sickened by asbestos from a mine...
Lawyers Sinking Their Teeth Into Denture Cream Lawsuits
Posted on June 25, 2009Attorneys representing injured consumers are filing product liability suits alleging that denture cream use causes zinc buildup and neurological problems. A dozen cases in federal courts in California, Colorado, Florida, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee target Poligrip manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Fixodent manufacturer Procter & Gamble Co...
Alarming Data in the Amount of Children Injured While Playing Baseball
Posted on June 22, 2009While baseball may seem to be a fairly safe sport, researchers have found that over a thirteen year period, more than one and a half million players under eighteen years of age were injured enough to be treated in emergency rooms. Although it is unclear how many children are involved in the sport, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) claims there are about six million in leagues and another thirteen million playing baseball on their own...
Johnson & Johnson Under Fire Over Baby Products
Posted on June 19, 2009The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of health, environmental and consumer groups, is demanding that Johnson & Johnson remove tiny amounts of two chemicals, which are believed to cause cancer, from their baby shampoo and other products. They are asking the company to reformulate its personal care products so that by the end of August the products can be free of 1,4-dioxane and any preservatives that release formaldehyde...
GM Asbestos Claimants Seek Formal Panel in Bankruptcy
Posted on June 19, 2009Asbestos-injury claimants have asked for an official committee in the General Motors bankruptcy case, saying that the plan to sell the corporation might be unconstitutional since they've been excluded from the negotiations. Lawyers for the claimants stated in a filing with the U...
Zicam Cold Remedy Should Stop Being Used Says FDA
Posted on June 16, 2009The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated via a press release today that consumers should stop using three over-the-counter Zicam Cold Remedy products, including: nasal gel, nasal swabs and the "kids size" swabs (which were discontinued)...
FDA Commissioner Supports Direction of Food Safety Bill
Posted on June 15, 2009The new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, entered the debate over how to fix the nation's food safety system in her first appearance before Congress as commissioner recently. Dr. Hamburg told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health that the safety legislation sponsored by several Democrats was moving in the right direction, but that the FDA would need more money to make it happen...
Most Bankruptcies Caused by Medical Bills
Posted on June 14, 2009A study recently published online in The American Journal of Medicine reports that nearly two out of three bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. This report likely understates the problem, because the data was collected prior to the current economic crisis...
Chrysler-Fiat to Be Immune from Liability for Certain Defective Automobiles
Posted on June 14, 2009When bankruptcy Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez approved the sale of most of Chrysler's assets to a new company run by Fiat, he also granted the request that the new company not face liability for future product-liability problems involving current Chrysler owners...
Mattel and Fisher-Price Fined $2.3 Million for Lead Toy Hazard
Posted on June 09, 2009Mattel Inc. and its subsidiary, Fisher-Price, have agreed to pay $2.3 million in civil penalties to the United States for importing and selling toys with excessive levels of lead, and for violations of the federal lead paint ban. The CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) has provisionally accepted the penalty settlement...
Report Says Children's Products Contain Dangerous Chemicals
Posted on June 08, 2009A March publication from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reported finding formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, a trace contaminant of chemicals used in cosmetic products, in 55 children's personal-care products. The Environmental Protection Agency lists these chemicals as probable human carcinogens...
Take Precautions To Prevent Dangers of Treadmills
Posted on June 07, 2009The recent death of Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter, found with a treadmill cord around her neck while her mother cleaned in another room, has called attention to the hazard that home exercise equipment poses to children. Doctors report that the emergency room sees approximately 25,000 children per year who suffer from a broad range of home exercise equipment-related injuries...
Government Joins Whistleblower Lawsuit Against Wyeth
Posted on June 01, 2009The United States, as well as sixteen states, joined whistleblower lawsuits that claim Wyeth, a drug manufacturer that is being acquired by Pfizer Inc., avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers in rebates under the Medicaid program...
Vermont Law Makes Payments to Doctors Public
Posted on May 30, 2009In an attempt to crack down on the medical industry's payment to physicians, Vermont legislators have passed a law that requires drug and device manufacturers to publicly release the amount of all money given to doctors and other healthcare providers, naming names and listing the actual dollar amounts...
Military Physician Accused of Fabricating Study Regarding Medtronic's Infuse
Posted on May 27, 2009Medtronic, a medical device manufacturer, has suspended its consulting agreement with Dr. Timothy Kuklo, a former military physician at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was accused by the Army of falsifying research involving the use of one of the company's products, a bone-growth treatment called 'Infuse', which is used on injured soldiers; Kuklo was hired by Medtronic in August of 2006 as a consultant and also has a product development and royalty agreement with the company involving spinal devices unrelated to Infuse...
Obama Ends Bush's Policy That Favored Corporations Over Consumer
Posted on May 26, 2009Recently, the Obama White House undid a Bush administration pre-emption policy, which used federal health and safety regulations to limit the power of injured consumers to sue companies in state courts. Trial lawyers who file class actions for millions of consumers praised this decision...
British Leaders Considering Goalpost Safety Bill
Posted on May 26, 2009Recently I traveled to London, I live in England, to listen to my local Member of Parliament deliver a speech called The Ten Minute Rule Bill. It was very emotional to listen to and I wanted to share it with as many people world wide that I could. At last I feel positive children's safety playing football, hopefully it will become law in England by 2012...
Congress Debates Medical Device Safety Act to Counter Riegel v. Medtronic
Posted on May 25, 2009The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health began hearing testimony on the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009, which proposes the Supreme Court decision in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc be overturned. The Reigel ruling prevents patients that were injured by certain federally approved medical devices from seeking compensation via state product liability suits – in other words, federal law trumps (preempts) state law in these cases...
Heparin Product Investigated In Deaths
Posted on May 20, 2009<p>Baxter International Inc. has admitted medical care providers at a hospital in Delaware, as well as United States health officials, are investigating whether the deaths of two patients were caused by a brand of <a href="http://www.chicagotribune...
FDA Finds Baxter's Advertisements Misleading
Posted on May 19, 2009U.S. regulators have warned that the promotions Baxter Inc. made for its product, Tisseel surgical sealant, were misleading; Tisseel is a spray used to stop bleeding during surgery. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also believes many sales materials, such as brochures, overstated the sealant's effectiveness and made unsubstantiated claims that it was superior to other competing products...
FDA Warns Consumers About Contamination In Procter & Gamble Plant
Posted on May 18, 2009In a letter released last Tuesday, U.S. regulators claimed Procter & Gamble failed to sufficiently address manufacturing and contamination problems at a plant in Puerto Rico that produces over-the-counter drugs, as well as Olay cosmetics. Procter & Gamble has since said none of the issues compromised the safety of products manufactured at its plant in Cayey, Puerto Rico...
New Baby Crib Recall by CPSC
Posted on May 18, 2009For the third time, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has recalled cribs that were manufactured by Jardine Enterprises due to slats that break. This time, about 96,000 cribs were added to the tally of those that could strangle or trap a baby...
Chrysler Recalls 37,407 Dodge Ram Trucks
Posted on May 14, 2009Chrysler Motors has recalled 37,407 Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up trucks from model year 2009. The recalled trucks are equipped with manual temperature controls which may have defective software for the heating and air conditioning module. This latter defect may cause a failure of the heating and/or air, causing problems defrosting or defogging the windshield...
GM Recalls 15,393 Chevrolet Traverse Vehicles
Posted on May 14, 2009According to NHTSA, General Motors has recalled 15,393 Chevrolet Traverse vehicles for model year 2009. The recall has been issued because of a defective parking brake that does not comply with federal safety requirements. The parking brake cable link does not meet a specification, which may lead to a connector fracturing when the parking brake pedal is pushed down...
Missouri Supreme Court Rules For New Trial In Ford Police Cruiser Case
Posted on May 12, 2009On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled the issue of whether Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers contain a fatal fuel-system design will return to Jackson County for a second trial. The court ruled in favor of businessman Michael Nolte and the family of Missouri Highway Patrol Trooper Michael Newton, after it found a judge's errors gave Ford Motor Company an unfair advantage at trial in 2005...
Safety Groups Push For New Safety Rules for Bus Travel
Posted on May 06, 2009In a charter bus accident last year, known to authorities as Mexican Hat, nine people were killed and forty three more were injured after the vehicle slipped off of the road at a curve, dropped off an embankment and toppled over. Though it only rolled once, the force of the flip shredded the roof and knocked all but two passengers out of the bus; the only two people that were not thrown were the bus driver who had the only seat belt on the bus, and a passenger whose leg was stuck...
FDA Says Stop Using Popular Weight Loss Supplement Hydroxycut
Posted on May 01, 2009The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it has received 23 reports of serious liver injuries related to peoples' use of Hydroxycut products. Hydroxycut products are widely used dietary supplements for weight loss. The products are also used as "energy enhancers" and "fat burners"...
A Football Goalpost Killed My Son
Posted on April 30, 2009Eighteen years ago my so died when an unsecured football (soccer) goalpost fell on him and ruptured his heart. This was a needless death and many more children and adults have died before and since from unsafe, home made and unsecured football goalposts...
AP Report Shows Pharmaceuticals Tainting Drinking Water
Posted on April 27, 2009According to an investigation by the Associated Press, U.S. manufacturers, including drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into the waterways that often supply drinking water. Hundreds of pharmaceutical ingredients are used in drug manufacturing...
FDA Rules Regarding Internet Drug Ads Create Confusion
Posted on April 26, 2009Late last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent strong warning letters to fourteen major pharmaceutical companies that the companies' search advertisements, or the short text ads that run beside Google results, have to include risk information about each drug or else be removed...
Exercise Balls Recalled After Bursting
Posted on April 25, 2009The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has released a statement that almost three million fitness balls, sold in department stores and sporting good retailers, have been voluntarily recalled following forty-seven reports that they have unexpectedly burst...
Suing Parents for Sleepovers?
Posted on April 19, 2009I was waiting to argue a case in the Virginia Supreme Court last week, and an interesting case relating to child safety was argued in front of me. The name is Michael H. Kellermann, Administrator, etc. v. Paul Mcdonough, et al., and the Court will make a decision about it in June, but I wanted to hear what people thought...
