Master List of Personal Injury Product Defect Safety Press Article Excerpts

Los Angeles Times, "E. Coli Is Found in Third Bag of Dole Spinach; Another package has tested positive for the bacteria linked to the nationwide outbreak"

          The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported Tuesday that the outbreak had expanded to 183 cases in 26 states and Canada. Ninety-five people have been hospitalized, and of those, 29 have developed a serious kidney complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome. An elderly Wisconsin woman has died. More...

Learn more about e. coli poisoning injuries and spinach contamination lawsuits.

San Francisco Chronicle, "5 more E. coli cases blamed on spinach; Total number sickened raised to 171 in 25 states, CDC reports"

          The outbreak of E. coli linked to fresh spinach was blamed for another five cases of illness Saturday, raising the number of people sickened to 171, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. More...

Learn more about e. coli poisoning injuries and spinach contamination lawsuits.

Los Angeles Times, "Drug Safety Overhaul Is Urged"

The FDA spends far more time on approvals than on follow-ups, a review finds. Calls for reform include warning labels and limits on ads.

          The government's drug safety system is seriously out of balance, devoting too much attention to approving new medications and not enough follow-up to uncovering risky side effects, a blue-ribbon scientific panel concluded in a major report released Friday. More...

Associated Press, "Health officials still can't track new drug safety; Panel says labeling, advertising restriction needed and FDA needs resources"

          Two years after the withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx, federal health regulators still lack the resources necessary to track the safety of new drugs and respond quickly to any problems that might crop up, a panel of experts said Friday. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Government Oversight of Prescription Drugs Needs Overhaul"

          A blue-ribbon scientific panel convened after the Vioxx debacle has concluded in a report released today that the government's system for protecting the public from dangerous side effects of prescription drugs needs a sweeping overhaul to better monitor risks and provide early warnings to doctors and patients.

Associated Press , "Two more deaths possibly linked to e. coli tainted spinach"

          Two more deaths were under investigation Friday for possible links to tainted spinach, one in Maryland and one in Idaho. The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Maryland, reported an 86-year-old Hagerstown woman died last week after becoming infected with E-coli. More...

Learn more about e. coli contaminations and poisoning injury lawsuits.

Los Angeles Times, "Blue Cross Faces Fine for Voiding Policy"

          In the first sanction of its kind, California's top HMO regulator fined Blue Cross on Thursday for illegally canceling a woman's medical policy because she did not disclose corrective surgery she had 23 years earlier. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Spinach contamination crisis continues"

Thursday's developments:
-- The number of people sickened by E. coli climbed to 157. Of those, 83 have been hospitalized and 27 have suffered a form of kidney failure. One person has died. More...

Learn more about e. coli poisoning injuries and spinach contamination lawsuits.

San Jose Mercury News, "E. coli spinach contamination outbreak reveals lapses in food inspection"

          The expanding E. coli spinach outbreak, which now has sickened 146 victims in 23 states, is prompting calls for an overhaul of how food inspection is done in the United States, with a focus on getting rid of a patchwork approach that leads to loopholes and leaves the industry mostly policing itself. More...

Learn more about e. coli spinach contaminations and poisoning injury lawsuits.

Los Angeles Times, "Lab Definitively Links E. Coli Outbreak to Contaminated Spinach"

          A New Mexico laboratory was able to isolate potentially deadly bacteria in a bag of spinach that had sickened a resident -- a step hailed Wednesday as a significant break in the search for the source of a nationwide E. coli outbreak. More...

Learn more about e. coli spinach contaminations and poisoning injury lawsuits.

E. Coli Spinach Contamination Case: Sacramento Bee, "Spinach firm has permit troubles"

No evidence of link between wastewater woes, E. coli outbreak

          The spinach-packaging company in the cross hairs of an investigation into a nationwide E. coli outbreak has struggled to manage its wastewater and is in violation of a state water disposal permit, according to public records and state officials. More...

Learn more about e. coli spinach contaminations and poisoning injury lawsuits.

Los Angeles Times, "E. Coli Pervades Salinas Harvest Area"

          The bacterium that has sickened people across the nation and forced growers to destroy spinach crops is so pervasive in the Salinas Valley that virtually every waterway there violates national standards. More...

Learn more about e. coli contaminations and poisoning injury lawsuits.

Associated Press, "Lawsuit over Comair crash cites airport signs, taxiway names"

          The family of a Canadian woman killed in a central Kentucky plane crash last month filed a lawsuit citing inadequate airport signs and confusing taxiway names and alleging that pilots were negligent in taking off from the wrong runway. More...

Learn more about the Comair Lexington Kentucky airplane crash and lawsuits filed by families of victims of the tragedy.

MSNBC.com, "Concentrated produce industry highlights risks; Company at heart of E. coli outbreak works with vast network of suppliers"

          It appears the competitive advantages of the Salinas Valley produce industry have spawned outsized risks. In the latest case of produce-related food poisoning, deadly pathogens apparently traveled from the fertile valley to supermarkets across the country, sickening at least 146 people in 23 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person has died and 76 others have been hospitalized, some with kidney failure. More...

Learn more about e. coli contaminated spinach and bacteria poisoning injuries and lawsuits.

MSNBC.com, "Ortho Evra Birth-control patch label warns of blood clots"

Oral contraceptives may be a safer option for some women, FDA says

          Women were warned Wednesday that their risk of blood clots in the legs and lungs may be higher if they use the birth-control patch instead of the pill. More...

Learn more about ortho evra injuries and lawsuits.

Associated Press, "Investigators find E. coli in spinach package"

          The E. coli outbreak spread to two more states Wednesday, and investigators reported finding contaminated spinach in the refrigerator of one victim. Learn more...

Associated Press, "Third Baby Dies From Heparin Drug Overdose in Indiana"

          A third premature infant has died after being accidentally given an adult-sized dose of heparin, a blood thinner medication, at a hospital last week. "We are all saddened by this news and our hearts are with this family, and all the families who have been affected," Methodist Hospital spokesman Jon Mills said in a news release Wednesday. More...

Los Angeles Times, "E. Coli Tainted Spinach Scare May Have Wider Impact"

          Much food lore has sprung from the Salinas and nearby valleys, this fecund farm country that stretches from oak-studded hills to the fertile bottom land and packing plants of Salinas and King City. This is Steinbeck country, and the National Steinbeck Center on Salinas' Main Street pays homage to the farming themes of "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Cannery Row." More...

Learn more about tainted spinach and e. coli injuries and lawsuits.

Associated Press , "Comair Air Crash: Lexington, Kentucky tower chief was criticized in FAA e-mails"

          The day after the plane crash that killed 49 people, high-ranking officials with the Federal Aviation Administration suggested that the Lexington air traffic manager was a "renegade" and speculated he would be fired for having only one controller on duty at the time. More...

Learn more about the Comair Disaster and the rights of families of victims of the crash.

The Boston Globe, "Couple sues over illness linked to spinach"

          A couple who say their teenage daughter became ill after eating bagged fresh spinach has sued Chiquita Brands International. The parents, referred to as John and Jane Doe in the suit, claim their daughter contracted an E. coli infection after eating spinach sold under Chiquita's Fresh Express brand two weeks ago. The girl remains hospitalized in stable condition after undergoing dialysis. More...

More about e. coli contaminations and injury cases...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Spinach growers were warned about produce safety"

State, federal officials concerned by 20 reports of tainted greens

          Just 10 months before fresh spinach started sending people to the hospital, state and federal officials warned Salinas Valley growers and packers to clean up their act after a decade of deadly E. coli bacteria breakouts. More...

Learn more about e. coli and injuries from tainted spinach and spinach injury lawsuits.

Los Angeles Times, "Number of E. Coli Cases Rises to 114"

Some growers decry what they call the government's too-strict advisory on spinach consumption, citing financial losses

          California farmers voiced frustration Monday at the government's continuing advisory that consumers avoid all fresh spinach. But federal authorities defended their action, as the tally of those sickened in a nationwide E. coli outbreak rose to 114. More...

Learn more about e. coli and injuries from tainted spinach and spinach injury lawsuits.

San Francisco Chronicle, "FDA Says Spinach Tampering Not Suspected"

          Tampering is not suspected in an outbreak of E. coli linked to fresh spinach, federal health officials said Monday as they probed for a source of the contamination and warned consumers not to resume eating uncooked spinach products. More information on e. coli spinach contamination and injuries...

Learn more about e.coli spinach contamination, injuries and lawsuits.

Tampa Bay 10 News, "E-Coli spinach narrowed to at least one manufacturer"

          So far, one company has been positively linked to an outbreak of e-coli in spinach. One person has died and nearly 100 others sickened by the bacteria in 19 states. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Spinach probe of Salinas Valley; Feds tracking cause of E. coli outbreak"

          The number of people connected to an outbreak of the bacteria E. coli across the country rose to 109 Sunday, and federal authorities announced they will investigate farms in Salinas Valley seeking evidence of what caused the outbreak. More...

Associated Press, "Spinach E. coli outbreak spreads"

          The number of people sickened by an E. coli outbreak traced to tainted spinach rose to 109, as federal officials announced more brands recalling their products. More...

News24 [South Africa], "U.S. Spinach E. coli outbreak spreads"

          Popeye ate it all the time, but now millions of bags of spinach are being pulled off supermarket shelves, including right here in the Coastal Empire. This, after an outbreak of E. coli was linked to the vegetable. Grocery stores started pulling the bags off the shelves Friday morning. More...

Learn more about e. coli spinach injury lawsuits.

News3 Mempis, "E-Coli spinach infects 60 people; Spinach pulled from grocery stores"

          Supermarkets across the country are pulling bagged spinach off their shelves after an e-coli outbreak. Ten states have reported e-coli outbreaks from tainted spinach bringing the number of infected to 60 cases total, including one that proved to be fatal. More...

WTOC11 [Savannah, GA], "Spinach Scare Shocks Country"

          Popeye ate it all the time, but now millions of bags of spinach are being pulled off supermarket shelves, including right here in the Coastal Empire. This, after an outbreak of E. coli was linked to the vegetable. Grocery stores, like the Kroger off Mall Boulevard, started pulling the bags off the shelves Friday morning. More...

Learn more about e. coli spinach injury lawsuits.

CBS2 Chicago.com, "Answers Are Being Sought For E. Coli Spinach"

          There's still not a case of E. Coli E. Coli reported in Illinois, but the spinach scare is certainly having an impact on restaurants in Chicago. At the Bella Bacino restaurant on Wacker Drive, patrons can enjoy pastas, sandwiches and even pizzas -- but not this one. More...

Learn more about e. coli injuries and lawsuits.

