Cases That Poisoned By Lead Paint Have A Right To File Lawsuit. Maryland's mid-level appeals court ruled in separate cases yesterday that renters poisoned by lead paint have a right to file negligence lawsuits against public housing agencies but cannot sue real estate agents who broker leases for lead-contaminated homes. The Court … [Read more...]
Outcomes Following PolyPropylene Mesh PuboVaginal Slings For Stress Urinary Incontinence
PolyPropylene Mesh PuboVaginal Slings Placement Inuries. 56 consecutive women underwent a ProteGen sling placement in a community hospital. Methods Between 5/97 and 3/98, 56 consecutive women underwent a ProteGen sling placement in a community hospital setting by a single surgeon using a standard technique. Chart review and … [Read more...]
Patient Safety Being Left Behind
Patient Safety Left Behind With Medical Errors. An overworked nurse infuses the wrong type of blood into a patient. An experienced pharmacist puts the wrong drug in a child's medicine bottle. A less-experienced surgeon blows a heart procedure that is performed more frequently and flawlessly down the street. All the patients die, … [Read more...]
SUV Rollover Risks Kept Quiet
SUVs Are The Riskiest When It Comes To Rollover Accidents. Just how risky are SUVs when it comes to possible rollovers? If you can't find figures to help you make an educated assessment, CBS News Transportation Correspondent Bob Orr says you can blame the auto industry and Congress. While SUVs are among the most popular … [Read more...]
SUVs’ Popularity Likely To Mean More Suits
Rollover-Related Lawsuits Are Expected To Increase. Many rollover-related lawsuits have been filed during the past decade, and the number is expected to increase dramatically as the popularity of sport-utility vehicles rises, lawyers and consumer safety advocates say. The highest-profile case, Ford Motor vs. Ammerman, reached the … [Read more...]
AHP’s Diet-Drug Settlement Shortchanges Consumers
Diet Drug Lawsuit Settlement. American Home Products Corp.'s $3.75 billion settlement of lawsuits over its withdrawn diet drugs leaves most former users unfairly "trapped" in an agreement providing inadequate compensation, opponents of the pact told a judge. U.S. District Judge Louis Bechtle heard final arguments today … [Read more...]
Jury Reaches Verdict In Collapsing Fire Ladder Case, Says Law firm of Parker & Waichman
Collapse Of A Fire Ladder. NEW YORK, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the collapse of an aerial fire ladder during an attempted fire rescue in 1994, a loving husband and father plunged to his death while his family and a New York City firefighter were severely injured. On Friday, April 28, a Brooklyn Jury found that the City … [Read more...]
Opening Arguments Delivered In Air Bag Death Case
Death In A Crash Resulted From Aggressive Air Bag. A girl's death in a minivan crash resulted from "a terribly aggressive air bag" by an automaker more concerned about sales even the cost of test dummies than proper testing of the device, an attorney argued Friday. The family made the claim on behalf of Alison Sanders' family, … [Read more...]
Drug Linked To Liver Damage
Duract May Cause Liver Damage. Dave Storey took a new drug called Duract to relieve chronic back pain and ended up with liver failure. CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson tells Dave's story. Dave Storey, a chef in Nevada, was nursing chronic back pain in late 1997 when his doctor gave him a new pain medication, Duract. Dave … [Read more...]
Americans Ignorant of Their Implants
25 million Americans are living with implanted medical devices, from pacemakers to artificial joints. Up to 25 million Americans are living with implanted medical devices, from pacemakers to artificial joints, but too many patients have unrealistic expectations of how long implants will last and don't even know what model is in their … [Read more...]
Two GM SUVs Get Lowest Rating
Government Issued Ratings Of Vehicles' Resistance To Rollover. The federal government on Tuesday issued its first ratings of passenger vehicles' resistance to rollover crashes, and the lowest score went to two General Motors sport-utility vehicles. The Transportation Department gave one-star ratings to the Chevrolet Blazer and GMC … [Read more...]
American Home Seeks Settlement
American Home Products Lawsuit Settlement. American Home Products Corp. stands ready to spend about $4 billion to settle much of the litigation over its diet drugs. Although final terms have yet to be worked out -- meaning a deal could still elude the company -- the settlement under negotiation would be the biggest ever over … [Read more...]
American Home Products To Appeal Court’s Ruling
American Home Products Appeal To Court. American Home Products Corporation (NYSE:AHP) will appeal today's ruling in the case of Deborah Lovett vs. American Home Products Corporation in Van Zandt County, Texas District Court. "We are disappointed by today's ruling," says Bob Schick of Vinson & Elkins, a Houston-based … [Read more...]
J&J Accused in Suture Lawsuit
Accused in a nationwide class action lawsuit of selling contaminated sutures. The nation's biggest maker of surgical sutures is accused in a nationwide class action lawsuit of selling contaminated sutures that gave patients serious infections and caused at least one death, lawyers said Tuesday. Ethicon Inc., a Johnson & … [Read more...]