Pistachio Processor Issues Recall for Possible Salmonella Contamination
Posted on April 10, 2009Setton Pistachio, a California nut grower and processor, has issued a nationwide recall of pistachios due to possible salmonella contamination. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also said the recall will include many products in which pistachios are used as ingredients...
Federal Investigation Leads to Criticism of Company Conducting Medical and Drug Trials
Posted on April 09, 2009Coast Independent Review Board, a Colorado company that drug and medical device manufacturers pay to oversee patient safety during clinical trials, has come under criticism at a Congressional hearing regarding whether the company performed its duties adequately...
Asbestos Problem In Washington's National Museum of American History
Posted on April 07, 2009According to members of the Steamfitters Union, Local 602, in 2007 asbestos dust filled the air of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, DC because contractors continuously failed to take legally required precautions while removing insulation...
Medtronic Heart Device Linked To a Possible Thirteen Deaths
Posted on April 06, 2009Medtronic admitted that at least thirteen people might have died in correlation with a heart device, known as Sprint Fidelis, that it recalled in 2007 but was still in widespread use. This number includes four patients who died while surgeons were attempting to remove the product and is the first new data to reflect fatalities since the device was first recalled; the other nine deaths may be tied to the device's failure to work properly...
Obama Advocates Food-Safety Overhaul
Posted on April 05, 2009President Obama has promised to strengthen and reorganize the nation's food-safety system after declaring the government's failure to inspect ninety-five percent of processing plants a 'hazard to public health'. Obama has since announced the creation of a Food Safety Working Group, which includes the secretaries of agriculture and health, to generate coordination across federal agencies, advise him on which regulations and laws need to be changed, and ensure laws are enforced...
Provision In Obama's Spending Bill Strengthens Chemical Disclosures
Posted on April 03, 2009In a little-noticed provision of President Obama's spending bill, companies will now have to provide more detailed disclosure of the toxic chemicals they release into the environment. This measure overturns a 2006 regulation passed by President Bush that eased the requirements for almost six hundred chemicals and will affect oil refineries, chemical manufacturers, automakers and electronic manufacturers nationwide...
Researcher Alleged to Have Ensured Positive Results To Drug Makers
Posted on April 03, 2009According to court documents, an influential child psychiatrist at Harvard University, told drug maker Johnson & Johnson that planned studies of its medications in children would produce results that would benefit the company. The psychiatrist outlined his plans to test the company's drugs in presentations made to Johnson & Johnson's executives...
Tattoos, Nicotine Patches And Other Medical Devices May Pose Problem During M.R.I.s
Posted on March 31, 2009Federal health officials warn that patients who wear nicotine or other drug patches during M.R.I. scans may get burned due to the machine's huge magnet that can heat tiny metal elements found in the patches. Not all patches contain these aluminum elements...
Medical Device Bill To Be Introduced Following Recent Supreme Court Decision
Posted on March 31, 2009Democrats in Congress are moving to overturn a Supreme Court decision that allowed medical device manufacturers to be shielded from lawsuits after the Supreme Court Justices recently decided drug makers should not receive the same protection. Last Wednesday, the Court ruled against Wyeth's contention that it should not be subject to lawsuits in state courts for Phenergan, its anti-nausea drug, because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)approved the medication...
Massachusetts High Court Rules Non Profit Soccer Programs Immune from Liability
Posted on March 23, 2009Massachusetts' highest court, the Supreme Judicial Court, has ruled that a young boy, whose leg was broken when a soccer goal post flipped over, cannot sue nonprofit youth soccer associations for negligence. The incident occurred in 1998, when twelve-year-old Dustin Welch was hurt when a goal tipped over and struck his right leg...
SlyDog Retractable Dog Leash Recalled
Posted on March 22, 2009A retractable dog leash, made by SlyDog, has been recalled after it recoiled unexpectedly and partially blinded a young girl. Dereka Williams was walking her pit bull terrier puppy when the leash broke, recoiled back and struck her in the eye, tearing her retina...
Recent Supreme Court Ruling Bring Back Issue of Medical Devices
Posted on March 21, 2009The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that consumers can sue drug makers for defective warnings, though earlier ruled consumers cannot sue medical device manufacturers if the device was FDA approved. This seemingly contradictory ruling claims federal law does not protect drug companies from product liability suits in state courts, though it earlier decided federal law prevents lawsuits against the manufacturers of such medical devices as heart stints and artificial joints...
NHTSA Did Not Release Children's Car Seat Crash Data
Posted on March 13, 2009Out of sixty-one infant car seats tested, thirty-one flew off their bases or exceeded injury limits in a series of frontal car crashes conducted by federal researchers using 2008 model year vehicles. These test results, however, were never published and some infant car seat manufacturers were unaware of their existence...
Despite Complaints, FDA Did Not Timely Inspect Syringe Plant
Posted on March 12, 2009AM2PAT Inc., a North Carolina syringe factory, operated for two years without any type of inspection, despite several complaints that its needles were dirty or filled with colored particles. Court documents in the case show the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only suspected the plant in 2007 after an outbreak of illness was reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
New Food Safety Bill Introduced In Senate
Posted on March 11, 2009In the Senate this past Tuesday, food-safety legislation, called the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act, was introduced, which would give the FDA new power to order recalls and open companies' internal records for inspection...
Manufacturer of Lexapro - Forest Laboratories - Accused of Fraud
Posted on March 11, 2009The Justice Department has charged drug manufacturer Forest Laboratories with defrauding the government of millions of dollars after it, allegedly, illegally marketed popular antidepressants Lexapro and Celexa for unapproved uses in children and teenagers...
Maytag Recalls Refrigerators That May be Serious Fire Hazard
Posted on March 11, 2009Maytag is issuing a recall this week for approximately 1.6 million refrigerators sold from January 2001 thorugh January 2004 at department, applicance, home builder stores. Affected models include Jenn-Air, Amana, Admiral, Magic Chef, Maytag, Performa, and Crosley side-by-sides and top freezer refrigerators...
South Carolina Legislation May Eliminate Jury's Right To Decide Punitive Damages
Posted on March 01, 2009Peanut Recall Needed Company Approval - FDA Has No Teeth
Posted on February 24, 2009Although a criminal investigation has begun regarding whether or not the Peanut Corporation of America deliberately sold contaminated products, the federal government still needed the company’s permission prior to announcing a huge recall of its products...
Checklists Lower Hospital ICU Infection Rates
Posted on February 23, 2009Hospital-acquired infections originating from tubes and catheters inserted into the body have long been accepted as the norm in intensive care units. These infections include ventilator-associated pneumonia, related to a tube lodged in the windpipe to assist in breathing, urinary tract infections, related to a catheter inserted into the bladder to drain the urine, and bloodstream infection, related to a catheter threaded in the veins reaching the upper chamber of the heart...
Judge Rules CPSC Must Correct Loophole Regarding Hazardous Chemical
Posted on February 22, 2009A judge has recently ruled that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) may not allow toys containing toxic manufacturing chemicals to remain on shelves after a ban goes into effect on February 10, 2009. The judge said the commission, whose purpose is to protect the American public, must correct a loophole that allows substances to remain in toys made before the ban...
U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Judicial Election Case
Posted on February 22, 2009The United States Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could change the way judicial elections are conducted and the way cases are heard in the 39 states that elect at least some of their judges. In 2004, Don L. Blankenship spent $3 million on advertisements attacking a justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court who was seeking reelection...
FDA Committee Advises Ban on Painkiller Drug Darvon
Posted on February 16, 2009An FDA advisory committee recommended a ban on Darvon, a prescription painkiller that has led to addiction and suicide. The committee voted 14-12 that Darvon’s risks outweigh its benefits, said FDA spokeswoman Karen Riley. The FDA is not required to follow its committees’ recommendations, but it often does...
Insulin Pen System In Beaumont Army Medical Center May Have Caused Blood-borne Disease
Posted on February 15, 2009Beaumont Army Medical Center, in Fort Bliss, Texas, has contacted 2,114 diabetes patients who have been treated at the hospital since August 2007 because they may be in danger of developing such blood-borne diseases as HIV or hepatitis. At the center, diabetes patients are treated with insulin injection pen systems that are designed with a reservoir of insulin for multiple uses on a single patient...
Peanut Salmonella Outbreak Reveals Inspection and Regulatory Problems
Posted on February 15, 2009The salmonella outbreak which occurred at the Georgia peanut plant Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) has caused eight deaths and sickened almost 19,000 people in 43 states. While the company, based in Lynchburg, Va., is under criminal investigation, the outbreak identifies a broader problem with thestate and federal regulatory system currently in place...
Pfizer Lawsuit by Nigerians Over Drug Tests May Go Forward
Posted on February 15, 2009A lawsuit against Pfizer for allegedly testing a new drug without the patients’ consent may go forward, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The divided ruling allows 88 Nigerian families to pursue their claim against the drug manufacturer under a 1789 law that gives foreigners the right to tort claims in federal courts for violations of the "law of nations...
FBI Raids Peanut Company Headquarters; Second PCA Plant in Texas Closes after Positive Tests for Salmonella
Posted on February 11, 2009FBI agents executed search warrants at Peanut Corporation of America’s Georgia plant and its headquarters in Lynchburg, Virginia on Monday. The company has been linked to a salmonella outbreak involving eight deaths, hundreds sickened and a recall of more than 1,550 products...
Investigation Regarding Salmonella in Peanut Products Continues to Rise
Posted on February 10, 2009Federal health investigators have, in the past weeks, recalled more than 125 products in a salmonella-and-peanuts investigation that keeps getting bigger. The list of products ranges from cookies and ice cream to energy bars; even some dog treats are being recalled...
Dangerous Drug-Resistant Staph Germ (MRSA) Rising in Children ENT Infections
Posted on February 09, 2009Researchers have found an alarming increase in the number of children’s ear, nose and throat infections nationwide, which are caused by dangerous drug-resistant staph germs, nicknamed MRSA. These infections can include ear and sinus infections, and abscesses that can form in the tonsils and throat...
New Mexico Company Warns 2,000 People Of Possible Beryllium Exposure
Posted on February 08, 2009Los Alamos National Laboratory, located in New Mexico, has issued letters notifying about 2,000 current and former employees, as well as guests, that they may have been exposed to beryllium in the lab, which may put them at risk for disease. Concern over possible exposure to the metal, which is purified for use in nuclear reactors and weapons, was raised in November after a box containing beryllium was received at the laboratory’s short-term storage facility...