San Francisco Chronicle, "Anti-Rollover Tech Required by 2012"

          New automobiles will be required to have anti-rollover technology by the 2012 model year, which should save thousands of lives annually, the government's traffic safety agency said Thursday. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Vioxx-Like Risks Linked to Another Pain Pill"

A report says diclofenac increases the chance of a heart attack. The FDA calls for further review.

          The widely used pain reliever diclofenac poses the same cardiovascular risk as the withdrawn drug Vioxx and should not be used by people with heart disease or high blood pressure, researchers reported Tuesday. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Comair Says It Had Outdated Airport Chart"

          Comair was using an outdated chart of Lexington's Blue Grass Airport when one of its planes took off on the wrong runway and crashed, killing 49 people, and the airline is now urging pilots to use "extreme caution," according to an e-mail obtained by the Associated Press. More...

Associated Press, "Controllers Raised Concerns Before Crash"

          Months before the Comair jet crash that killed 49 people, air traffic controllers at the Lexington airport wrote to federal officials complaining about a hostile working environment in the tower and short-staffing on the overnight shift, according to letters obtained by The Associated Press. More...

Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), "Comair: Airport diagrams incorrect; Pilots urged to be extremely cautious"

          Diagrams of Lexington's Blue Grass Airport issued to Comair pilots last week did "not accurately reflect actual airport signage," the company said in a memo to pilots in which it urged them to use "extreme caution." More...

Guardian Unlimited (UK), "Comair Warns Pilots About Airport Signs"

          Comair has begun warning pilots to use "extreme caution" when navigating runways at the airport where a crash killed 49 people last month, saying some diagrams aren't accurate, according to an e-mail obtained Monday by The Associated Press. More...

Lexington Kentucky Herald-Leader, "Victim's family sues Comair"

          The family of a 39-year-old man from Lafayette, La., has sued Comair Inc. over the crash of Flight 5191. Bryan Keith Woodward, an electrician, had gone to Kentucky with Jamie Hebert and their two daughters, Lauren Hebert, 15, and Mattie-Kay Hebert, 11, attorney David Wise of Chicago said yesterday. More...

Associated Press, "FAA imposes 'no nap' policy for air controllers"

National directive comes after crash in Ky. killed 49 out of 50 on board

          Air traffic controllers who nap during break times could be suspended for up to 10 days under rules the Federal Aviation Administration has begun enforcing nationally since the deadly crash of Comair Flight 5191. Learn more...

Kansas City Star, "Pilot may have called the wrong flight number before Lexington, Kentucky crash of Comair Flight 5191"

          In addition to departing from the wrong runway and initially getting on the wrong plane, one of the pilots on Comair Flight 5191 to Atlanta might have made a third mistake: In talking to the control tower before the fatal crash, one of the pilots called out the wrong flight number and city. More about problems leading to the crash of Comair Flight 5191...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Group says children's lunch boxes still tainted with lead"

          Lab test results announced Tuesday by an environmental group found that several national chain stores continue to sell lead-tainted children's lunch boxes a year after the group sued more than a dozen lunch box makers over the toxin. More...

Los Angeles Times, "34 Are Hurt When Bus Rolls Over on Off-Ramp"

          A bus traveling from New York to Boston rolled over on an interstate offramp in Auburn, injuring 34 people, authorities said. More...

USA Today, "Airport construction projects have created dangers before"

          Dan Silverthorn had just touched down when his single-engine Beech C23 jolted violently and careered off the runway on its belly in a shower of sparks. From the air, the veteran pilot couldn't tell that the runway at Higginsville, Mo., had a fresh layer of pavement that ended abruptly, creating an 8-inch ledge that ripped the landing gear from his plane like the pull-tab from a sardine can. More...

USA Today, "1st victims of Ky. Comair Flight 5191 plane crash buried"

          Clark and Bobbie Sue Benton were supposed to be vacationing in the Caribbean. Instead, they were buried in this south-central Kentucky town, five days after they were killed when Comair Flight 5191 crashed. More...

Louisville Courier-Journal, "Suits filed in Comair crash; Millions might be paid in each death"

          As the first lawsuits were filed yesterday by families of Comair Flight 5191 victims, aviation law experts said plaintiffs can expect to recover several million dollars each, depending on earnings and life expectancies of those who died. More...

Cincinnati Enquirer, "First Comair suit filed"

          A lawsuit blaming Comair for a deadly crash at the Lexington airport was filed Friday, less than a week after the nation's deadliest airline disaster in five years. More...

Associated Press, "Family Sues Over Deadly Comair Crash"

          The family of a woman killed when Comair Flight 5191 took off on the wrong runway and crashed in flames sued the airline Friday, blaming it for the nation's deadliest airplane disaster in five years. More on the Lexington Kentucky Comair/Delta Airplane Disaster...

USA Today, "Comair Flight 5191 jet crash spotlights controllers' shifts"

          Democratic lawmakers are demanding an investigation into the practice of allowing air-traffic controllers to work two shifts in 24 hours, a practice denounced by sleep experts. More...

USA Today, "Comair controller slept only 2 hours"

          Two congressmen called for an investigation into the staffing at airport control towers after investigators revealed that only one controller was on duty when Comair Flight 5191 crashed in Kentucky and that he had had just two hours of sleep between shifts. More...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Kentucky -- Cockpit warning system could have prevented crash"

          A cockpit warning system used by only a few commercial airlines might have prevented the deadly Comair jet crash last weekend if the plane had been equipped with the $18,000 piece of technology, a former top federal safety official says. More...

Baltimore Sun, "Potential hazards to consumers from flavoring agent unchecked"

Agencies yet to assess risk of inhaling vapors of chemical linked to workers' lung disease

          Millions of Americans are exposed regularly to vapors released when they heat products containing the same synthetic butter flavoring blamed for destroying the lungs of workers in popcorn and flavoring factories. But public health activists say no one in government has stepped up to assess whether consumers are at risk. More...

FDA MedWatch, "Alaris SE Infusion Pumps recalled due to risk of overinfusion at ten times intended infusion rate"

          FDA and Alaris Products notified healthcare professionals of a recall of defective infusion pumps due to a design defect called "key bounce" that may cause potential over-infusion of medications and result in an infusion rate at least 10 times the intended infusion rate. More...

Washington Post, "Group Says FDA, Advisory Panels Show Bias Toward Drug Approvals"

          The panels of experts assembled by the Food and Drug Administration to advise it on whether to approve new drugs and medical devices are often biased in favor of recommending approval, according to a consumer group's analysis released yesterday. More...

WHIO-TV, "Kentucky Fatal Plane Crash May Prompt Delay By Delta"

          Delta Airlines has announced that because of the crash investigation in Lexington, Ky., it might ease up on Comair. More...

CNN: "FAA: Tower staffing during plane crash violated rules"

          The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday acknowledged that only one controller was in the tower, in violation of FAA policy, when a Comair jet crashed Sunday while trying to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Kentucky. More...

Free Internet Press, "49 Killed, 1 Survivor In Kentucky Plane Crash"

          Forty-nine of the 50 people aboard Delta Flight 5191 were killed when the aircraft crashed Sunday morning shortly after takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, according to Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn. More...

Associated Press, "Kentucky Crash May Imperil Comair's Survival"

          The deadly Kentucky crash involving a Comair flight could make the regional carrier's survival even tougher. More...

WFMZTv.com, "Pilot Took Wrong Runway in Plane Crash"

          The sole survivor of a commuter plane crash in Lexington, Kentucky is in critical condition this morning. Comair jet co-pilot James Polehinke was the only survivor pulled from the burning wreckage of a crash that killed 49 people yesterday. The plane crashed after attempting to take off from a runway that was too short for commuter planes. A witness described what he saw. More...

WMCTv.com, "Runway Mistake Caused Fatal Crash"

          NTSB investigators confirmed Sunday night that the crash of a Delta-Comair commuter flight from Lexington, Kentucky to Atlanta came after the jetliner took off on the wrong runway. 49 people died. More...

Reuters, "Kentucky plane crash kills 49, co-pilot survives"

          A Comair jet crashed and burned in a Kentucky pasture on Sunday after a failed takeoff on a short runway, killing all but one of the 50 people aboard, authorities said. More...

Bloomberg News, "Delta Air Regional Jet Crashes in Kentucky; 49 Dead"

          A Delta Air Lines Inc. Comair commuter plane crashed shortly after takeoff at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49 and critically injuring one. More information...

Associated Press, "Newlyweds Among Plane Crash Victims"

          A newlywed couple starting their honeymoon, a Habitat for Humanity board member and a businessman who took an early flight to get home to his children were among the victims of Comair Flight 5191, friends and relatives said Sunday. More...

New York Times, "Lens Care Solution Is Faulted"

          Federal disease control experts and leading eye doctors have formally concluded that ReNu With MoistureLoc from Bausch & Lomb was the only contact lens solution contributing to an outbreak of potentially blinding fungal eye infections earlier this year.

Reuters, "Recall of Bausch & Lomb ReNu with Moisture Loc curbs outbreak of rare eye infection"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc.'s global recall of a popular contact lens solution in May appears to have stopped the spread of a serious eye infection but U.S. scientists still don't know what caused the outbreak, according to a study released on Tuesday. More...

13Wham.com (Rochester, NY), "CDC: Bausch & Lomb's ReNu with MoistureLoc Contact Lens Solution Caused Infections"

          After a months-long investigation, federal scientists have determined that Bausch & Lomb's ReNu with Moisture Loc contact lens solution caused an outbreak of a fungal eye infection. No other product was implicated in their report. More...

New York Times, "Ritalin, other stimulants to carry cardiac warnings"

          Federal drug regulators have ordered that strong warnings be put on the labels of stimulants like Dexedrine and Ritalin to caution against their use in adults or children with heart problems and to alert doctors that the drugs cause 1 child in 1,000 to experience hallucinations. More...

Associated Press, "Merck suffers 2 setbacks in Vioxx cases"

          Merck & Co. suffered two major legal setbacks over the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx on Thursday when a federal jury here ordered the drug maker to pay $51 million to a heart attack victim, and a state judge in New Jersey overturned a November verdict favoring the company. More...

Learn more about Vioxx injuries and Vioxx heart attack lawsuits.

The Legal Intelligencer, "Suit Against Infants' Tylenol Gets $5 Million Verdict"

          A wrongful death action filed by the family of a dead 1-year-old against the makers of Infants' Tylenol resulted in a $5 million verdict from a Philadelphia jury last month. The plaintiffs claimed their 1-year-old child died from acetaminophen toxicity after being given dosages of the concentrated over-the-counter drug for three days. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Ford Issues Recall, Sees 2Q Loss"

         Ford Motor Co., already reeling from business setbacks, recalled 1.2 million trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans Thursday amid concerns about potential engine fires.  Ford said the recall was tied to the speed control deactivation switch system, which could corrode over time, overheat and ignite. It builds upon one of the largest recalls in U.S. history. More...