$4.9-Billion Jury Award Slams GM
GM Was Slapped With The Largest Penalty In A Product Liability Case. General Motors Corp. was slapped Friday with the largest penalty ever handed out in a product-liability case, a $4.9-billion judgment a Los Angeles jury awarded to six passengers severely burned in a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu. On Christmas Eve 1993, a drunken … [Read more...]
Liposuction Blamed In Five Deaths
Five Deaths From Liposuction. A new study documenting five deaths from liposuction has raised questions about the safety of the elective surgery to reduce fat. Liposuction is the most common cosmetic surgery in the United States. The number of people undergoing the medical procedure has increased 216 percent since 1992. As the … [Read more...]
Jury Selection In Diet Drug Case
Diet Drug Can Cause Heart Problems. A woman who blames a popular diet drug combination for her heart trouble has gone to court to take on the world's seventh-largest drug maker in a closely watched case. Opening statements were expected to begin later today in the lawsuit filed in state district court by Sandra Moore against … [Read more...]
Heart Valve Abnormalities Examined
Diet Drug May Cause Heart Valve Abnormality. In the largest study of its kind, Duke University Medical Center researchers found that the longer a person used a popular duet of diet drugs known as "fen/phen," the greater the likelihood they had a heart valve abnormality. Duke researchers said in a report prepared for the annual … [Read more...]
Man Sues Heart-Valve Maker for Wife’s Death
Heart-Valve Maker Face A Lawsuit. The husband of a Northwest Side woman, who died after having a mechanical valve implanted in her heart last year, is suing the manufacturer of the device, claiming leaks in the valve led to her death. The company recently recalled the valve and other similar products. Christine Krizin, … [Read more...]
Weight-Loss Wars
Weight-Loss Drug Combination. Over the 1996 Memorial Day weekend, Mary Linnen celebrated her engagement with her parents. The wedding would take place in the fall, and she had worked out all the details but one: Before she bought her wedding gown, Linnen wanted to lose 20 pounds. Her physician had prescribed a new diet-drug … [Read more...]
Diet Drugs: Let Buyer Beware
Diet Drugs Dramatic Results. For a time, fen-phen was the hottest thing going when it came to weight loss. A combination of two prescription drugs, fenfluramine and phentermine, its users were reporting quick and dramatic results. More and more people were asking for it, and doctors and weight-loss centers were obliging them. Now … [Read more...]
NEW WARNINGS FOR PARKINSON’S DRUG, TASMAR
Tasmar Can Cause Fatal Liver Injury. FDA and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., the manufacturer of the drug Tasmar for patients with Parkinson's Disease, are advising doctors about reports of a new finding of fatal liver injury associated with use of the drug, and recommending significant changes in how it is used. Because of … [Read more...]
Drivers Detail Air Bag Horrors
Ross Kelley Was Parked When His Airbag Suddenly Burst Open. WASHINGTON (AP) - Ross Kelley was sitting in his 1994 Chrysler minivan, parked in a driveway with the motor on and waiting for a friend, when his air bag suddenly burst open with a bang. ``The air bag just blew up in my face,'' Kelley recalled. ``It felt like someone … [Read more...]
Why Your Favorite Stock Analyst Only Has Good News
Stock Analyst Only Has Good News. Investors digest a daily slew of upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street analysts, but are far from getting a balanced diet mostly good news with a dash of positive spin. So where's the bad news? According to Chuck Hill, director of research for First Call in Boston, two-thirds of … [Read more...]
Drug-Induced Disorders
Common Type Of Drug-Induced Disorders Are Predictable. Recent estimates suggest that each year more than 1 million patients are injured while in the hospital and approximately 180,000 die because of these injuries. Furthermore, drug-related morbidity and mortality are common and are estimated to cost more than $136 billion a year. … [Read more...]
Serious Eye Injuries from Air Bags
Air Bags Can Inflict Eye Injuries Even In Minor Accidents. Activated air bags can inflict severe eye injuries, including blindness, even in minor car accidents, a small-scale study shows. The research report, published in the March Journal of Ophthalmic Surgery and Lasers, describes the spectrum of air-bag-related eye injuries … [Read more...]
Air Bag Injuries Plentiful
Research Painted A Grim Picture Of Airbag Injuries. Anyone looking for reassurance that air bags are good for you won't find much in injury studies recounted this week at the Society of Automotive Engineers Congress in Detroit. Heads nearly torn from necks. Brain trauma. Multiple rib fractures. Facial abrasions. Eyelid, shoulder … [Read more...]
Transit Authority Has Conceded Liability for the Crash of Two Subway Trains
Transit Authority Liability For Crash Of Two Subway Trains. The Transit Authority has conceded liability for the crash of two subway trains on the Williamsburg Bridge June 5 that injured 66 passengers, according to an attorney representing one plaintiff. Jerrold s. Parker of Parker & Waichman reported yesterday that in … [Read more...]
Sheily Inc Notify Patients of Heart Valve
Risk of fracture for some sizes of these valves may be higher. The Food and Drug Administration has asked Shiley Inc. of Irvine, Calif., the maker of Bjork-Shiley heart valves, to notify patients and physicians that risk of fracture for some sizes of these valves may be higher than previously thought. The fracture rate for the … [Read more...]