Pharmaceutical Drugs Produced Abroad Worry Experts and Legislators
Posted on February 08, 2009In 2004, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the last plant in the United States to manufacture key ingredients for important antibiotics like penicillin, announced it would close its factory in East Syracuse, New York. Few people worried about the effect this would have on national security at the time since most of the focus was on job loss...
Class-Action Lawsuit Filed in China Against Companies Involved in Melamine Scandal
Posted on February 03, 2009A class-action suit was filed in China against 22 dairy companies seeking compensation for the deaths and illnesses of hundreds of children caused by milk tainted with melamine. Product liability suits and class-actions are extremely rare in China, where the ruling Communist Party discourages the filing of lawsuits with multiple plaintiffs because it could disrupt social stability...
Kellogg Peanut Butter Crackers Recalled After Salmonella Found
Posted on February 03, 2009Kellogg is recalling the product Austin Quality Foods Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter after a package tested positive for salmonella. The crackers are the first product sold to consumers found with salmonella; initially salmonella was linked only to products sold to institutions, such as nursing homes...
Lawsuit Against Honda Over Civic Hybrid Mileage Claims Goes Forward
Posted on January 28, 2009The owner of a Honda Civic Hybrid may proceed in a lawsuit against Honda for false advertising. A California appeals court held that, though Federal law prevents some lawsuits over disclosure of fuel economy standards, it does not preempt car manufacturers from being sued over everything they say about fuel efficiency...
NFL Players' Brains Show Long-Term Damage from Concussions in Study
Posted on January 28, 2009Concussions damage the brain more than previously thought, and can lead to a lifetime of headaches and depression. The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) has used tissue from retired NFL athletes’ brains, culled posthumously, to research the effects of concussions...
Report Suggests FDA Should Improve Oversight of Doctor Conflicts
Posted on January 27, 2009The Food and Drug Administration needs to improve its oversight of the financial conflicts of doctors who participate in clinical testing before a drug is approved for sale, according to a government watchdog report. The FDA lacks a complete list of doctors conducting research on new medicines, and it cannot determine which companies have submitted financial information for doctors working on studies, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general...
FDA Allowing Melamine to Remain in Infant Formula
Posted on January 26, 2009Scientists at Consumer’s Union, a nonprofit group, believe that a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to allow infant formula contaminated with melamine or its byproducts to remain on store shelves is “seriously flawed.” The FDA tested 89 containers of U...
End of 2008 Brings A Burst of Settlements With Justice Department
Posted on January 25, 2009Since the presidential election, the Justice Department reached more than a dozen business-related settlements. There are also more in the pipeline for this month (January 2009), which prompted interest groups and lawyers to claim that companies were rushing to seek more favorable outcomes before the new administration took over...
Two Consumer Groups Fight Life Insurers' New Policy to Lower Reserves
Posted on January 25, 2009Two prominent consumer groups, the Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Economic Justice, are extremely concerned about the proposal that will reduce the amount of money life insurers have to put aside to pay future claims. According to the American Council of Life Insurance, the proposal would reduce the total number of money insurers need to keep in their reserves by about $25 billion, or about 7% of the industry’s net worth...
Billion-Dollar Verdicts Vanishing
Posted on January 16, 2009Billion-dollar jury verdicts may be a thing of the past. For the second time in the past three years, juries in 2008 issued no awards above that amount, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. In 2007, there was a verdict for $1.5 billion, which was reversed and settled before being retried; in the 14 years prior there was at least one billion-dollar verdict a year, with 26 total...
Hundreds Sick After Salmonella Outbreak, Could be Linked to Peanut Butter
Posted on January 15, 2009King Nut Companies, an Ohio distributor, has recalled two brands of its peanut butter after an open container tested positive for salmonella bacteria. A salmonella outbreak has made 399 people sick in 42 states. About 70 people have been sent to the hospital...
New Congress and Obama to Overturn Supreme Courts Ruling On Discrimination Case?
Posted on January 14, 2009Democrats in Congress, along with President-elect Obama, are planning a swift action to overturn a Supreme Court decision, which makes it more difficult for people to challenge discrimination in many different fields including housing, education and employment...
Recall of Jardine Cribs Expanded after Reports of Crib Slats Breaking
Posted on January 12, 2009A crib recall issued last June has been expanded to include another 56,450 cribs manufactured by Jardine Enterprises. The original recall affected 320,000 wooden Jardine cribs after 42 reports of slats and spindles breaking, including four children who had become entrapped in the space created by those breaks...
Safety Legislation May Prevent Drowning and Injuries in Swimming Pools
Posted on January 11, 2009A sweeping new law, which went into full effect December 19, 2008 after an entire year of transition time, is designed to prevent children from drowning due to drain suction trapping them underwater. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an average of 283 children under the age of five drown and an additional 2,700 have to go to the emergency room annually for submersion related injuries...
FDA To Reconsider Its Position On A Potentially Dangerous Chemical In Baby Bottles
Posted on January 06, 2009The Food and Drug Administration’s own advisory board accused the agency of failing to consider research on the dangers of bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in many plastic baby bottles, plastic food containers and metal can linings, causing the agency to finally agree to reconsider the issue...
Supreme Court To Consider Bankruptcy Court's Power Due To Asbestos-Related Lawsuits
Posted on January 05, 2009The Supreme Court has agreed to consider reinstating a $500 million settlement of asbestos-related lawsuits against the Travelers Company Inc.. This settlement would prevent any further lawsuits from being filed against Travelers arising out of the company’s extensive relationship with Johns Manville Corp...
Corporate America Seeking Special Treatment - Immunity and Corporate Welfare
Posted on January 04, 2009In an open letter to President-elect Barack Obama, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce stated: ““We understand the critical necessity of revitalizing the economy by restoring American jobs, encouraging the growth of U.S. businesses, and protecting the savings and investments of millions of Americans...
Mattel To Pay $12 Million To States To End Toy Lead Problem
Posted on January 04, 2009The world’s largest toy manufacturer, Mattel Inc., has agreed to pay $12 million to thirty-nine U.S. states in order to settle claims that it shipped toys tainted with lead paint. It also agreed to immediately implement new federal guidelines, which will reduce the lead content in toys by August 2009...
Study Shows Colonoscopies May Not Be As Accurate As Previously Thought
Posted on December 29, 2008For years doctors have believed colonoscopies, the screening test for colorectal cancer, prevented 90 percent of cancers, but a new study shows they might actually only prevent 60 percent to 70 percent. Last spring a study found that the test may miss a type of polyp, a flat lesion, or an indented one that nestles against the colon wall...
Veterans Sue Federal Government Over Lack of PTSD Disability Benefits
Posted on December 29, 2008A class action lawsuit has been filed against the federal government by five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The soldiers allege that they were illegally denied disability benefits despite being diagnosed with severe cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)...
FDA May Not Have Adequately Tested Heart Devices for Short-Circuiting, Physician Says
Posted on December 28, 2008The Food and Drug Administration is about to approve the use of a new electrical component for heart device implants, but it may not have adequately tested the device for potential risks, said Dr. Robert G. Hauser of the Minneapolis Heart Institute in an article he wrote with Dr...
Air Outside of Schools Nationwide May Contain Toxic Chemicals
Posted on December 24, 2008Toxic chemicals pollute the air outside of hundreds of thousands of schools around the nation, threatening the health of the students at those locations, according to an analysis by USA TODAY. outside air samples showed high levels of chemicals coming from the plastics plant across the street...
Disruptive Doctors Causing Medical Errors and Workplace Problems
Posted on December 24, 2008Hospital staff members are blaming badly behaving doctors for low morale, stress, and high turnover, which contribute to medical mistakes, preventable complications, and even death, a recent study showed. A survey of health care workers at 102 nonprofit hospitals from 2004 to 2007 found that 67 percent of respondents thought there was a link between disruptive behavior and medical mistakes, and 18 percent said they knew of a mistake that occurred because of a disruptive doctor...
Dangers of Escalators: Watch Your Step
Posted on December 23, 2008p p /p pa href="http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2008/12/07/escalator_injuries_spotlight_1207_3DOT.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab"Escalators/a in airports, shopping malls, and metro stations may work properly, but that doesnrsquo;t make them safe...
Studies Show Emergency Rooms Overwhelmed By Uninsured
Posted on December 22, 2008pp class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"A recent report, released by the American College of Emergency Physicians, states the nationrsquo;s system of a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/09emergency.html?pagewanted=1amp;_r=1amp;emamp;adxnnlx=1228929455-Mj/9sOJ9/JdCu57hhsbtFg"emergency rooms/a is in serious trouble...
FDA Bans Use Two Asthma Drugs
Posted on December 21, 2008pp class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"Federal drug experts, gathered by the a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/health/policy/12fda.html?_r=1amp;ref=health"Food and Drug Administration/a, have decided that the drugs a href="http://www...
Medical Residents Urged To Get Sleep After 16 Hours
Posted on December 18, 2008pp align="left"A panel at the a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120202901.html"Institute of Medicine/a recommended that medical and a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120202901...
MRSA Infections Typically Caught In Hospitals, Killing 18,000 People Each Year
Posted on December 09, 2008MRSA infections kill more than 18,000 people a year, and six out of seven people infected with the antibiotic-resistant germ contract it at a health care facility. The germ, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, spreads by touch or contact, and can enter breaks in the skin as small as a mosquito bite...
W.A.T.C.H.'s 2008 "10 Worst Toys" List
Posted on December 08, 2008World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (W.A.T.C.H.) held it’s 36th Annual “10 Worst Toys” Conference in Boston this past November after seeing at least 66 toy recalls resulting in more than 7,890,000 units of toys recalled for various dangers in the past year...
Federal Judge OKs Exxon Oil Spill Payment Of $151 Million
Posted on December 08, 2008A federal judge has stated that the thousands of Alaskan fishermen and other plaintiffs involved in the Exxon Valdez oil spill lawsuit should receive their portion of the punitive damages. The judge, H. Russel Holland, ordered the release of $151 million of the $383 million settlement stemming from the lawsuit that took place over twenty years ago...
Banned Chemical in Toys Still in Marketplace
Posted on December 03, 2008Children’s products containing the recently banned chemical phthalate already in stores and warehouses will be allowed to remain in the marketplace, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a decision issued November 18. The ban, passed in August, is supposed to remain in effect until a scientific review is complete...