USA Today, "Ford recalls 1.2M trucks over fire hazard; almost 6M vehicles recalled for issue"

          Ford recalled 1.2 million trucks, sport-utility vehicles and vans on Thursday amid concerns of potential engine fires, expanding upon one of the largest vehicle recalls in history. Ford Motor said the recall was tied to the cruise control deactivation switch system, which could corrode over time, overheat and catch fire. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Ford Issues Recall, Sees 2Q Loss"

Ford Motor Co., already reeling from business setbacks, recalled 1.2 million trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans Thursday amid concerns about potential engine fires.  Ford said the recall was tied to the speed control deactivation switch system, which could corrode over time, overheat and ignite. It builds upon one of the largest recalls in U.S. history.  More...

Bloomberg News, "Trial: Lung disease blamed on Wyeth drug"

          A Wyeth drug used in the now-withdrawn fen-phen diet combination caused a Michigan woman to develop a sometimes-fatal lung disease, her lawyer told a jury. More...

Forbes, "Sanofi-Aventis adds warning to antibiotic Ketek after FDA discussions"

          French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis said it has revised the prescribing information for its antibiotic Ketek following discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration.More...

Deseret Morning News, "Popcorn butter flavor risky to workers?  EPA is accused of withholding results of study on vapors"

The Environmental Protection Agency has been withholding the results of a 2003 study that may indicate potential health risks from inhaling artificial butter flavor vapors from microwave popcorn, a group of scientists and former Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials say. More...

The Los Angeles Times, "Limits Sought on Worker Exposure to Flavor Agent"

          Emergency safety standards are needed to counter a widening outbreak of lung disease among workers exposed to a common ingredient in microwave popcorn, health experts and labor unions said Tuesday. More...

         Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC said it is taking additional steps, including sending letters to current owners of certain Ford Explorers, to make sure tires recalled in 2000 and 2001 have been taken off the road. More...

Detroit News, "Check tires: Tire maker will warn owners that some tires recalled in 2000-01 may still be on the road"

Firestone announced a renewed recall effort Friday for its radial tires, mainly spares, still remaining on the Ford Explorer and similar SUVs from the 1990s.  More...

        Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, seeking to finish the massive tire recalls it began six years ago, said it would notify owners to bring in 200,000 recalled tires that may still be on vehicles or used as spares. More...

CNN, "Firestone tires recall linked to recent deaths; Firestone announces renewed recall after recent deaths and injuries in rollovers involving SUVs"

         Firestone announced a renewed recall effort Friday for its radial tires, mainly spares, still remaining on the Ford Explorer and similar SUVs from the 1990s. More...

Washington Post, "Medication Errors Harming Millions, Report Says; Extensive National Study Finds Widespread, Costly Mistakes in Giving and Taking Medicine"

          At least 1.5 million Americans are sickened, injured or killed each year by errors in prescribing, dispensing and taking medications, the influential Institute of Medicine concluded in a major report released yesterday. More...

Associated Press, "Report Finds Drug Errors Hurt 1.5 Million"

          More than 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by drug errors in hospitals, nursing homes and doctor's offices, a count that doesn't even estimate patients' own medication mix-ups, says a report that calls for major steps to increase patient safety. More...

New York Times, "Approval of Antibiotic [Ketek] Worried Safety Officials"

          In an internal review, a federal drug safety official concluded that a controversial antibiotic made by a French drug company should be withdrawn, according to e-mail messages exchanged among top agency officials. More...

Learn more about Ketek injuries and lawsuits.

News-Democrat, "Collinsville woman settles lawsuit for $7 million; Husband died in camper fire caused by faulty refrigerator"

          A Collinsville woman whose husband died in a camper fire due to a faulty refrigerator has settled a lawsuit for $7 million, and her attorney suspects that as many as 12,000 recreational vehicles have similar refrigerators which could cause fires. More...

Associated Press, "Stability Control Gear Cuts Auto Deaths, Study Finds"

          Ten thousand fatal automobile crashes a year, or nearly one-third of such accidents in the U.S., could be prevented if more vehicles were equipped with technology that helps to keep them from rolling over, the insurance industry says in a study released today. More...

Reuters, "Connecticut urges probe into Jeep Grand Cherokee"

Connecticut urged federal regulators on Tuesday to probe possible acceleration flaws in late-model Jeep Grand Cherokees after a 52-year-old man was run over and killed by one in a car wash. More...

CNN Money, "Toyota's totally bizarre recall; Why would Toyota issue a recall designed to make vehicles less safe?"

This fall, Toyota will voluntarily recall nearly 160,000 Toyota Tundra pickups so that they can be made less safe for children riding in the front seat. More...

Daily Journal, "Merck Feared $437 Million In Lost Sales; Testimony Targets Firm's Knowledge of Vioxx's Risks"

          Merck & Co. anticipated it could lose nearly a fifth of a projected $2.5 billion in Vioxx sales if its marketing campaign failed to neutralize consumer concerns about cardiovascular risk associated with its once-popular painkiller, a marketing expert testified. More...

The Record (Bergen County, NJ), "Fatal Rollovers Cause Still Unknown"

          Authorities said Friday they had no new developments in their investigation of a New Milford woman's death in an SUV rollover Wednesday night. More...

Tire Blow Out: St. Petersburg Times (Florida), "Tiremaker Settles Suit with Widow"

         The widow of an Inverness man who was killed in a 2001 accident when his tire blew out and caused his Ford minivan to flip on Interstate 75 has settled with the tire manufacturer, despite the company's insistence that it was not liable in the crash. More...

July 6, 2006

Associated Press, "Vioxx 'a Hazard,' Doctor Testifies"

          Patients who took the painkiller Vioxx were at risk of heart attacks and strokes -- something shown by studies conducted years before the product went on the market, a doctor testified Wednesday. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Study documents Tylenol liver toxicity; High doses could cause organ damage"

          The highest recommended dose of Extra Strength Tylenol sharply increased liver enzymes in healthy adults in a clinical study, an early sign of possible organ damage. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Another Merck Drug Is Under Legal Attack; Trial lawyers may file hundreds of suits over an osteoporosis remedy linked to jaw decay"

          As Merck & Co. defends itself against a deluge of litigation involving its pain reliever Vioxx, the pharmaceutical giant also is fielding the first of what could be another wave of lawsuits involving Fosamax, its second-biggest seller. More...

Associated Press, "More defibrillators, pacemakers recalled"

          Boston Scientific Corp. on Monday said it is recalling some defibrillator and pacemaker models that could fail because of an electrical flaw. The recall is the latest in a string of product problems Boston Scientific inherited when it bought Guidant Corp. in April for $27 billion. More...

Salt Lake Tribune, "Fosamax lawsuit brings risks to light"

          Pamela Hines went from an active lifestyle of running five miles a day and working full-time to being unable to eat most foods and feeling constant pain. The 52-year-old Sandy woman was diagnosed last year with osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), a disfiguring condition that leads to the breakdown of the jawbone and loss of teeth. After having a tooth extracted, she became deeply concerned when her mouth failed to heal. After visiting several doctors, one told her she might have ONJ - and that it could be linked to her taking the popular osteoporosis drug Fosamax, for stronger bones. More...

Reuters, "Connecticut urges probe into Jeep Grand Cherokee"

          Connecticut urged federal regulators on Tuesday to probe possible acceleration flaws in late-model Jeep Grand Cherokees after a 52-year-old man was run over and killed by one in a car wash. More...

Associated Press, "Guidant Weighed Warning Doctors"

          Newly unsealed court documents show that Guidant Corp. drafted a letter warning doctors of a dangerous electrical malfunction in some of its devices designed to restore a normal heartbeat, but the letter was never sent. More...

Bloomberg News, "Fen-phen maker is aiming to settle 4,000 Texas claims"

          Wyeth is settling thousands of Texas fen-phen diet drug cases, including one that resulted in a $1 billion verdict, the company and lawyers for the plaintiffs said Thursday. More...

11Alive.com (Atlanta, GA), "'Defect' Blamed in Toddler's Death"

          A toddler was killed Tuesday night in front of his Cobb County home when a minivan, with its engine off, rolled over him. According to police, another child had been able to shift the minivan out of "park" setting the vehicle in motion. More...

Chicago Tribune, "New warning for canned tuna; Mercury risk for pregnant women too high, Consumer Reports says"

          The chance that canned tuna will contain high levels of mercury is great enough that pregnant women should never eat it, according to new recommendations from a leading consumer group. More...

New York Times, "Merck Admits a Data Error on Vioxx"

          In an admission that could undermine one of its core defenses in Vioxx-related lawsuits, Merck said yesterday that it had erred when it reported in early 2005 that a crucial statistical test showed that Vioxx caused heart problems only after 18 months of continuous use.
          That statistical analysis test does not support Merck's 18-month theory about Vioxx, the company acknowledged yesterday. More...

Baltimore Sun, "Flavoring perils get harder look -- Probe grows; chemicals linked to lung disease"

          A federal health agency says it is "greatly expanding" an investigation of the potential hazards of diacetyl and the butter flavoring that contains it and other flavoring chemicals that have been linked to nearly 200 cases of lung disease among factory workers who make or use the chemicals. More...

New York Times, "Drug for Bones Is Newly Linked to Jaw Disease"

          In the last 10 years, millions of patients have taken a class of drugs that can prevent agonizing broken and deteriorating bones. The drugs once seemed perfectly safe and have transformed life for patients with cancer or osteoporosis. But recently there have been reports of a serious side effect: death of areas of bone in the jaw. More...

The Oregonian, "Popular painkiller [Acetaminophen] can be a killer itself"

Experts warn against [Acetaminophen] overdosing, now the No. 1 cause of death in poison-control cases and acute liver failure

          Plagued by nagging colds, sore backs, throbbing heads and life's other aches and pains, millions of people reach for Tylenol. And if one dose doesn't stop the pain, maybe two or three will. If you do that, you're courting trouble: An overdose of acetaminophen, the popular painkiller in Tylenol and other brands, sends thousands of U.S. residents to the hospital each year, killing hundreds. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Chemical in Plastics Is Tied to Prostate Cancer"

          Linking prostate cancer to a widespread industrial compound, scientists have found that exposure to a chemical that leaks from plastic causes genetic changes in animals' developing prostate glands that are precursors of the most common form of cancer in males. More...

