A law firm out of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, filed suit on behalf of a client earlier this month against Davol, Inc., maker of the Composix Kugel Mesh Patch used in hernia repair surgeries. The plaintiff claims that he experienced severe abdominal pain after his hernia repair surgery and had to undergo bowel dissection surgery to have the defective hernia repair patch removed.The news...
The Oklahoma Supreme Court finally weighed in on tort reform a few weeks ago by addressing the constitutionality of merit letters required under 2003 tort reform. If you do not know, thecourt ruled as unconstitutional a provision of a 2003 tort reform law that required someone suing a medical professional to get an expert in the field, usually a doctor, to say in an affidavit that the lawsuit...
Having a few friends over for New Year's Eve? Hosting a Super Bowl Party? If so, you'd better be sure that you have plenty of insurance in case the worst case scenario occurs.Most of the 28.5 million Americans who plan to host a party between Thanksgiving and the Super Bowl are underinsured, according to a new study by Trusted Choice.Of those 28.5 million party hosts, 21.3 million do not have...
A Twinkie alert was issued at 2:47 a.m. on December 20, 2006 when 50,000 pounds of Hostess bakery products were dumped on Hwy. 99 just south of Eight Mile Road in Stockton California. The unfortunate "spill" was just one aspect of a traffic accident in which a tractor-trailer overturned after the driver lost control of the big rig and crashed through the highway divider. Debris from the...
When an individual chooses to mix alcohol consumption and operation of a motor vehicle, the results are often tragic. The repercussions of drunk driving are not measured solely in terms of fines and jail time. All too often, innocent bystanders become the unwitting victims of the alcohol impaired driver. On December 26, 2006, Joanne Dues was sentenced to four years in prison for gross...
Two FDA advisory committees agreed on December 15, 2006, that the antibiotic Ketek (telithromycin) should have new black box warnings added to its label about several serious side effects which have been associated with it. "Black box" is the strongest warning the FDA can mandate. Further, the committees recommended that Ketek be limited to second-line therapy for community-acquired pneumonia...
A high-speed chase near Tullahoma killed two young men on December 20 , 2006 . The police chased the car at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour . Moore County Sheriff's deputies tried to stop the car earlier . It is unclear why the police wanted to stop the car or why they tried to get away . High speed pursuits are dangerous to everyone on the roads . Don"t get me wrong , these...
A recent press release from the Arizona Automobile Association suggests, Arizona is far behind in being a safe state for the riskiest group of all teens. The state could do more to make it a safer state for ALL drivers by putting stricter limits on teenagers, the state's most dangerous drivers.Statistics supplied by AAA Arizona back up its conclusion that too many teenagers drive with reckless...
The Associated Press reported a new relevation in the ongoing pharmaceutical safety scandal which Johnson and Johnson has been facing in the past year or two. Former vice president and medical doctor Joel Lippman says he tried many times to bring problems with popular drugs such as the ortho evra patch to light, and claims he was fired for bringing attention to the safety of these drug products
Since 2000 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has renewed efforts to prevent medication errors and other patient-related safety problems. The HHS formed the Patient Safety Task Force, which is a conglomeration of other agencies united to improve health-care safety, including the FDA and CDC. In 2002, the FDA devoted an entire division to assessing and correcting medication...