Employees Seeing Fewer Employer-Sponsored Health Care Plan Options
Posted on December 02, 2008Many employers are doing away with health benefits, and even those that still offer them are cutting back the options. If an employer does offer benefits, the options are likely limited to plans with high annual deductibles of at least $1,100 for individuals and much higher for families...
Gulf War Syndrome is Real Says Congressionally Mandated Panel
Posted on December 01, 2008Gulf War syndrome is real and afflicts one-fourth of the 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the War, says a panel report issued in November. A congressionally mandated scientific panel released the report concluding that the syndrome exists, which contradicts almost two decades of government denials...
Additional Crib Dangers May Not be Addressed by Recent Recalls
Posted on November 30, 2008In October, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a recall on 1.6 million Delta Enterprise Corp. cribs, but those cribs that had been fixed by the recall may not be safe after all. The Chicago Tribune reviewed government documents and found another 19 instances of hazards on the Delta cribs, all of which were different from those affected by the recall...
FDA To Review Cosmetic Face Fillers
Posted on November 26, 2008Plastic surgeons have vowed to aid the government in tracking one of the most popular new beauty treatments, face fillers. This procedure involves facial injections, which use various kinds of gels to smooth away wrinkles, as opposed to Botox, which uses a toxin to act on facial muscles...
AARP Faces Senate Inquiry Due To Misleading Marketing
Posted on November 25, 2008The AARP, the lobby for older Americans, has hired an outside investigator to look into the sale of some of its more popular health insurance products after a Senate inquiry found evidence of deceptive marketing. The AARP and the UnitedHealth Group, one of the country’s largest insurers, have voluntarily suspended certain policies sold by the UnitedHealth Group that carry the AARP seal...
HeartMate II Heart Pump Recalled After 5 Deaths
Posted on November 24, 2008The HeartMate II, a medical heart pump implant manufactured by Thoratec Corp., is being recalled after five people died while using the device. In five years of clinical studies with 1,972 implants, wear and fatigue to an electrical wire have been reported in 27 cases, requiring the implants to be replaced...
Study Shows Vitamin C and E Do Not Prevent Major Heart Events
Posted on November 23, 2008A recently published eight-year study of more than 14,000 physicians has shown that taking vitamin C and vitamin E does not prevent cardiovascular disease. The findings for vitamin C are nothing new since researchers have found the same results in many other studies; for vitamin E, however, this is a startling new development...
Delays in Veterans Disability Claim Processing Results in Lawsuit
Posted on November 20, 2008A lawsuit has been filed against the Department of Veterans Affairs by two advocacy groups representing almost 60,000 veterans. The lawsuit claims that the VA is taking up to four years to process disability claims, which is causing economic devastation, homelessness, the breakup of families, and even suicide...
Federal Court Appointments Could Mark Shift in Judiciary
Posted on November 19, 2008President-elect Barack Obama will be appointing federal appellate judges, and possibly multiple Supreme Court justices, without the difficulties that President George W. Bush had over the past eight years. A Senate controlled by Democrats will ease the process, resulting in a shift to the left in the federal court system...
Supreme Court May Take Consumer Protection Out of the Hands of Consumers in Wyeth v. Levine
Posted on November 18, 2008The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is, in theory, in place to regulate the safety, marketing, and labeling of pharmaceutical drugs. However, its ability, or propensity, to do just that is doubted by some that believe the FDA does not hold drug manufacturers accountable for product dangers occurring after the product is on the market...
CPSC Investigates Yamaha's Rhino and UTV Safety Standards
Posted on November 17, 2008After more than 30 reported fatalities, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating recreational off-highway vehicles, also known as utility terrain vehicles (UTVs), which are unregulated by the commission. Yamaha Motor Company’s Rhino is a focus of the probe by the CPSC, and the company also faces more than 200 lawsuits, several alleging safety problems with the design of the product...
Big Business Prepares For A Fight In Washington
Posted on November 16, 2008With President-elect Barack Obama’s victory and the legislative gains by other Democrats, big business now has to go on the defensive. Corporate America faired well under the Bush Administration’s eight-year term and under the reign of the Republican controlled Congress from 1995 to 2007...
Justice Investigates Marketing of Vytorin by Merck and Schering-Plough
Posted on November 16, 2008The U.S. Department of Justice has begun investigating Merck & Co. and partner Schering-Plough Corp.’s conduct relating to their marketing of Vytorin, an anti-cholesterol medication. A study released in January by the pharmaceutical companies, called ENHANCE, found that Vytorin was no more effective at reducing plaque buildup than Zocor, its generic and much cheaper counterpart, though it did a better job of reducing low-density lipoproteins (LDL), or “bad cholesterol...
ReliOn Insulin Syringes Sold at Wal-Marts and Sam's Clubs Recalled
Posted on November 10, 2008ReliOn insulin syringes, sold only at Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Clubs, have been recalled because of mislabeling which may cause an overdose of as much as 2.5 times the intended dose. An overdose may lead to hypoglycemia or other serious health consequences, including death...
NHTSA Attempts to Preempt Certain State Seat Belt Laws
Posted on November 09, 2008The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has attempted to preempt state tort law by redefining “designated seating positions.” The new definition helps determine the number of seat belts required in a vehicle, and eliminates the exception for auxiliary seats...
Blood Transfusions Using Older Blood May Cause Infection
Posted on November 07, 2008Although the FDA allows blood to be stored for forty-two days, researchers have found that patients who are given blood stored twenty-nine days or longer are twice as likely to get a hospital-acquired infection, as opposed to those patients receiving new blood...
Women Pay More Than Men For Health Insurance
Posted on November 06, 2008According to new data from insurance companies and online brokers, there is a new gap in the cost of healthcare for men and women of the same age; women are paying much more than men for individual policies providing the same coverage. Some insurance executives were surprised at this disparity in which women may annually pay hundreds of dollars more than men...
Starbucks Sued for Scalding Coffee Spill
Posted on November 04, 2008A woman in Knoxville, Tennessee is suing Starbucks for $250,000 for burns caused by scalding coffee served with an unattached lid. Jordan Triplett, 23, ordered Starbucks coffee at the store’s drive-through on July 13. When she was handed the coffee, “she experienced extreme heat radiating through the cup and protective cardboard sleeve,” states the lawsuit...
CPSC May Strengthen Crib Standards After Recalls
Posted on October 31, 2008On October 21, 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued two separate recalls on cribs, involving almost 1.6 million cribs manufactured by Delta Enterprise Corp. of New York. The CPSC also said it would review crib standards and may issue advanced notice of proposed rulemaking...
CPSC Labeling Requirements for Children's Toy Ads Outlined
Posted on October 31, 2008The Consumer Product Safety Commission outlined the new labeling requirements for advertisements in catalogues and other printed materials for toys and games with small parts that pose a choking hazard to small children. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), signed into law August 14, amended the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), and requires that when a product’s packaging requires a cautionary statement, so too does any advertising that provides a direct means for purchase or order...
New Website Ranks Hospitals Around The Country
Posted on October 29, 2008HealthGrades, a leader in the measurement of health-care quality, just published new online rankings of hospitals around the nation. The company uses a rating system of one, three, or five stars based on how many patients develop complications or die after receiving treatment...
Nissan Recalling 204,361 Vehicles From 2007-2008 Model Years
Posted on October 28, 2008Beginning November 3, 204,361 vehicles from Nissan Motor Company Limited’s 2007 to 2008 model years are being recalled in the United States due to the possibility that the passenger-side airbag could fail to deploy properly if an accident occurred...
US Senators Probe Cardiac Foundation's Relationship To Device Makers
Posted on October 27, 2008Much to the dismay of cardiac doctors and medical device manufacturers meeting for their annual convention, two Senators from different sides of the aisle asked questions about the financial ties between the two parties. The lawmakers sent a letter to the sponsor of the convention, the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, asking the companies to disclose any financing received since 2003 from Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson and Medinol...
MRI's May Not All Be the Same - Machine and Radiologist Differences Matter
Posted on October 26, 2008It seems that MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging examinations) may not be as infallible as many believe them to be. Problems arise from both the quality of the MRI machine, as well as the experience and skill of the radiologist reading the scan. An MRI machine uses magnetic and radiofrequency fields to manipulate hydrogen atoms in the body...
Bush Administration Pushes For Pre-Emption - Taking Power from the Citizenry in Favor of Corporate America
Posted on October 22, 2008In their last weeks in office, Bush administration officials are urging about fifty federal rules be rewritten to include changes or additions that could block product-safety lawsuits filed by consumers and states. These new rules govern motorcycle brakes to pain medication and will not be able to be undone quickly by the next administration due to a lengthy review process; for example changing rules at the FDA may take a year or more...
Physicians Lose Fight To Have Cold Medicines Banned For Children
Posted on October 22, 2008A top government official has rejected pediatricians’ calls for an immediate ban on over-the-counter cold and cough medications for young kids under the age of six, claiming it might cause unintended harm. Problems with the drugs send thousands of kids to the emergency room each year complaining of hives, drowsiness, trouble walking and many other side effects, the most dangerous being an overdose...
Medtronic Faces Scrutiny By Congress Over Financial Arrangements with Physicians
Posted on October 22, 2008Senate lawmakers are pressuring Medtronic to disclose more information about its consulting arrangements with physicians. They cited previous evidence that the company paid surgeons to boost sales of spinal implants. The company is being asked to release information about the doctors who received company payments...
Drugmakers Issue Warning on OTC Cold Medicines for Children - After the FDA Prompts the Move
Posted on October 18, 2008Drugmakers recently announced that they did not recommend over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for children under 4 years of age. What they did not say in the announcement was that one year before, pediatricians and a panel of independent advisors to the Food and Drug Administration strongly recommended that the FDA ban cough and cold remedies for all children under the age of 6...
Pre-Emption Still Big Issue On Supreme Court Docket - Let the Playing Field in America be Level
Posted on October 14, 2008As the United States Supreme Court continues its term into October, the Roberts’ Court will continue to adhere to its affinity for issues that are close to the heart of the nation’s business community. The justices are expected to take on major cases involving federal pre-emption of state tort suits, environmental regulation, arbitration, workplace discrimination, anti-trust and pensions...