Los Angeles Times, "U.S. Reviewing Bridgestone's Steeltex Tires"

          Steeltex tires from Bridgestone Corp. are being reviewed by U.S. auto safety regulators after a Pasadena lawyer claimed they were linked to accidents that killed 57 people. More...

Associated Press, "Doctor Sues Hospital Over Wife's Death"

          A hospital company is being sued by one of its own doctors, an anesthesiologist who says hospital staff failed to perform emergency surgery to save his wife. More...

Press Release, "Connecticut Corneal Transplant Patient Files Lawsuit Against Bausch & Lomb For Injuries In New York Court"

          Signaling an expansion of the litigation against Bausch & Lomb over its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution and following the global recall of the product on May 15, 2006, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, announced that Martin Rivera today filed a personal injury lawsuit for damages suffered against Bausch & Lomb in state court in New York City. More...

HealthDay News, "30% of Eye-Infection Cases Have Required Corneal Transplants"

          Thirty-seven of 120 people with a severe fungal eye infection linked to a popular Bausch & Lomb contact lens solution have had to have corneal transplants, U.S. officials reported Thursday.
          That's 31 percent of the Fusarium keratitis cases examined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; eight corneal transplants had been reported by government officials earlier this month.
Experts expect that percentage will climb even further, to perhaps 50 percent. More...

New York Times, "From Asia to America, How Bausch's Crisis Grew [ReNu MoistureLoc Contact Lens Solution]"

          Early in March, Bausch & Lomb received a troubling phone call from a New Jersey eye doctor. Dr. David S. Chu, a specialist in cornea diseases, alerted the company that three of his recent patients had been afflicted with a microbe that caused a potentially blinding eye infection.
          All three, Dr. Chu said, had used Bausch & Lomb's ReNu brand lens cleaners. More...

Reuters, "Report: Vioxx risk seen with short-term use; Data showed all patients who took painkiller faced increased heart risk"

          Merck & Co. Inc. has provided new data to U.S. regulators showing that all patients who took the arthritis medicine Vioxx were at increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and other complications, National Public Radio reported Wednesday. More...

Bloomberg News, "Bausch Delayed Case Reports, FDA Says"

         The company did not tell regulators about eye infections in Asia within the required 30 days.
          Bausch & Lomb Inc. delayed telling U.S. regulators about 35 cases of a blinding eye infection in Singapore linked to its recalled ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens cleaner, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. More...

Associated Press, "Bausch & Lomb Pulls Lens-Solution"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc. said Monday it has permanently removed from the market a contact-lens solution that has been linked to an outbreak of fungal eye infections that can cause blindness. More...

New York Times, "Follow-Up Study on Vioxx Safety Is Disputed"

          Two prominent medical researchers are taking issue with Merck's conclusion that a follow-up study of patients who took the painkiller Vioxx shows that the drug posed no "statistically significant" risk to the heart once people stopped taking it. More...

Associated Press, "Number of Fungal Eye Infection Cases Rises"

          The number of confirmed cases of a rare fungal eye infection that can cause blindness has climbed to 122, most of them contact-lens wearers who reported using Bausch & Lomb Inc.'s newest lens cleaner, federal authorities said Friday. More...

Learn more about ReNu contact lens solution injuries and lawsuits.

San Francisco Chronicle, "FDA Warns of Suicide Risk for Paxil"

          The antidepressant Paxil may raise the risk of suicidal behavior in young adults, GlaxoSmithKline and the Food and Drug Administration warned Friday in a letter to doctors.
          The warning letter was accompanied by changes to the labeling of both Paxil and Paxil CR, a controlled-release version of the drug, also called paroxetine. More...

New York Times, "Antidepressant May Raise Suicide Risk"

          After analyzing data from clinical trials, GlaxoSmithKline has sent letters to doctors warning that its antidepressant drug Paxil appears to increase the risk of suicide attempts in some young adults.
          The company said it had changed the labeling on the drug to reflect the finding of the study, which analyzed clinical trial data involving some 15,000 people. The study found that reported suicide attempts were rare but significantly more common in adults who took the drug for depression than in those who received placebo pills. More...

The Australian, "Tower block floors shut after brain tumour alert"

          The top floors of a Melbourne office building were closed down yesterday and 100 people evacuated after a seventh worker in as many years was diagnosed with a brain tumour. More...

New York Times, "More Eye Infections Tied to Bausch ReNu Contact Cleaner"

          An update yesterday from government health authorities on the outbreak of a potentially blinding fungal infection among contact lens users showed a sharp increase in the number of cases involving users of the ReNu brand of lens cleaners made at Bausch & Lomb's Greenville, S.C., factory. More...

Associated Press, "Number of Rare Eye Fungus Cases Increases"

          The number of confirmed cases of a rare eye fungus that can cause scarring of the cornea has climbed above 100 in recent days, but the origin of the infection linked to contact lens cleaners remains a mystery, health authorities said Friday.
          Eye-care products maker Bausch & Lomb Inc. halted U.S. sales of its ReNu with MoistureLoc solution on April 10 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed it was investigating a flurry of Fusarium keratitis infections in Americans using the product. More...

Reuters, "Bausch Confirms Infections in Europe"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc., under pressure since authorities said its contact lens care products might be linked to a spate of serious eye infections in Asia and the United States, said a handful of cases of the infection had also been confirmed in Europe.
          But the company, whose shares fell 6.3% to hit an almost three-year low, denied analysts' suggestions that a large debt buyback announced Wednesday could leave it strapped for cash. Harris Nesbitt analyst Joanne Wuensch said the European cases raised new questions about the already beleaguered company. "They just can't get ahead of it," Wuensch said.

Learn more about ReNu MoistureLoc contact lens solution injuries and lawsuits.

Los Angeles Times, "Kaiser Denied Transplants of Ideally Matched Kidneys; The HMO would not authorize some patients to receive organs from outside its new program"

          Twenty-five Kaiser Permanente patients in Northern California were denied the chance for new kidneys that were nearly perfectly matched to them last year during the troubled start-up of the giant HMO's kidney transplant program in San Francisco, a Times investigation has found. The patients missed this opportunity because they were in effect stranded between two transplant programs. More...

Trial, "Dangers of Birth Control Patch Come to Light"

          The Ortho Evra contraceptive patch is marketed as an easier alternative to oral contraceptives. But this convenience comes at a price: a greater risk of side effects, especially blood clots. The patch and the pill contain similar hormones, but studies have revealed that the patch delivers more estrogen and may be more dangerous than the pill. More...

Associated Press, "Hospital mishap may have exposed 300 patients to HIV or hepatitis"

          [California] health officials are investigating a mishap at Scripps Memorial Hospital that may have exposed nearly 300 obese patients who underwent stomach-reduction surgery to hepatitis or HIV.
          Scripps officials said Wednesday the patients had a "very low" risk of infection because a registered nurse had knowingly violated operating room procedures. The female nurse, whose name was not released, failed to fully clean a gastroscope, which is used to retrieve other surgical instruments from the stomach. More...

The New York Times, "191 Reports of Eye Infection Linked to Lens Cleaners"

          The number of reports of a rare fungal infection linked to contact lens cleaners has edged up slightly in the last week, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
          The CDC said late yesterday that it had now received 191 reports of eye infections caused by a fungus called Fusarium keratitis, including 86 confirmed cases. That was up from 186 reports and 73 confirmed cases last week. More...

Associated Press, "GM to Recall About 40,000 Pickup Trucks"

          General Motors Corp. is recalling about 400,000 pickup trucks due to defective brake lights. The affected vehicles are the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon from the 2004-2006 model years and the 2006 Isuzu i-280 and i-350. More...

Associated Press, "Bausch and Lomb Alerted to Infections in November [2005]"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc., which recently halted U.S. sales of a contact lens cleaner linked to an apparent outbreak of a severe fungal eye infection, said Thursday it was alerted last fall to a rise in infections among lens wearers in Hong Kong.
          The eye-care products maker suspended shipments of its ReNu with MoistureLoc solution in the United States on April 10 [2006] when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed it was scrutinizing a flurry of Fusarium keratitis infections in Americans using the product. More...

The New York Times , "Drug Safety Still Seen as Lagging"

          More than a year after the Food and Drug Administration announced it had strengthened its drug safety system, the agency still lacks a reliable system for keeping track of emerging problems, congressional investigators concluded in a report to be released today. More...

Associated Press, "More Cases of Eye Fungus Reported [Bausch & Lomb ReNu with MoistureLoc]"

          The number of confirmed or suspected cases of an eye fungus that can cause scarring of the cornea and blindness has grown to 176, health officials said Friday. The updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report lists cases of Fusarium keratitis in 28 states. As recently as April 9, health officials said they suspected 109 cases in 17 states. More...

OpEdNews.com, "Wanted by Pharma: Osteoporotic Bones [Fosamax]"

          The primary action of current osteoporosis drugs -- stopping bone "remodeling" or turnover -- may cause rather than prevent bones from breaking. And prevent bones from healing if they do break, causing the very condition it's supposed to cure.
          Then there's the scepter of jaw death. There have been 2400 documented cases of bisphosphonate-related jaw osteonecrosis since 2001, according to UPI, a potentially life-threatening condition often triggered by dental work. Class law suits have already been filed in two states alleging Merck, who makes Fosamax, hid the side effect for greater profit. (Some say renal toxicity is also a side effect.)

For more information on Fosamax jaw injury dangers and lawsuits, click here.

The Associated Press, "Fungus has contact wearers groping for glasses"

          William Spadafora, of Malden, Mass., is among the dozens of contact lens wearers in the United States left groping for glasses thanks to blurred vision and pain from Fusarium keratitis, a nasty fungal infection. Health authorities say most of the victims in 17 states were using ReNu with MoistureLoc eye solution to cleanse their contacts. More...

MMN, "Fosamax Does More Harm Than Good"

          Although Fosamax may improve bone density, experts say when it comes to fracture prevention, its benefit is modest at best. In fact, some researchers say that when taken for more than ten years, Fosamax will actually make bones more brittle and thus, more susceptible to fracture. And even if patients stop taking the drug, doctors say it can stay in the body for up to 10 years.
          In a 2004 letter published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researcher Susan Ott, MD, of the University of Washington wrote: "Many people believe that these drugs are 'bone builders,' but the evidence shows they are actually bone hardeners." More...

New York Times, "Reaction Time of Bausch Is Questioned"

          The way crisis communications experts see it, Bausch & Lomb is like a student who wrote a good term paper, but handed it in too late to pass the course.
          The company's response mechanism has been in high gear since Monday, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it was investigating 109 reports of a rare fungal eye infection that seemed to appear with higher frequency among wearers of soft contact lenses who use Bausch's ReNu With MoistureLoc solution. More...