94% Of Nursing Homes Accused of Violations
Posted on October 14, 2008Last year, more than ninety percent of nursing homes in the United States were cited for violations of federal safety and health standards; seventeen percent of these caused actual harm or immediate danger to the patients. Some of the problems included bedsores, poor nutrition, medication mistakes, abuse and neglect...
Out-patient Surgeries May Be Skewing Surgical Error Numbers
Posted on October 07, 2008Surgical errors may be reported inaccurately in Indiana due to nearly half of all surgeries taking place in non-hospital, ambulatory, free-standing outpatient facilities that report a much lower rate of errors than hospitals. In 2007, four surgical errors were reported, while hospitals reported forty-five errors...
Government Initiative: Leg Pain May Be Warning Sign For Blood Clots
Posted on October 05, 2008Too many Americans are dying from dangerous blood clots that can masquerade as leg pain, says a new government initiative aimed at getting both patients and their physicians to recognize the emergency in time, since it is extremely difficult to diagnose...
FDA Bans 28 Drugs Made By Indian Drug Manufacturer
Posted on September 30, 2008The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is halting the importation of twenty-eight drugs made by Ranbaxy Laboratories, a giant Indian generic drugmaker, due to deficiencies in manufacturing at two of the company's plants. A physician with the FDA, however, said there was no evidence that drugs coming from the plants in question could harm consumers; the ban was more of a preventive action...
Government Warns Of Potential Fire Hazard In Recalled Ford Vehicles
Posted on September 29, 2008The government is asking owners of five million recalled Ford vehicles to bring their automobile to a local dealership to have a cruise control switch system repaired since the problem is tied to engine fires. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said about twelve million automobiles were affected and five million have still not been fixed...
Government Says Quigley and Pfizer Made Secret Deal Over Asbestos
Posted on September 29, 2008Pfizer Inc's bankrupt Quigley unit cannot reorganize as planned because the drug manufacturer arranged the bankruptcy to protect itself from asbestos liability. Quigley filed for bankruptcy after the heat shields it made for years were found to contain asbestos...
Soccer Goal Net Recalled Due To Strangulation Hazard
Posted on September 25, 2008The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with manufacturer Regent Sports Corporation, has issued a voluntary recall for about 190,000 models of MacGregor Folding Soccer Goals and Mitre Folding Soccer Goals. These goals were sold for $26 at Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware and other sports and toy stores from May 2002 to May 2008...
Tennessee Supreme Court Rules On Alcoa Asbestos Suit
Posted on September 19, 2008The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that Alcoa Inc. can be sued for the asbestos-related death of a former employee's daughter. The court decided the company had a duty to prevent others from being exposed to the contaminated clothes of its employees...
General Motors' Agrees To Compensate For Faulty Saturn Transmissions
Posted on September 18, 2008General Motors Corp. has agreed to pay about $90 million or more to tens of thousands of motorists in all fifty states for expenses they acquired due to faulty transmissions in more than 90,000 Saturn economy cars. If agreed to by a Sacramento federal judge, the agreement would settle a class-action lawsuit targeting particular models of four-cylinder Saturn Vues and Ion, which were equipped with "Vti" transmissions...
Research Shows Hospitals Failing Colon Cancer Quality Check
Posted on September 17, 2008According to researchers, many United States hospitals are failing to check enough lymph nodes after surgery to see if the cancer has spread, a key quality benchmark for the care of colon cancer patients. Treating colon cancer involves surgery to remove the part of the colon affected with cancer, along with some healthy tissue on either side of the cancer to help ensure nothing is left behind...
Chemical In Baby Bottles and Soda Cans May Harm Kids
Posted on September 17, 2008A new federal report has shown exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to make the plastic in baby bottles and to line soda cans, may cause harm to fetuses and children; further research needs to be conducted to determine whether it is safe...
FDA To Revamp Standards For Over-The-Counter Cold Medicine For Kids
Posted on September 10, 2008The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced plans to revise its standards for over-the-counter cold and cough medications for kids after rising concern that the medications are not effective and could be unsafe. This step could lead to the medications being completely removed from the market...
FDA Concerned Over Ovarian Cancer Test OvaSure
Posted on September 09, 2008OvaSure, a new blood test aimed at discovering ovarian cancer at an early, treatable stage is stirring up hope among women and doctors. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, is skeptical of the test's efficacy. The Society of Gynecologic Oncologists is skeptical of the new test as well...
BMW Issues Recall On 150,000 Vehicles
Posted on September 09, 2008BMW is recalling about 150,000 vehicles in North America in order to fix a possible defect that could keep the front passenger airbag from opening in a crash. This voluntary recall involves the front passenger airbag seat sensor mat in certain 2004-2006 model year automobiles...
Study Shows High Medical Costs Without Insurance Leaving Americans In Trouble
Posted on September 09, 2008According to a recent study, Americans are struggling to pay medical bills and are gathering medical debt at an increasing rate. Incomes are not able to sustain the growing costs of health-care. The study also noted that as gas and food prices are rising and the real estate market is falling, the federal minimum wage is three dollars an hour lower, in real terms, than it was forty years ago...
Utah Hospitals Saw Nearly 60 "Never Events" in 2006
Posted on September 02, 2008Last December, a patient was admitted to Uintah Basin Medical Center's emergency room, complaining he was weak, tired and out of breath. He was found to be severely anemic and needed a blood transfusion. While the man's blood type was O+, staff at the hospital gave him A+ blood and he was dead in seven hours...
Court System Integral To Guaranteeing Drug Safety
Posted on September 02, 2008Editors from the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the nation's most influential medical journals, are giving the Supreme Court unsolicited legal advice about a major case, Wyeth v. Levine, that could have major implications for litigation over potentially dangerous drugs, such as Vioxx...
Hospital Death Rates for Top Three Conditions Unveiled
Posted on September 01, 2008The government's Hospital Care website has made it easier to find your chance for survival. For the first time, Americans are allowed to see specific death rates for heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia from individual hospitals around the country...
More States Are Not Billing Patients For Medical Errors
Posted on August 28, 2008Hospitals in almost fifty percent of states in the nation now say they will not bill patients for the worst kinds of medical mistakes. These mistakes are often called "never mistakes" since these events should never happen, such as operating on the wrong person, operating on the wrong body part, or giving a patient the wrong type of blood...
Drugs Manufactured By Indian Company Win Approval Even During Government Investigation
Posted on August 27, 2008The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved eighteen generic drugs manufactured by Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. even as the United States was investigating whether or not the company fabricated data in order to get their drugs approved. Many are calling for the agency to freeze the drug applications until the investigation has reached a conclusion...
Pharmaceutical Billionaire Asks For Drug Industry To Reform Safety Procedures
Posted on August 26, 2008Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire pharmaceutical executive from American Pharmaceutical Partners (APP), is calling for the pharmaceutical industry to reform how it polices its products. He argues these companies must take a larger role in insuring the safety of their products since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is so overwhelmed...
Ford Facing Lawsuit In "Limited Edition" Dispute
Posted on August 21, 2008Ford Motor Co. is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by customers who purchased the "limited edition" 2007 Roush Stage 3 BlackJack, after it was discovered the model was not so "limited" after all. Ford advertised that only one hundred of these models would be made, charging consumers the premium price of $59,000...
Increased Scrutiny For Bus Industry Due To Recent Crashes
Posted on August 20, 2008Texas legislators and safety experts have asked for tougher enforcement of motor carrier regulations after an illegal bus crashed in North Texas, killing seventeen Vietnamese Catholics from Houston. The bus, which was owned and operated by Angel de la Torre, was illegal because the operator was barred twice from traveling outside of Texas under two different company names...
Study Shows Connection Between Agent Orange And Prostate Cancer In Vietnam Vets
Posted on August 18, 2008A new study has found Vietnam veterans exposed to defoliant Agent Orange have a considerably greater risk of developing prostate cancer, especially the most aggressive form of the disease. These findings are the first to show a relationship between the now-banned herbicide and this form of cancer...
Prostate Cancer Screening Being Questioned In Recent Studies
Posted on August 17, 2008A federal task force has concluded that due to so much unnecessary anxiety, surgery and complications, the blood test, or prostate-specific antigen test (PSA), millions of men undergo each year to check for prostate cancer should be stopped for older men...
Punitive Damages Reaffirmed By Tennessee Supreme Court Against DaimlerChrysler
Posted on August 13, 2008The Tennessee Supreme Court has reaffirmed a lower trial court's decision awarding a couple $13 million in punitive damages in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the former DaimlerChrysler AG. The initial trial ruling awarded the couple $98 million in punitive damages...
New Study Examines Medication Error Deaths
Posted on August 12, 2008A new study found mixing street drugs and alcohol with prescription medications has attributed to a fivefold increase in the number of deaths ascribed to medical errors since the 1980s. In 2004, 17% of deaths due to medication errors were caused by the combination of a person taking medications at home with alcohol or a street drug, sometimes both...
Congress Votes To Reauthorize CPSC - A Victory for American Consumers
Posted on August 07, 2008Both the United States Senate and House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that provides for the reauthorization of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The bill includes many safety protections, including ATV (all-terrain vehicle) standards, whistleblower protection for employees of manufacturers and distributors, a ban on phthalates in children's toys, and other mandatory toy standards...
Truck and Bus Drivers, Though Medically Unfit, Are Still On Roads
Posted on August 06, 2008The Government Accountability Office, a government watchdog, has found about 4%, or 563,000 U.S. truck and bus driving license holders are receiving full federal disability benefits while still holding their commercial driver's license. Drivers' disabilities include hearing, vision, and seizure problems...
Maple Bats Growing Threat At Baseball Parks
Posted on August 05, 2008Foul balls are not the only things fans need to be worried about at baseball parks. Flying shards of wood from the broken, maple wood bats of players have made baseball outings even more dangerous for spectators. Susan Rhodes learned this the hard way after having her jaw broken by a fragment of a Dodger player's bat after it came careening into the stands...
New Study Shows ID Tags In Hospitals Could Be Hazardous
Posted on July 29, 2008Tiny devices known as radio frequency tags, which allow drivers to drive through tolls without stopping and are attached to clothes to make shoplifting a lot harder are now being used frequently in hospitals. Some, for example, are being used to monitor blood quality...