Associated Press, "Bausch & Lomb Asks Stores to Pull ReNu"

          ReNu with MoistureLoc was being pulled from U.S. store shelves at the request of Bausch & Lomb amid concern the contact lens solution may be linked to a fungal eye infection that can cause blindness.The company also began placing advertisements in newspapers Friday suggesting consumers use another lens care solution for the time being. More...

Bloomberg News, "Bausch & Lomb Ads Apologize to Consumers on Cleaner"

          Bausch & Lomb Inc. ran ads today urging that consumers use other contact lens cleaners made by the company, such as ReNu MultiPlus, rather than one withdrawn after being linked to an infection that can cause blindness. The company late yesterday said it was withdrawing ReNu with MoistureLoc in the U.S. and offering refunds to consumers. A full-page color advertisement in the USA Today newspaper also said the product had not been proven as a cause of the infection, only that there was a "disproportionate association" between it and "a small number of events." More...

Reuters, "Bausch suspends lens solution, faces lawsuit"

          A widely used Bausch & Lomb contact lens solution was pulled from major U.S. retailers' shelves on Thursday at the urging of the company, as a lawsuit was filed charging that it failed to disclose the product's link to serious eye infections among users in Asia. More...

Associated Press, "Suit Alleges Merck Negligently Promoted Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax"

          Merck & Co., which is already facing a raft of cases over its pain reliever Vioxx, may need to hire additional attorneys to fight a recently filed lawsuit alleging the company was negligent in promoting its osteoporosis drug Fosamax. According to a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, Fla., Fosamax is a defective product because it can cause osteonecrosis of the jaw, or a rotting of the jaw bone. The suit, which seeks class action status, alleges that Merck concealed and continues to hide Fosamax's potentially dangerous side effects from patients and doctors. More...

9News.com, "Lawsuits filed regarding Fosamax"

          Another big headache for drugmaker Merck. The company is facing more lawsuits: alleging it misrepresented the safety of its osteoporosis drug Fosamax. Reports link long-term use of Fosamax to a rare disease that can destroy a patient's jawbone. Suits, filed in Florida and Tennessee, claim Merck did not give enough warnings.
          Fosamax is taken by nearly 10 million men and women. Annual sales top $3 billion. Merck says jaw disease can be caused by a number of conditions. It added a warning notice to the drug's label last July after an FDA request. Merck is already facing 10,000 lawsuits due to its Vioxx painkiller.

Associated Press, "Jury Awards Vioxx Plaintiff $9M in Damages"

          A jury awarded $9 million in punitive damages on Tuesday to a man who blamed his heart attack on Vioxx, finding that manufacturer Merck & Co. failed to warn about the risks of its arthritis drug and misrepresented the risks to physicians.
          The damages are in addition to $4.5 million already awarded to John McDarby, 77, of Park Ridge, who suffered a heart attack after four years on Vioxx, a painkiller taken by 20 million Americans before being pulled off the market.
          In its only other loss in a Vioxx case, Merck was ordered last August to pay $253 million to the widow of a man who died after taking the drug for a short time. That amount will be reduced because the law in Texas, where the case was heard, limits punitive damages.
          The drug company said it would appeal.

For more information about Vioxx and the Vioxx lawsuits, please click here to visit our stand-alone Vioxx website.

Newsday, "Problems Cited with Drug Patches"

          About 12 million people use sleek medical patches that deliver medication through the skin. But despite the ease of use provided by the transdermal patches, serious side effects - ranging from blood clots to deaths - have been blamed on some of them. More...

Albuquerque Journal, "Ford Is Sued After Deadly Area Crash"

        The Explorer rolled over in the road and continued into the median between the northbound and southbound I-25 lanes. The Explorer came to rest on its roof. More...

Appellate Court Affirms Jury Verdict Finding Ford Escort Defective

          The Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Knoxville upheld a Cumberland County trial court’s decision in Potter, et al. v. Ford Motor Company. More...

The New York Times, "Guidant Withdraws Stents After Discovering Defects"

          The troubled Guidant Corporation announced yesterday that it would scrap Xience heart stents that had been manufactured for sale in Europe and for clinical testing in Japan after discovering that some of them had defects. Guidant said the action would result in a $15 million write-off in the first quarter.
          Guidant did not identify the defects, saying only that they resulted from a production problem, which it also declined to identify. The company said the production problem had been fixed after the company found that a small number -- about 1 percent -- of the devices being made at the plant in Temecula, Calif., were failing to meet its specifications.

Boston Globe, "Reebok recalls bracelets after boy dies; Canton firm seeking 300,000 after Minn. lead poisoning case"

          Sneaker-maker Reebok International Ltd. said yesterday it is recalling about 300,000 charm bracelets after one was linked to the lead-poisoning death of a 4-year-old in Minnesota. The bracelets, which have heart-shaped charms with Reebok's name on them, were offered as gifts with the purchase of some children's footwear for nearly two years, said Canton-based Reebok. More...

New York Times, "Panel Advises Disclosure of Drugs' Psychotic Effects"

          Stimulants like Ritalin [and Adderall] lead a small number of children to suffer hallucinations that usually feature insects, snakes or worms, according to federal drug officials, and a panel of experts said on Wednesday that physicians and parents needed to be warned of the risk. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Guidant Warns Doctors on Defibrillators"

          Guidant Corp., which is being acquired for $27 billion by Boston Scientific Corp., cautioned doctors Monday to check the voltage on certain implantable defibrillators after the company received several reports of defective devices. The Indianapolis-based medical device maker issued the warning for its Contak Renewal 3 RF and Contak Renewal 4 RF models of defibrillators, which are devices that shock the heart back to a normal rhythm. More...

Washington Post, "Drive to Shred Documents Puts Kids and Pets at Risk"

          As worries about identity theft have driven millions of Americans to buy document-shredding machines, safety officials and pediatricians are warning they can be hazardous, particularly to children and pets.
          Since 2000, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has received 50 reports of injuries from home-shredder machines, including lacerations and amputated fingers. Almost two-thirds of the incidents involved children younger than 5, and some occurred even when there was adult supervision, prompting the agency to issue a safety alert warning parents to never allow children to operate a shredder. More...

New York Times, "Guidant Consultant Advised Company to Release Data on Defects"

          A consultant to the Guidant Corporation told the company last year that he believed it had a clear ethical obligation to tell physicians about heart device defects, and urged the company to overhaul its practices, newly released court records show. More...

New York Times, "Study Details Link of Drugs and Thoughts of Suicide"

          Antidepressant drugs raise the small risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in depressed children and adolescents, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration are reporting today in a detailed published account of findings they reached in 2004. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Tests on sushi from L.A.-area eateries raise questions about FDA mercury monitoring"

          Tuna is arguably the most popular offering at sushi bars. Many customers like slices of blood-red fish slathered in a spicy wasabi sauce. Others prefer the more simple nigiri style, which is sliced tuna over rice.
          But now a public health advocacy group is warning about the safety of tuna sushi and questioning the Food and Drug Administration's system of monitoring the mercury levels in fish, based on tests on a small sample of such delicacies at Los Angeles restaurants. More...

The Philadelphia Inquirer , "Experts: Patches + heat = danger"

          Medical experts say medicated patches, used by 12 million people for a range of ailments, can become unsafe when heated by exercise, soaking in a hot tub, or even a high fever. And they think patients should be warned. More...

Bloomberg News, "Ford said risky tires were OK for SUV; Replacements for Explorer did poorly in rollover tests"

          Ford Motor Co. approved replacement tires for its Explorer sport utility vehicle that made it just as likely to roll over as the originals that Ford blamed for more than 200 deaths. More...

For more information on Ford Explorer rollovers and dangers and Ford Explorer rollover lawsuits, please visit our Vehicle Injuries companion website at www.vehicle-injuries.com.

Washington Post, "Jury Awards Family $8 Million in Death; Oakton High Student One of Two Killed by Trucker Who Fell Asleep"

          A Fairfax County jury awarded $8 million yesterday to the family of an Oakton High School student who was killed in 2002 when a truck driver fell asleep behind the wheel and crushed the car the teenager was riding in. More...

San Jose Mercury News, "Birth defects prompt limits on acne drug"

          Accutane now requires iPledge system: mandatory monthly pregnancy testing and documented use of 2 birth control methods
          Concerns over severe birth defects caused by the acne drug Accutane and its generic counterparts have prompted controversial new prescribing rules that are among the strictest for any drug sold in the United States.
          Starting today, women of childbearing age will be required to submit to mandatory monthly pregnancy tests and document use of two methods of birth control before pharmacists can dispense the drug. More...

New York Times, "Internal Turmoil at Device Maker as Inquiry Grew"

          As the Guidant Corporation came under scrutiny last spring for not telling doctors about potentially fatal defects in its heart devices, the company's public message was upbeat and insistent: concerns about the safety of its products were overblown, it said, and perhaps even irresponsible.
          But newly released documents show that, inside Guidant, executives were struggling to contain a mounting crisis. The records illustrate how a series of miscalculations by Guidant, like its misreading of doctors' tolerance for being kept in the dark and its initial decision not to recall the devices, put the company on the defensive. As a result, company executives repeatedly changed course. More...

Associated Press, "Guidant Cited for Manufacturing Violations"

          Medical device maker Guidant Corp. waited more than a year to tell federal regulators that it had repaired software in a line of defibrillators, according to inspection documents released Thursday. More...

Cyprus Mail, "Boeing faces US lawsuit over Helios crash"

          A team of lawyers representing 11 victims of last August’s Helios Airways plane disaster have announced that the families have filed a lawsuit against Boeing in the United States. More...

Associated Press, "Guidant: FDA Incorrectly Told About Fixes"

          A Guidant Corp. executive acknowledged the medical device maker made changes to one of its defibrillators in 2002 and later incorrectly told federal regulators it had no effect on the product's performance. More...

Chicago Sun-Times, "Boeing sued over deadly crash in Greece"

          A federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday against Chicago-based Boeing Co. on behalf of the estates of two people killed in a plane crash last year in Greece. More...

Associated Press, "Clot Risk for Birth-Control Patch Is Found to Be Double That of Pill"

          A new study shows that women using the Ortho Evra birth-control patch have double the risk of developing blood clots compared with those who take the birth-control pill, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
          But the agency called the results preliminary and said they did not require immediate action other than advising women to discuss the risk with their doctors. More...

Seattle Times, "Toxins Found in Fish for Sale"

          Some fish sold at Washington groceries contains so much mercury or PCBs that people should limit their consumption, a study by the state Department of Health has found. More...

New York Times, "Antidepressants May Harm Infants' Lungs, Report Says"

          Expectant mothers who took antidepressants like Prozac late in their pregnancy were significantly more likely to give birth to an infant with a rare but serious breathing problem, doctors are reporting today.
          The lung disorder, called persistent pulmonary hypertension, strikes 1 to 2 newborns in 1,000, on average, and can be fatal. In babies exposed to antidepressants during the last few months of pregnancy, the study found, the rate was six times as high: 6 to 12 newborns in 1,000.
          In a news conference yesterday, Dr. Sandra L. Kweder, an official at the Food and Drug Administration, which was not involved in the research, said that the study results were "very worrisome," and that the agency planned to search its own database of adverse events for further evidence of risk. She said the F.D.A. would consider whether to require manufacturers to make labeling changes and conduct postmarketing studies to clarify the risk. More....

Associated Press, "Design changes reduce deaths in vehicles struck by SUVs, pickups"

Design changes in sport utility vehicles and pickups have reduced deaths in cars struck by the large vehicles, a study says. More...

ConsumerAffairs.com, "Recalled Trucks Burn As Ford Fiddles; Massive Recall Moves Slowly as New Fires Break Out"

 Despite a massive recall announced in September, Ford trucks are continuing to catch fire and burn -- some of them covered by the recall, some not. More about the Ford fire recall. More...

WSBTV.com, "Trucks Burst Into Flames, Even When Turned Off"

          Some of the most popular trucks on the road just burst into flame while they're shut off in the drive way. Ford Motor Company has a recall to handle the problem. But some customers complain about how Ford handles those whose trucks have already burned up. More...

Southeast Missourian, "Health issues from birth control patch spark lawsuits from local women"

          Marketed to be as effective as the pill, Ortho Evra is the first skin patch approved by the FDA for birth control. But several months after Jackson resident Rachel Cook started using the patch last year, she experienced chest pains and was hospitalized for blood clots in her lungs.
          "The doctor took me off the patch and told me the blood clot was because of the patch," said Cook, who was hospitalized twice more for blood clots. More....

The Madison Record, "Glen Carbon woman asking for $75 million from Ortho Evra producers"

          Jennifer McNichols of Glen Carbon is suing the maker of a skin patch contraceptive for $75 million claiming it caused blood clots.
          Ortho Evra and its makers Ortho McNeil and Johnson & Johnson, already targets of at least seven lawsuits in district court in East St. Louis, were sued in Madison County Circuit Court on Jan. 23.
          According to the complaint, McNichols had to undergo anti-coagulant therapy and vascular surgery because of blood clots in her right calf and thigh. More...

Madison County Record, "Women claim contraceptive didn't come with blood clot warning"

          The popular contraceptive Ortho Evra is the target of seven product liability suits filed by women claiming the drug maker failed to warn them about the risk of developing blood clots. The suits, filed in in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on Jan. 23, each seek damages in excess of $75,000 against defendants Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Johnson & Johnson. More...

BusinessWeek Online, "U.S. seeks Guidant documents from lawyer"

          The Justice Department has ordered an attorney to turn over documents indicating Guidant Corp. continued selling some of its heart defibrillator models after knowing the devices could malfunction. More...

Chicago Tribune, "Some cans of tuna are high in mercury; new FDA findings contradict official statements by the government"

          Newly released government data provide the best evidence to date that some cans of light tuna -- one of America's favorite seafoods -- contain high levels of mercury. Testing by the Food and Drug Administration found that 6 percent of canned light tuna samples contained large amounts of mercury, a toxic metal that can cause learning disabilities in children and neurological problems in adults. More...

Herald Salinas (CA), "Suit over fatal truck crash settled for $4.5M"

          An international lawsuit stemming from a 2004 fatal crash along Highway 101 in Prunedale was settled Monday in Monterey for $4.5 million after less than three full days of trial. More...

Associated Press, "Cancer Warnings to Be Added to 2 Ointments; The FDA announces that Elidel and Protopic, used for eczema, will bear the most serious labels, a move prompted by reports of 78 cases"

          The labels on two prescription creams to treat eczema will have to bear warnings of possible cancer risks, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
          The FDA action follows an agency advisory committee recommendation in February that Elidel and Protopic carry the label warnings. More...

Click here to view our Elidel and Protopic investigation page.

Chicago Tribune, "Cancer risks to limit 2 eczema medicines"

          Novartis AG's Elidel and Astellas Pharma Inc.'s Protopic medicines for the skin disorder eczema may have a cancer risk and should be used only when other treatments fail, according to revised instructions U.S. regulators approved. More...

Click here to view our Elidel and Protopic investigation page.

Washington Post, "Error Rate Greatest In Hospital Radiology; Study Cites Communication Failures"

          One of the most dangerous times in the hospital for patients is when they are wheeled out of their rooms and taken to the radiology department for a test or a procedure, according to report being released today.
          Medication errors that harm patients are seven times more frequent in the course of radiological services than in other hospital settings, according to the analysis by the United States Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit group that sets standards for the drug industry. More...

CBS 13, Sacramento, "Lawsuit Grows Over Birth Control Patch"

          Ortho Evra is the first and only birth control patch on the market. It's marketed to be as effective and an equal to the birth control pill, but in the lawsuits, many women say there are serious health concerns that its parent company, Johnson & Johnson knew of but purposely never disclosed.
          Just a couple of months after using the Ortho Evra patch, 37-year-old Stephanie Sanchez from Roseville says she knew something was wrong. More....

The Los Angeles Times , "Low Scores for SUVs, Pickups; Only six vehicles earn the insurance institute's top rank in rear crashes"

          Head restraints in several sport utility vehicles and pickups poorly protected test dummies from neck injuries in a simulated rear crash at 20 mph, the insurance industry reported Sunday. More...

The Denver Post, "Death spurs car-window debate; Springs tot choked by glass"

          The story of a 3-year-old taken off life support four days after being choked by an electric car window points out the need to eliminate certain switches and other potentially fatal window designs in U.S. cars, a child safety advocate said. More...

         The widow of an Inverness man who was killed in a 2001 accident when his tire blew out and caused his Ford minivan to flip on Interstate 75 has settled with the tire manufacturer, despite the company's insistence that it was not liable in the crash. More...

Associated Press, "Study Shows Children No Safer in SUVs"

          Children are no safer riding in sport utility vehicles than in passenger cars, largely because the doubled risk of rollovers in SUVs cancels out the safety advantages of their greater size and weight, according to a study. More...

CBS 13 (Sacramento), "Lawsuit Grows Over Birth Control Patch"

          Ortho Evra is the first and only birth control patch on the market. It's marketed to be as effective and an equal to the birth control pill, but in the lawsuits, many women say there are serious health concerns that its parent company, Johnson & Johnson knew of but purposely never disclosed. More...
        

Star-Telegram [Fort Worth, TX], "Recent court cases raise questions about trucking safety"

         In what one attorney says is an indication of a “disturbing pattern of dangerous activity” by the nation’s trucking industry, a Fort Worth waste-disposal company became the second local trucking firm this month to be hit with a multimillion-dollar payout after one of its vehicles was involved in a fatal crash. More...

Associated Press, "Accidental Acetaminophen Poisonings Rise"

          Think popping extra pain pills can't hurt? Think again: Accidental poisonings from the nation's most popular pain reliever seem to be rising, making acetaminophen the leading cause of acute liver failure.
          Use it correctly and acetaminophen, best known by the Tylenol brand, lives up to its reputation as one of the safest painkillers. It's taken by some 100 million people a year, and liver damage occurs in only a small fraction of users.
          But it's damage that can kill or require a liver transplant, damage that frustrated liver specialists insist should be avoidable. More...

Bloomberg News, "Guidant Gets FDA Warning, Sanctions on Devices Plant"

          Guidant Corp., the object of a bidding war, was barred by U.S. regulators from exporting heart- rhythm devices from its principal plant in St. Paul, Minnesota, because of product flaws. The shares had their biggest decline in more than seven weeks.
          The action resulted from a September inspection report as the Food and Drug Administration probed defibrillator failures linked to at least seven deaths that forced the recall of 109,000 devices. After the recall, Johnson & Johnson cut $4 billion from its $25.4 billion buyout offer, first made a year ago. Boston Scientific Corp. on Dec. 5 bid $25 billion for Indianapolis-based Guidant.
          "We continue to move forward on our due diligence with the goal of reaching a definitive agreement with Guidant," said Boston Scientific spokesman Paul Donovan in a telephone interview from Italy today after Guidant disclosed the FDA action. "I don't think we're going to have anything more to say right now."
          For more information on the Guidant defibrillator failures, please see our stand-alone Guidant defibrillator website www.guidant-recall-lawsuit.com.

Reuters, "Guidant saw some deaths from heart device: report"

          Medical device maker Guidant Corp. projected that some patients might die as result of short circuits in a company heart device, the New York Times reported Saturday, citing company records filed in connection with a lawsuit.
          Guidant did not publicize the flaw because it appeared to have viewed the overall failure rate as acceptable, according to the documents filed Thursday in a Texas state court in connection with a lawsuit involving Guidant's Prizm 2 DR defibrillator.
          A company report also showed that by the middle of 2002 Guidant determined that the consequences of the defibrillator's electrical failure, although rare, could be "life threatening," the newspaper said. Still, Guidant continued to sell the potentially flawed devices and did not notify doctors about the defect until last spring, when the problem was about to reach the public, the Times said.

The Galveston County Daily News, "Ford hit with historic $16.6M Explorer verdict"

          A 405th State District Court jury hit the Ford Motor Co. with a $16.6 million judgment in the case of a rollover crash that killed a boy, 13. More...

Chicago Tribune, "How safe is tuna? Federal regulators and the tuna industry fail to warn consumers about the true health hazards of an American favorite"

          In the fall of 1970, a chemistry professor in upstate New York reached into his pantry, grabbed a can of tuna and, on a hunch, tested it for mercury. What he found stunned him: levels of the toxic metal far above U.S. safety limits. Embarrassed regulators immediately did their own testing, which confirmed the professor's results.
          Tainted tuna soon captured national headlines and became a cultural reference point, from the butt of Johnny Carson jokes to the lyrics of a Marvin Gaye hit: "Fish full of mercury/Oh mercy, mercy me." Government officials characterized the high mercury levels as an anomaly. After recalling 12 million cans, they pronounced tuna safe to eat again.
          But three decades later, canned tuna still contains mercury --sometimes in amounts as high as those found by the professor. A Chicago Tribune investigation shows the tuna industry has failed to adequately warn consumers about the risks of eating canned tuna, while federal regulators have been reluctant to include the fish in their mercury advisories -- at times amid heavy lobbying by industry. More....