Recent Study Ranks Insurance Companies, Warns Consumers
Posted on July 28, 2008The American Association of Justice (AAJ) has created a list of ten insurance companies that are bad for consumers. Allstate was deemed the worst insurance company with Unum, AIG, State Farm, and Conseco being criticized as well. These rankings show how greedy insurance companies are becoming when they refuse to pay claims, employ hardball strategies against their own clients, reward top executives with high salaries, and continuously raise premiums in order to get more money for the business...
New Trucking Technology Can Aid Accident and Crash Victims
Posted on July 27, 2008Trucking companies have started using a variety of hi-tech devices, such as GPS systems, on-board computers, electronic logging and satellite and wireless tracking, which are changing the face of trucking litigation. These devices can provide a plethora of information about an accident and the history of the vehicle and driver...
Hypocrisy of the Tort Reformers - Giuliani's son sues to get on Duke golf team
Posted on July 24, 2008I'm always amazed at the hypocrisy of some people who claim that the tort system needs to be completely reformed. In my experience, those people are the very first in a lawyer's office when something goes wrong -- no matter how trivial. ESPN is reporting that Giuliani's son is suing to get back on the Duke golf team...
Big Changes In The Economics Of Civil Litigation?
Posted on July 15, 2008The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has much to be happy about after the Supreme Court decided to cut the punitive damages in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case to only a week's worth of Exxon profits after years of Exxon continuously appealing jury's damage awards...
New Cases Before Supreme Court Could Limit Liability Lawsuits
Posted on July 15, 2008Diana Levine, a Vermont musician, won a settlement against pharmaceutical manufacturer Wyeth when she had to have part of her arm amputated due to an anti-nausea drug being improperly injected. Wyeth claims its product was sufficiently labeled, which included warnings about the potential risk of gangrene if the drug was improperly injected...
$11 Million Lawsuit For Va Tech Massacre Families
Posted on July 08, 2008Circuit Court Judge Theodore J. Markow has approved an $11 million state settlement with families of nearly all of the victims in the Virginia Tech massacre. The families of twenty-four of the thirty-two people killed by Seung-Hui Cho will be compensated by the agreement...
Supreme Court Decreases Damage Award in Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Disaster
Posted on July 07, 2008The Supreme Court has decreased the punitive damage award in the Exxon Valdez disaster from $2.5 billion to $500 million. The Court, however, split on the decision of whether or not punitive damages should be awarded at all, which leaves the appeals court decision ruling Exxon liable...
Advocacy Group Sues FDA Over Prescription Painkiller
Posted on July 01, 2008Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, has sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to a prescription painkiller sold under such names as Darvon and Darvocet. They claim this drug is too risky to stay on the market. The drug contains a narcotic, known chemically as propoxyphene, which can cause a slowed heartbeat and other serious cardiac effects, even when used properly...
High-Performance Aluminum Bat Blamed In Lawsuit
Posted on June 30, 2008A New Jersey teen, Steven Domalewski, and his family sued Hillerich & Bradsby Co., claiming an aluminum bat manufactured by the company caused him serious injuries. The lawsuit also named Little League Baseball Inc., who approved the bat for play, and Sports Authority, the company who sold the baseball bat, as defendants...
Some Artificial Turf Athletic Fields Found To Contain Lead
Posted on June 27, 2008The federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have asked that artificial turf athletic fields containing worn or faded turf blades made out of nylon or nylon-blend fibers be checked for lead, as well as nylon fields with visible dust. These guidelines were established after New Jersey health officials discovered unexpectedly high levels of lead in the turf fibers of three athletic fields...
Federal Judge OKs W.R. Grace Settlement of $250 Million For Town Contamination
Posted on June 27, 2008A U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, Judith K. Fitzgerald, has approved an agreement for W.R. Grace & Co. to reimburse the federal government $250 million, within thirty days, for the investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination in a Montana town. Exposure to asbestos in the town is believed to have caused lung-scarring asbestosis and mesothelioma, a cancer, directly linked to asbestos exposure, which attacks the lungs...
15 Passenger Vans More Prone To Rollover In Summer Months, According To NHTSA
Posted on June 27, 2008A safety advisory has been issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) warning consumers of the high risk of rollovers in fifteen passenger vans. The warning comes after research shows summer months (June-August) are the deadliest time of year for passengers in these vans...
Former KBR Employees Looking For Day In Court
Posted on June 24, 2008The claims of civilian truck drivers injured or killed in Iraq may finally receive a thorough hearing in court. The drivers at the center of the issue have filed a lawsuit against former employer, Houston-based company KBR. An appeals court decision, sending the case back to the lower court that dismissed it two years ago, may finally give the drivers the chance to get their case heard The lawsuit was created on behalf of drivers whose fuel convoy was ambushed in April 2004, leaving fifteen drivers injured, six killed and one still missing...
New Study Links Rise In Premature Births To C-Sections
Posted on June 23, 2008Researchers are reporting that premature single births are on the rise in the United States, mostly among infants delivered by Caesarean section (C-section). They say part of the increase might be due to C-sections that are not medically necessary...
Nuclear Plant Contractors Ordered To Pay Damages
Posted on June 22, 2008Dow Chemical Co. and Rockwell International Corp., two companies that were contractors at the now defunct Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, have been ordered to pay $925 million to residents who claimed plutonium contamination from the facility has endangered their health and devalued their property...
Experts Concerned About Surge In C-Sections
Posted on June 22, 2008Although it used to be the delivery of last resort, Caesarean sections (C-section) are now becoming all the rage. Almost one in three pregnant women underwent a C-section in 2006, while only one in five had the procedure a decade earlier. Supporters think the surgery removes the rare but terrifying complications of vaginal delivery that can result in a baby's injury or even death...
Little Tikes Toy Cell Phones Recalled - Choking Hazard
Posted on June 18, 2008The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Kids Station Toys, has announced a voluntary recall of the Little Tikes brand Chit 'N Chat Toy Cell Phone. The phone is sold in department stores, toy stores, and drug stores nationwide from June 2006 to March 2008 for about eight dollars individually and twenty dollars for a set...
FDA To Increase Scrutiny Of Drug Risks With Sentinel System
Posted on June 17, 2008Because there have been repeated instances of popular medications proving to be deadly, federal health officials have announced a major effort to use information on Medicare claims to evaluate the risks of pharmaceuticals already on the market...
Active Ingredient In Accutane Can Cause Depression
Posted on June 16, 2008According to a recent study, the use of isotretinoin, the active ingredient in the acne medication Accutane, more than doubles the risk of depression. However, researchers emphasize the absolute risk is probably small. This study is the first to find a statistically significant correlation between depression and isotretinoin...
Jury Finds Awards $7 Million In Asbestos Death
Posted on June 16, 2008A jury from Allegheny County in Pennsylvania has awarded $7 million dollars in damages to the family of Alfonse Tripoli who died of mesothelioma, a cancer formed by exposure to asbestos. Tripoli was exposed to the hazardous substance while working as a union contractor in the Koppers, Dravo and Fisher Scientific buildings...
New Study Shows Lower Malpractice Premiums For Most Mass. Doctors
Posted on June 09, 2008A new study shows Massachusetts doctors are paying less in malpractice suits today than they were in 1990, when adjusted for inflation. This conclusion refutes the assertion that high malpractice rates are sending doctors out of the state of Massachusetts, which ranks fourth in the nation for money paid to settlement cases...
Lawsuit By Dennis Quaid Battling Federal Preemption
Posted on June 08, 2008Recently, actor Dennis Quaid and his wife filed a lawsuit against drug manufacturer, Baxter Medical Corp., after a hospital unintentionally injected their newborn twins with the wrong dosage of a blood-thinning medication. The drug maker is contesting the lawsuit on the grounds that it is immune from liability...
Nanotubes May Lead to Cancer
Posted on June 04, 2008High-tech, microscopic nanotubes, which are being manufactured for use in a variety of consumer products such as electronic components and sporting goods, have been found to cause the same damage to a body as asbestos, according to a study in mice. Within days of the nanotubes being injected into the mice, a cellular reaction was triggered that over a period of years, typically leads to mesothelioma, the fatal form of cancer also caused by asbestos...
Safeguard Americans' Right to a Day in Court - Lawsuits Can Potentially Save Lives
Posted on June 03, 2008A recent report from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) stated many of the published scientific studies used to establish the effectiveness and safety of Vioxx, a painkiller taken by millions of Americans, was "ghostwritten" by the manufacturer...
Baxter Corp. Spent $730,000 Lobbying Fed. Government In First Quarter
Posted on June 02, 2008Baxter Healthcare Corp., a drug and medical device maker, spent $730,000 lobbying Congress, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Homeland Security on health care issues in the first quarter. Baxter manufactures the blood-thinner heparin, which is used by kidney patients to prevent blood clotting during dialysis...
Bush Administration Finding Quieter Way To Limit Lawsuits
Posted on June 01, 2008Due to an unfriendly Congress, the Bush administration is finding another, quieter way to make it difficult for consumers to sue businesses over faulty products. It is rewriting the bureaucratic rulebook. Since 2005, lawsuit limits have been included in fifty-one rules proposed or adopted by agency bureaucrats...
Stryker Ceramic Hip Replacements Making Noise - The Squeaky Hip
Posted on May 29, 2008Although an artificial hip can occasionally make a variety of noises, until Stryker, a medical products company, began marketing its ceramic hip replacements, squeaking was rare. With the advent of these ceramic hip replacements, however, hundreds of patients using the product have discovered that their hips are making squeaking noises very frequently...
Recent Evenflo Child Safety Seat Recall Brings 2004 Investigation Into Question
Posted on May 28, 2008The federal government recently recalled about one million Evenflo Discovery child safety seats after it was proven that they could come apart in a side-impact crash. This decision was made even though there is no specific standard that specifies the level of protection a safety seat should provide to a child in a side crash...
Twelve Oil Companies Settle Lawsuit Over Water Contaminant
Posted on May 27, 2008BP Plc, Chevron Corp., and ten other oil companies have tentatively agreed to pay $423 million to settle lawsuits in seventeen states, including Virginia, due to contamination claims involving the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Though it is now banned in most states, MTBE was once used to reduce air pollution by making the gasoline burn more completely in a car's engine...