Associated Press, "New England Journal: Merck Concealed Data"

          Vioxx maker Merck & Co. concealed heart attacks suffered by three patients during a clinical study of the now-withdrawn painkiller in a report on the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2000, the journal wrote in an editorial released Thursday.
          The editorial, written by the journal's editor in chief, Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen, executive editor Dr. Gregory D. Curfman and a third doctor, also alleges the study's authors deleted other relevant data before submitting their article for publication.
          "Taken together, these inaccuracies and deletions call into question the integrity of the data on adverse cardiovascular events in this article," the doctors wrote. More...

Associated Press, "Cardiologist Criticizes Merck Behavior"

          A prominent cardiologist testifying against Merck & Co. accused the drugmaker Saturday of engaging in scientific misconduct, suppressing clinical evidence and stifling medical discourse as it promoted the painkiller [Vioxx].
          Dr. Eric Topol, chairman of the cardiovascular medicine department of the Cleveland Clinic, called certain aspects of Merck's behavior "repulsive" and "appalling" during his three-hour videotaped deposition. More...

Detroit Free Press, "Group calls for Ford to unseal safety tests"

          A Washington auto-safety group launched a new effort Thursday to unseal safety tests from Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo division, saying the tests highlight flaws in a new standard for vehicle roof strength backed by federal regulators and automakers.
          While the contents of the documents are well known, safety advocates say making them publicly available would force the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to rethink its new rule for how well car and truck roofs should protect people in rollovers. More...

Automotive News, "Senators rebuke NHTSA on tougher roofs proposal"

         

Two key senators are warning federal regulators that their effort to use tougher roof-strength rules to block rollover lawsuits against automakers may not be legal. More...

Kansas City Star, "Flavoring company close to settling; Popcorn plant lawsuits winding down"

          More than four years after the original lawsuit was filed, the case involving workers at a Jasper, Mo., popcorn plant is finally nearing conclusion. More...

Detroit News, "[Ford] Explorer roof called too weak"

         Many of Ford Motor Co.'s best-selling Explorer SUVs from the 1999 to 2001 model years likely do not meet a crucial safety requirement intended to protect passengers in rollover crashes, a safety engineering firm claimed in a petition filed with the federal government. More...

Reuters Health, "Viagra may be useful for serious lung disease"

          Treatment with Viagra (sildenafil) can improve exercise capacity and functional ability in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious disease involving high pressure in the blood vessels that enter the lungs, new research suggests. More...

St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), "Family blames birth control patch in girl's death; La Crosse couple suing Johnson & Johnson"

          Parents of a 14-year-old Wisconsin girl who died last year are suing the makers of a popular birth control patch for failing to warn people sooner about serious side effects. More...

The Associated Press, "Drug maker issues warning about birth-control patch"

          The makers of a popular birth-control patch warned millions of women Thursday that the patch exposes them to significantly higher doses of hormones and may put them at greater risk for blood clots and other serious side effects than previously disclosed. More...

St. Petersburg Times, "Small SUVs Can Be Big Problem"

         The two-door Ford Explorer that rolled over on the Howard Frankland Bridge and sank in Tampa Bay is one of the most dangerous vehicles on the road, according to insurance industry data. More...

St. Petersburg Times, "Ford explorer Sport Crashes Into River"

         Mujo Jakupovic and his wife, Amira, had been driving east from St. Petersburg on the Howard Frankland about 1 p.m. with their sons, 13-year-old Emrah and 7-year-old Amar. About 200 yards from the end of the bridge, the left rear tire of their green, 1998 Ford Explorer Sport blew out. More...

CBS Morning News, "Increasing questions regarding the safety of using the birth control patch"

SUSAN McGINNIS, anchor:
Safety concerns this morning about the birth control patch Ortho Evra. An estimated four million women have used this patch as an alternative to birth control pills. Well, now some say it's made them very ill. Cynthia Bowers reports.

CYNTHIA BOWERS reporting:
The Ortho Evra patch came onto the market four years ago amid a glitzy ad campaign featuring sexy models and touting convenience. It was a pitch that appealed to millions of American women, including Philomena Ugochukwu. But just 12 days after she began wearing the patch, the Texas mother suffered a debilitating stroke and, two years later, remains almost completely paralyzed. More...

South China Morning Post, "China Eastern Airlines crash families may wait years for result in lawsuit"

          Family members of 21 people killed in last year's China Eastern Airlines plane crash in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, will probably have to wait at least two years for a result in their civil compensation suit lodged in a US state court.
          Flight MU5210 to Shanghai burst into flames less than a minute after takeoff from Baotou on November 21 last year and plunged into a frozen lake, claiming the lives of all 47 passengers and six crew on board, along with two people on the ground.
          The US-based law firm representing the families, Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein, LLP, lodged the suit in California last week against mainland carrier China Eastern Airlines, US-based engine producer General Electric and Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier. In Beijing yesterday, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Robert Nelson, said the crash might have been caused by the plane's
controversial design, the engine's inability to withstand ice and the carrier's failure to request ice removal before takeoff.
          "The CRJ200 hard wing is unforgiving and may have combined with negligence by China Eastern pilots to cause the crash," Mr Nelson said. "We have hired investigation companies. But the problem is they haven't had any access to the plane, which is frustrating."
          For more information about this case, read the case profile on our companion website Global Aviation.com.

The New York Times, "Safety Decoder: How to Make Sense of the Crash Ratings"

          The Ford Escape is "a genius on anything from dirt to gravel to granite," at least according to a recent ad in Maxim magazine. Not only does it have "brains for rocks," whatever that means, it has a computer that checks for "wheel slippage 200 times a second." More...

The New York Times, "Repeated Defect in Heart Devices Exposes a History of Problems"

          Two months after Joshua Oukrop's death, the Guidant Corporation, the country's second-biggest maker of heart defibrillators, acknowledged that it had not told doctors for three years that one model had short-circuited in about two dozen cases, including the one involving him. More...

Associated Press, "Ford Explorer Sport Accident"

         Amanda Read Fomicheve was injured Monday afternoon when a driver lost control of her Ford Explorer Sport vehicle just before 1 p.m. and slammed into the car in front of her. More...

Associated Press, "Chrysler announces recalls affecting about 583,000 vehicles" ["Park-to-Reverse" transmission problems]

          DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said Friday that it would voluntarily recall about 300,000 vehicles with a potential defect that could prevent the driver from placing the transmission in "park." More...

Forbes, "Cancer Drug Might Fight Lethal Lung Hypertension"

          Gleevec, a medication experts have hailed as a wonder drug in the fight against certain cancers, may also come to the rescue of patients battling lethal pulmonary hypertension. According to a case study in the Sept. 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a 61-year-old man suffering from an advanced case of the disease saw his condition improve and stabilize after taking Gleevec (imatinib) -- even though all other medications had failed. More...

MedPage Today, "'Wonder Drugs' May Work Wonders for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension"

          The "wonder drugs" Gleevec (imatinib) and Viagra (sildenafil) make strange bedfellows, but they both appear to improve pulmonary function in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), report researchers here. They described the Gleevec case in a letter published in the Sept. 29 New England Journal of Medicine. More...

The Salt Lake Tribune, "Rollover deaths stun USU; School's field trip to a Box Elder farm ends in a crash, killing nine"

          A Utah State University field trip to a Box Elder County farm ended in tragedy Monday afternoon when a van carrying the students blew a tire on Interstate 84 and rolled four times down an embankment, throwing all 11 on board from the van and killing nine. More...

Bloomberg, "Ford Loses $42 Million Texas Verdict in Rollover Suit"

          A Texas jury today found that Ford Motor Co. should pay $42 million to the family of a 10-year-old boy who was killed when he was partly ejected from a Ford Expedition in a 2004 rollover accident. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "FDA: Defibrillator Defects on the Rise"

          Malfunctions in implanted heart defibrillators were on the rise even before this summer's massive recall by Guidant Corp., government and Harvard University scientists reported Friday.
          About 20 of every 1,000 defibrillators implanted are malfunctioning, and defects led to 31 deaths between 1990 and 2002, concluded research sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration. More...

CNN/Money, "Ford recalling 3.8 million vehicles; Trucks and SUVs recalled for cruise control switch that could cause fires"

          Ford Motor Co. is recalling about 3.8 million trucks and SUVs to fix a cruise control switch that could overheat and burn even when the vehicles are not running. More...

NewsInferno.com (NY), "Missouri Jury Awards Former Popcorn Plant Worker $15 Million for Injuries Caused by Chemicals Used to Make Butter Flavoring"

          On Friday a former popcorn-plant worker was given $15 million for his claim that his exposure to butter-flavoring fumes led to severe respiratory problems. The case was filed by Stephen McNeely a 35-year-old machine operator from Carthage, Missouri, who filled popcorn bags with salt and butter flavoring. More...

The Gazette (Colorado Springs), "Suit: Birth control to blame for brain clot"

          Not long after Amanda Bianchi began using a birth-control patch, she started getting incapacitating headaches, numbness in her hands and ringing in her ears. More...

MSNBC.com, "GM recalls 800,000 pickups, SUVs; Automaker cites potential brake problems"

        General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it was recalling about 800,000 sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks in 14 northern states because corrosion was affecting the antilock brake system, leading to more than 200 low-speed crashes. More...

Automotive News, "Ford loses appeal of $47 million verdict in LS seat-latch lawsuit"

          The Georgia Court of Appeals has let stand a $47.7 million verdict against Ford Motor Co. stemming from the failure of the back-seat latch in a 2000 Lincoln LS. The award included almost $14 million in punitive damages. More...

The New York Times, "FDA Expanding Inquiry Into Heart-Device Company"

          The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it would conduct an extensive inspection of the manufacturing facilities of the Guidant Corporation, a maker of implantable heart devices that is under scrutiny for the way it disclosed product problems. More...

WFMY News (Greensboro, NC), "Ford Trucks Catch Fire, Not Attention; Laura Voos saved the house but not the truck"

          Owners of thousands of Ford light trucks have a bigger concern than high fuel prices, their vehicles could catch fire. Even though they've been warned and offered a repair, CBS News reports that some of the owners are not doing anything about it. More...

The Associated Press, "N.C. patients discuss surgical-tool fiasco"

Star Tribune (Indianapolis), "Guidant promises openness"

          While defending its actions over a recent spate of recalls of its heart devices, a Guidant Corp. executive acknowledged that the industry is entering a new era of disclosure, with doctors demanding more information on product safety than ever before. More...