New White House Policy Prolongs EPA Chemical Review
Posted on May 26, 2008Officials with the Government Accountability Office are criticizing the Bush administration after they changed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviews in a way that will delay scientific assessments of health risks and open the review process to politicization...
Could Heparin Manufacturer Baxter Inc. Have Done More?
Posted on May 25, 2008The heparin tragedy has made Americans aware that Chinese-made products need to be inspected as thoroughly as products made in the United States. They must meet U.S. health and safety standards. More than eighty-one people in the United States between January 2007 and March 2008 have deaths linked to tainted heparin from China...
New Report Shows Toxic Formaldehyde In Children's Furniture
Posted on May 25, 2008A new environmental report, published by Environment California, claims cribs and changing tables may be exposing babies to unhealthy levels of formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a chemical typically used in consumer products and building materials. About six out of the twenty-one nursery furnishings tested emitted formaldehyde at levels high enough to prompt allergy and asthma attacks in children...
FDA Refuses To Give Budget For Modernizing Plan
Posted on May 25, 2008At a Senate hearing several weeks ago, Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, assured the American public that the heparin found in the United States is safe. Heparin is a blood-thinning drug sold by Baxter International...
Soccer Goal Post Kills Yet Another Young Child
Posted on May 14, 2008Eight-year-old Gabriel Mendoza, from Phoenix, Arizona, has died after a soccer goal post fell on top of him at a local YMCA. Investigators say the boy, who was playing goalie at the time, grabbed the overhead bar to swing from it when it all came crashing down...
Politics Hindering EPA Warnings?
Posted on May 13, 2008A new government report, made by the investigative arm of Congress, implies the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is being increasingly influenced by non-scientists. The report also suggests political pressure may be putting Americans' health at risk...
FDA Advisers Ask Agency To Update Lasik Eye Surgery Precautions
Posted on May 13, 2008Patients harmed by Lasik eye surgery met with federal health advisers to complain of severe eye pain, blurred vision and even a son's suicide. Advisers have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to warn the American public more clearly about the dangers that can arise from the popular surgery in which doctors cut a flap in the cornea, aim a laser under it and zap to reshape the cornea for sharper sight...
Federal Pre-emption of States' Rights and State Law Presents Dangers
Posted on May 07, 2008The Bush administration, along with the pharmaceutical industry, is attempting to prevent consumers from being able to file damage suits for injuries caused by federally approved drugs. The Supreme Court has already barred lawsuits from being made against federally approved medical devices, even if the device injured a patient...
Allstate - McKinsey Documents Did Not Include Information On Catastrophic Claims
Posted on May 06, 2008A few weeks ago, Allstate Corp. posted 150,000 pages of material on the company's website that were produced in the 1990's about over-hauling the company's claims-handling process. These highly anticipated and publicized Allstate documents, also called the McKinsey documents, contained mind-numbing information on processing auto insurance and homeowner's claims, however, nothing was written on how the company handles catastrophe claims, such as Hurricane Katrina...
Lawsuits Against Drug Manufacturers May Be Stopped By Supreme Court Decision
Posted on May 05, 2008In October, a decision is being made by the Supreme Court that could jeopardize a patient's right to sue a drug company if a drug that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) harmed them. This important case, pending before the Supreme Court, comes after a woman, who lost her arm to gangrene, was inappropriately injected with a drug manufactured by Wyeth pharmaceuticals...
Virginia Legislators To Decide Whether Cap On Negligence Payment Should Be Increased
Posted on May 04, 2008Several Virginia legislators are deciding whether the limits on the state's liability should be increased after the Virginia Tech shootings last April. The $100,000 limit on tort claims against the state has not been raised since 1993, leaving it as one of the most restrictive caps in the United States...
Better Resources and Additional Funds Sought To Improve Foreign Drug Oversight
Posted on May 04, 2008Congress is seeking funding for additional federal safety inspectors and for an increase in the policing of overseas suppliers. This moves comes after the influx of contaminated drugs, pet food and toothpaste from China. The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr...
Study Claims I.R.S.'s Scrutiny On Large Firms Is Decreasing
Posted on April 23, 2008A new study, conducted by the research group Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), has shown corporate America fears the Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.) less than it used to. The study shows the I.R.S.'s scrutiny of the country's biggest companies is at a twenty year low...
CSI Toy Kits May Contain Asbestos
Posted on April 23, 2008CBS Corp, a toy maker and several retailers were sued after an asbestos awareness group from California alleged asbestos was found in the companies' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" toy crime-scene kit, based off of the popular CBS television show. The lawsuit claims laboratory tests revealed large quantities of tremolite asbestos, one of the most lethal forms of asbestos, in the kit's fingerprint dusting powder...
Washington Governor Set To Vote On Strict Bill On Child Products
Posted on April 21, 2008Washington's governor, Christine Gregoire, is expected to sign a bill, called the Children's Safe Products Act, that would give her state some of the toughest rules in the nation prohibiting toxic materials in children's products. It is unclear, however, just how broad the measure will be...
'Silent Tort Reform' Called On Product Liability
Posted on April 21, 2008Called "silent tort-reform" by plaintiffs' attorneys, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have declared that consumers cannot sue the manufacturers of products that met the agency's standards even if an injury was incurred...
Arbitration Agreements Becoming More Prevalent
Posted on April 21, 2008Binding arbitration agreements between doctors and patients, where patients waive their right to a jury trial, are becoming more and more prevalent since it typically costs less than litigation, takes up less time and is convenient for both parties. An increasing number of physicians, nursing homes and healthcare systems are requiring patients sign these agreements before offering them their services...
Congressional Committee Looking Into Chemistry Industry's Ties to EPA
Posted on April 21, 2008A congressional committee is investigating links between the chemical industry and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) expert review panel, to help determine safe levels of a variety of chemical compounds. Documents from the EPA and American Chemistry Council are being used to probe the jobs of nine scientists currently on the EPA panel and those who have served on the panel in the past...
Appellate Court Upholds Asbestos Settlement
Posted on April 09, 2008A California state appeals court upheld an award of over $11 million to Joseph and Mary Garza. Mr. Garza contracted asbestosis, an incurable lung disease, after being exposed to asbestos in Navy shipyards from the 1940s and 1950s. The jury ruled the company knew about the dangers of the product since the 1940's and failed to put warnings labels on it until the 1970's...
Two Drug Companies Criticized For Delaying Release of Trial Results
Posted on April 05, 2008In a critical trial of two widely used heart drugs to lower cholesterol, Zetia and Vytorin, the lead investigator has said the drugs' manufacturers, Merck and Schering-Plough, were purposely delaying the release of the trial results to hide something...
While Foreign Pharmaceutical Production Increases, FDA's Foreign Inspection Decreases
Posted on April 05, 2008Heparin, a blood thinner manufactured in China, has been linked to nineteen deaths. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only became aware of the problem after many people became sick. The agency admitted it violated its own policies by failing to inspect the Chinese plant...
Federal Officials Find Mystery Ingredient In Heparin-Is it a Chinese Counterfeiting Scam?
Posted on April 05, 2008Federal drug regulators suspect Americans might have been the victims of a lethal Chinese drug counterfeiting scheme after the mystery ingredient in certain batches of heparin was found to be an inexpensive and unapproved ingredient, mimicking the real thing...
Bush Administration And Congress Renew Steps In Ensuring Consumer Product Safety
Posted on March 26, 2008With the importation of many cheap goods, along with the weakness of the nation's regulatory system, millions of products were recalled last year. In the past, the Bush administration has had little motivation in trying to make regulation industries, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), up to date, ignoring the shrinking staff and out of date technology...
Industries Rushing To Cement Favorable Regulations, Taking Rights Away from Citizens
Posted on March 26, 2008The Bush administration is being pressured by industries, from agriculture to power, to act on an abundance of pending regulations, mostly challenging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For example, last month, power companies and manufacturers took their objections about an expected EPA proposal to tighten federal smog rules to the White House budget office...
MEGA Brands Issues Giant Recall On Magtastik, Magnetix Jr., and MagnaMan Toys
Posted on March 24, 2008MEGA Brands America Inc. issued a recall on about 2.4 million Chinese-manufactured toys last week due to small magnetic components falling out of its toys, resulting in a choking hazard. MEGA Brands is recalling about 1.1 million Magtastik and Magnetix Jr...
Lawsuit Filed By Family of Boy Killed by Unsecured Soccer Goal
Posted on March 24, 2008Charlottesville, Va. (March 17, 2008) A lawsuit was filed today in the Circuit Court of Prince William County, Virginia on behalf of the Estate of Hayden Ellias, the 10 year-old boy who died when an unsecured soccer goal fell over and killed him. The estate is represented by attorneys Shawn S...
Biggest Verdict Ever Reached In Asbestos Related Case
Posted on March 24, 2008A San Francisco Superior Court jury has ordered Georgia Pacific Corp., an asbestos manufacturer, to pay over $7 million in damages, in the largest asbestos-related verdict ever. The decision came after the manufacturer exposed a onetime film actress and singer, Joan Mahoney, to fibers, causing her to contract terminal cancer, mesothelioma, while she was working in a home-remodeling business with her husband, Daniel Mahoney...
Patient Awarded $40.1 Million In Burned Heart Case
Posted on March 24, 2008A Washington State Superior Court jury awarded $40.1 million, including $8.35 million in punitive damages, to Paramjit Singh who had to undergo a heart transplant because his was so badly damaged by a defective machine during an operation. The incident in question happened in October 2004, when Singh checked into Providence Everett Medical Center for cardiac bypass surgery...
California Appellate Court Refuses to Change Its Ruling Against Ford
Posted on March 24, 2008A California state appellate court stood by its earlier ruling, instructing Ford Motor Co. to award $82.6 million in damages to Benetta Buell-Wilson claiming faulty design caused her wreck, even after the Supreme Court asked them to reconsider. The three appellate justices said the case used by the Supreme Court for precedent did not contain anything that warranted a change in their judgment...
Sears Settlement Publicized To Encourage Stricter Legislation On Product Safety
Posted on March 20, 2008Consumer groups are publicizing a recent lawsuit settlement against Sears in an effort to encourage lawmakers to toughen legislation on consumer product safety. The lawsuit against Sears occurred due to the company's installation of millions of kitchen ranges that were prone to tipping over, thus causing more than one hundred people injuries from burns caused by hot matter spilling from the stove top...
An Estimated 22,000 Lives Could Have Been Saved If Trasylol Removed Earlier
Posted on March 20, 2008In a 2006 study, Trasylol, a drug made by Bayer for use in operating rooms to control bleeding, was shown to have contributed to the deaths of thousands of patients over a fourteen-year period. The Canadian government conducted a clinical trial on the drug that had to be stopped due to the deaths of so many patients...
Virginia Court Rules Doctors Liable Even If Affiliated With Charitable Foundations
Posted on March 20, 2008The Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled that doctors affiliated with charitable foundations are not immune from malpractice suits. The cases involved the University of Virginia Health Services foundation whose lawyers argued that since its doctors were working for a non-profit organization, they should be immune from malpractice suits...
Landmark Decision Precedent Could Hinder Even More Personal Injury Lawsuits
Posted on March 20, 2008In late February, a landmark decision by the Supreme Court ruled patients injured by most medical devices cannot sue the manufacturers. This decision expands upon the Bush administration's policy reversal in 2004, contending that if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a product, the manufacturer of the product is therefore protected against lawsuits at the state level...
FDA Does Not Inspect Chinese Drug Manufacturer Due To Mix-up
Posted on March 04, 2008The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) failed to inspect a Chinese facility that supplies the active ingredient of heparin, a widely used blood thinner, because the facility's name was confused with another just like it. The FDA says, however, that the heparin case is one of their top priorities and a team of inspectors is on its way to investigate the plant as part of an effort to deduce what caused the sudden spike of problems with the drug, which has been on the market since the 1930's...
Vinyl Plastic Baby Products Found To Contain Large Amounts of Lead
Posted on February 22, 2008A handful of well-known baby products made out of vinyl plastic, such as baby bibs and lunchboxes, have recently been found to contain high levels of lead. Some other baby products were also found to contain high amounts of lead: a Medela-brand cooler used to store breast milk, a carrying case sold with the First Years breast pump made by RC2, a Playtex baby bottle cooler, and a vinyl pacifier carrying case manufactured by Skip Hop...
US Investigating Chinese Factory Supposedly Linked To Faulty Drug Heparin
Posted on February 22, 2008A Chinese factory, which has not been inspected by the Food and Drug Administration, is the source for the active ingredient of heparin, a drug used widely in dialysis, heart surgery and chronic care in hospitals. Heparin is a blood-thinning drug whose production was suspended after 350 patients reported bad side effects from it...
Johnson & Johnson Recall Pain Patches Due To Potentially Dangerous Leak
Posted on February 20, 2008Duragesic patches, made by Johnson & Johnson's Alza Corp., are being recalled due to manufacturing defects that could lead to leaks of the powerful painkiller fentanyl, a drug stronger than morphine commonly used to treat cancer pain. Such a leak could expose consumers directly to the painkiller's fentanyl gel that in turn would potentially create a fatal overdose of the painkiller...
Deficient Kevlar Military Helmets Result In $2 Million Accord
Posted on February 19, 2008Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, a manufacturer in North Dakota has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a lawsuit, originally for $159 million in damages, brought when the company shortchanged the armor in about 2.2 million military helmets, including the helmets worn by the first troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan...
Consumer Advocacy Group Asks For A More Efficient CPSC
Posted on February 19, 2008Public Citizen, a District-based advocacy group, criticized the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for sometimes taking more than six months to inform the public about dangerous products. The advocacy group also complained that it took some companies almost three years to report hazards to the commission...
CPSC Proposing All Home Furnishing Products Be Nonflammable
Posted on February 19, 2008The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is pushing a proposal to require all home furnishing products sold in the United States be nonflammable. The CPSC has been trying to get this proposal passed for more than ten years because they believe such a standard could save about one hundred lives and prevent one hundred and thirty injuries annually...
Consumer Product Safety Commission: Understaffed, Underfunded
Posted on February 14, 2008The year 2007 was full of nerve-racking recalls for American consumers. Millions of lead intoxicated toys littered the consumer market. Even babies' cribs were being recalled after three children were strangled by one particular model due to defective side rails...
New Study Warns Of Dangerous Chemicals In Baby Products
Posted on February 14, 2008A new study suggests chemicals found in some baby powders, shampoos, and lotions expose infants to dangerous toxins that could later affect their reproductive capabilities. Phthalates, the chemicals in question, are commonly used to make plastics flexible and to also stabilize fragrances...
Ford Recalls More Than 225,000 Vehicles Due To Faulty Wires
Posted on February 14, 2008Ford Motor Company is recalling more than 225,000 vehicles, most of which were part of an earlier recall of 9.5 million cars and light trucks that were recalled due to a dangerous defect in the cruise control switches. Although no injuries or accidents have yet to be reported, these vehicles, mostly the E-Series vans, are being recalled again to fix wiring that does not protect fuses from shorting out...
Baltimore Jury Awards $15.3 Million In Asbestos Case
Posted on February 06, 2008A Baltimore jury awarded seventy-three year old George J. Linkus $15.3 million dollars in damages after continued exposure to asbestos laced rope led him to develop mesothelioma. The company being charged is John Crane Inc., a sealant company responsible for producing the rope...
Allstate Finally Begins Handing Over Important McKinsey Documents To Florida
Posted on February 06, 2008Last week, Allstate Insurance Co. handed over parts of the McKinsey Documents, a controversial set of documents that gives insights on how insurance companies determine rates, to attempt to appease the state of Florida. For some time now, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has sought the documents to supplement an investigation into how Allstate has set the rates on its homeowner premiums...
New Consumer Activist Report Shows U.S. Property Insurers Overcharging Policy Holders
Posted on February 06, 2008A report made by consumer activists claims the United States property/casualty insurance agency systematically overprices policy holders and underpays their claims. This report shows, in 2007, the insurers paid fifty-five cents in benefits from each dollar collected...
CPSC Issues Recall On Red Toy Wagons
Posted on February 06, 2008Red toy wagons are being recalled by the U.S. Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and their importer, Tricam Industries, due to a violation in the paint lead standard. The recall is voluntary, although consumers are being asked to stop using the recalled products immediately unless instructed otherwise...
Toxic Chemicals Contaminate Towns In New York and Florida
Posted on January 30, 2008The neighbors of a former IBM plant in two upstate New York towns are suing the company for allegedly discharging chemicals, such as trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, into the air, water and ground for the past eighty years. The plaintiffs claim the chemicals caused birth defects and cancer and are seeking unspecified damages...
New Report Proves Perils of Physician-Owned Hospitals
Posted on January 30, 2008A new report, made by federal investigators, shows most physician-owned hospitals were not properly equipped to handle medical emergencies. This investigation took place due to the increase in physician-owned hospitals in the United States, where the number of facilities has increased from 110 in 2001, to 180 in 2007...
Over-The-Counter Cold Medicines Potentially Not Safe For Infants And Toddlers
Posted on January 24, 2008A tip for parents of young children (like me). The government has declared parents should not give sniffling infants or toddlers over-the-counter cough and cold medications because they are not safe for children that small. Not only are the drugs dangerous, they have not even been proven to help children under the age of two...
Florida Suspends New Issuances of Insurance For Allstate
Posted on January 22, 2008Florida Insurance Commissioner, Kevin McCarty, announced he would be suspending Allstate Insurance companies from issuing any new insurance in his state. This decision comes after Allstate refused to obey subpoenas served to them on October 16, 2007 by the Office of Insurance Regulation...
Tennessee Supreme Court Hears Household Asbestos Exposure Suit
Posted on January 18, 2008The Tennessee Supreme Court recently convened to decide a case in which a twenty three year old woman, Amanda Satterfield, filed suit against her father's employer, ALCOA Inc. and Breeding Insulation Company. Satterfield claims from the time she was born, she was exposed to harmful asbestos fibers and dust due to her father's use of the asbestos products...
Aetna Joins With Other Insurers in Denying Anesthetic Used In Colonoscopies
Posted on January 07, 2008Aetna, one of the leading national private health plan managers, has joined with other insurers, such as WellPoint and Humana, to declare it will not cover a powerful anesthetic, Propofol, used to eliminate discomfort during a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is a common form of colon cancer screening which allows doctors to explore the small intestine to identify and remove cancerous tumors before becoming dangerous...
Children's Toy Shows Signs of Asbestos; Recall Investigation Underway
Posted on January 07, 2008The CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit, made by Planet Toys Inc., has been removed from store shelves, four days before Christmas, after traces of asbestos were found by the nonprofit advocacy group, Environmental Working Group, in the kit's fingerprint dust...
EPA To Make Cutbacks In Requirements For Industry's Toxin Reports
Posted on December 31, 2007The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rushed to make cutbacks on the requirements for companies to disclose their release of toxins annually. The EPA expedited these cutbacks after being pressured by the White House Office of Monetary Budget to meet their commitment to reduce the amount of paperwork to industries by 2006...
Allstate Fined $25,000 A Day in Missouri For Not Producing Documents
Posted on December 28, 2007Allstate Insurance Company has made it clear that although it is being fined $25,000 daily, it will not produce key records in a case pending in Missouri (thereby becoming public documents) unless the documents are sealed. The documents in question, also known as the McKinsey documents, have been called the "holy grail" for lawyers representing injured people (plaintiff's lawyers)...
$3,000,000 Verdict Against Ford in Georgia for Defective Seat Backs
Posted on December 20, 2007The Atlanta Constitution Journal reported on December 13, 2007, that a Cobb County, Georgia jury handed down a $3,000,000 compensatory damage verdict against Ford Motor Company because of defective seats in a 1994 Ford Tempo that resulted in the death of a 76 year-old lady...
Trucking Company Pays For Reckless Driving Death of Two Children
Posted on December 19, 2007In a Madera County, California case, Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping, a nationwide concrete pumping company, has agreed to pay nine million dollars in a wrongful death lawsuit to the parents of two children killed in an automobile accident involving one of the company's trucks...
Lead and Other Harmful Substances Found in Toys
Posted on December 17, 2007In the last six months, more than 1,200 toys have been taken of the shelves of Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us, and Babies-R-Us to be tested for excessive amounts of lead and other harmful substances in toys. These tests, led by a Michigan-based Ecology Center along with help from eight other states and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, have shown thirty five percent of the toys tested contained excessive amounts of lead...
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How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
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