The New York Post, "Patch Gals Suing; Birth-Control Danger"

          Ten women are uniting to sue the maker of a popular birth-control patch, saying the device caused them to suffer strokes and blood clots, The Post has learned. More...

Star Tribune (Indianapolis), "FDA gives Guidant recall urgency"

          The Food and Drug Administration said late Friday it has given a pacemaker safety advisory issued last week by Guidant Corp. its most serious classification as a product recall.
          The federal regulatory agency classified Guidant's action on nine models of pacemakers as a Class I recall, meaning the FDA has decided there is reasonable probability that if the devices malfunction it could result in "serious adverse health consequences or death." More...

The New York Times, "A Wider Inquiry on Fires in Ford Trucks"

          As Ford Motor faces numerous lawsuits and tries to determine why hundreds of its trucks have burst into flames, federal authorities have widened their investigation into whether a faulty cruise control switch is causing the fires. More...

Associated Press, "Guidant revises safety recommendations for some defibrillator models"

          Guidant Corp. said Friday one of its recent recommendations for correcting problems with some of its defibrillators may actually increase the risk of malfunction in three models implanted in about 21,000 heart patients.
          The company said a programming change it suggested to physicians in June may "significantly increase" the risk that a magnetic switch in the Ventak Prizm, Vitality and Contak Renewal devices would become stuck and prevent them from providing treatment.
          The company said Friday it found that a malfunction had occurred in one of the devices after it was reprogrammed. In that instance, the patient was not injured, but had to have the device replaced. Guidant said it is now investigating other instances of malfunction, including a possible injury.

Associated Press, "Missouri Man Wins $2.7M for Lung Injuries"

          A former popcorn plant worker who claimed his respiratory illness came from a harmful chemical used to make butter flavoring has been awarded about $2.7 million in damages. More...

Associated Press, "Guidant issues warning for 28,000 pacemakers; Faulty seal could lead to malfunction, heart failure, manufacturer says"

          Guidant Corp., already under fire for problems with its implantable defibrillators, on Monday warned physicians replacements might be needed for nine pacemaker models made between 1997 and 2000.
          The safety advisory, which affects 28,000 devices in use worldwide, heightened concerns among heart patients and raised new questions about the wisdom of a planned $25.4 billion acquisition of Guidant by New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Semi crashes on I-80, killing 3"

           Three people were killed and 10 others injured Monday when the driver of a tractor trailer lost control on Interstate 80 in Fairfield and plowed into seven vehicles, authorities said. The accident happened at 8:47 a.m. and closed the four westbound lanes of I-80 just east of Highway 12 for nearly 90 minutes as emergency workers tended to the injured and cleared the roadway. More...

Great Falls Tribune (Montana), "Widow sues for 'popcorn lung'"

          The widow of Centerville's "Popcorn King" Dennis Yatsko has filed a lawsuit in District Court against the manufacturers and distributors of popcorn oil and popcorn butter flavoring, claiming the fumes caused his death. More...

July 17, 2005

The Associated Press, "Birth-Control Patch May Pose Health Risk"

          About a dozen women, most in their late teens and early 20s, died last year from blood clots believed to be related to the birth-control patch Ortho Evra. Dozens more survived strokes and other clot-related problems, according to federal drug safety reports obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request. More...

The Detroit News, "Danger Under the Hood; A little girl dies; attention turns to a faulty Ford part; More than 500 fires reported in pickups, SUVs; probe centers on cruise-control switch"

          On Friday, a family filed a wrongful death suit in a Georgia state court against Ford Motor Co., alleging that a defective cruise-control deactivation switch in the F-150 caused the fire that killed Blake Washington.
          The noise woke Tanika Washington just before dawn, a sound like heavy raindrops beating on the roof.
          But when she sat up in bed, she realized it was the crackling of fire. More...

The Detroit News, "Safety Agency Widens Investigation; NHTSA awaits Ford's internal report into the questionable part, which is in 16 million vehicles"

           With reports of vehicle fires mounting, Ford Motor Co. is racing to meet a mid-August deadline to provide federal investigators with details of its analysis of faulty cruise-control deactivation switches. More...

July 16, 2005

The Associated Press, "Drug company spends millions to promote the patch"

          The popularity of the birth-control patch continues to grow, fueled by millions of dollars in advertising. More...

Associated Press, "Lawsuit blames father's death on defibrillator"

          The family of an elderly man who died when the heart defibrillator implanted in his chest allegedly failed is suing the device's maker and wants to expand the suit to thousands of patients nationwide.
           Although the lawsuit was filed on behalf of Bobby Smith's eldest son, his attorneys said about 24,000 patients nationwide have received defective implants and said they will seek to make their suit against Guidant Corp. a class action. More...

Reuters, "Graco Recalls 1.1 Million Baby Strollers; Products 'fail to latch properly and unexpectedly collapse while in use'"

          Graco Children's Products Inc. has agreed to recall more than 1.1 million strollers because of a risk of collapsing, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday. More...

Associated Press, "Government probes Ford SUVs, Mustangs; NHTSA looking into throttle problems with 2002 Explorers, Mountaineers"

          The government has opened an investigation into the acceleration of some Ford Motor Co. sport utility vehicles and the company's Mustang sports car, officials said Tuesday. More...

Associated Press, "Volkswagens, Fords, Toyotas Recalled"

          Volkswagen AG is recalling nearly 40,000 Jetta sedans in the United States because fuel could leak and start a fire, federal safety regulators said Thursday [July 7, 2005]. More...

Associated Press, "Guidant defibrillator recall becomes more urgent"

          More than 20,600 Guidant Corp. cardiac defibrillators recalled last month have a malfunction that could cause serious injury or death, federal regulators said Friday in classifying the devices as the most urgent recall priority. More...

Click2Houston.com, "NHTSA Requests More Documents In Ford Fire Investigation"

          The federal government is ordering the Ford Motor Co. to hand over more information in the ongoing probe into fires happening in certain trucks and sport utility vehicles. The development comes as the Local 2 Troubleshooter investigation into the fires prompts action from a member of Congress, the station reported Friday.  "It's important that we get to the bottom of this," U.S. Rep. Ted Poe said. More...

Associated Press, "FDA gives heart implant recall highest warning -- not urging removal of Guidant devices; patients should contact doctors"

          A malfunction in some of the Guidant Corp. defibrillators recalled last month could cause serious injury or death, the government said Friday [July 1, 2005] in classifying 20,000 of the devices as the most urgent type of recalls.
          The Food and Drug Administration is not urging that the recalled defibrillators be removed. But it used Friday's action to urge patients to contact their doctors to decide appropriate next steps. More...

Seattle Times, "Rush toward new weight-loss drugs tramples patients' health"

                    Melum, 39, took weight-loss drugs so she could feel healthier and keep up with her two boys, now 11 and 13. The drugs nearly killed her. After being prescribed Redux and a drug combination known as "phen-fen," Melum developed heart damage so severe that in 2002 surgeons had to cut open her chest and heart and install an artificial valve. More...

Los Angeles Times, "SUVs Improve in Rollover Ratings; Regulators credit the popularity of 'crossover' vehicles, which have lower centers of gravity"

          Car manufacturers are doing a better job designing sport utility vehicles to resist rollover accidents, U.S. safety regulators said Wednesday. More...

The Recorder, "Faulty Defibrillator Opens Guidant to Enormous Lawsuits -- Again"

          There's nothing like a short circuit inside thousands of people's chest cavities to jumpstart plaintiff lawyers and shock the heart of a corporate defendant.
          That has become clear over the past month, with a medical-device maker that was already squaring off with several local plaintiff firms suddenly the target of new -- and possibly costly -- litigation by some of the same lawyers. More...

Tennessean.com, "Judge slashes damages against carmaker"

          A Davidson County judge has drastically reduced the punitive damages against DaimlerChrysler in connection with an infant's death after a June 2001 minivan accident. More...

Associated Press, "Patients call doctors after Guidant recall"

          Nervous patients called their doctors Monday to have potentially faulty implanted heart devices checked out after the company offered to replace thousands of them because of flaws.
          For 44-year-old Alan Black, the potential for a short circuit in his defibrillator was enough to convince his doctor to schedule replacement surgery for June 30. The Lock Haven, Pa., resident got his device in 2002. More...

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Singer's mom sues SUV maker"

          The mother of the late hip-hop music star Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes is suing an automaker alleging it ignored warnings that its SUV was prone to roll over. More...

Associated Press, "FDA recalls Guidant heart defibrillators; More than 38,000 implanted devices could malfunction"

          The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will recall more than 38,000 faulty cardiac defibrillators implanted in patients because of potential malfunctions in the devices, the manufacturer Guidant Corp. said Friday.
          Indianapolis-based Guidant said it was voluntarily advising physicians about the safety of several defibrillator models and that regulators had indicated the move would be classified as a recall. More...

BizJournals.com, "Lawsuit blames TI, Ford in woman's death"

          A lawsuit filed by the family of an Iowa woman who died in a fire last month claims Ford Motor Co. and Texas Instruments Inc. are guilty of negligence. More...

National Law Journal, "Integrity agreements could spark litigation"

          On July 1, 2003, medical device maker Guidant Corp. pledged its commitment to comply with a tough corporate integrity agreement after it admitted to 10 felonies and paid a record $92 million for covering up thousands of cases in which its aortic stent malfunctioned. More...

Associated Press, "Concert with Secretary of State Brings Attention to Deadly Disease"

          A musician long before she became an academic and then a world-famous diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took to the Kennedy Center concert stage Saturday to accompany a young soprano battling PPH, an often-fatal disease. Rice's rare and unpublicized appearance at the piano marked a striking departure from her routine as America's No. 1 diplomat. A pianist from the age of 3 she played a half-dozen selections to accompany Charity Sunshine, a 21-year-old singer who was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension a little more than a year ago. More...

KPRC Click2Houston.com, "Flames From Ford Pickup Destroy Neighboring Homes: Investigators Not Sure If Recalled Speed Control Switch Sparked Fire"

         A northeast Harris County homeowner scrambled to get his family and a neighboring family out of their homes early Tuesday morning after he discovered his pickup truck was on fire, Local 2 reported. More...

The Legal Intelligencer, "Wyeth Seeks Mistrial in $200M Damages Suit"

          The pharmaceutical manufacturer Wyeth has asked a Philadelphia judge to declare a mistrial after a jury last week awarded a total of $200 million in potential damages to two Utah women who claimed that diet drugs once marketed by Wyeth caused their heart valves to leak.  More...

The New York Times, "Heart Device Sold Despite Flaw, Data Shows"

          When the Guidant Corporation told doctors last week that a popular implantable heart defibrillator had failed in a small number of cases because of an electrical flaw, it also said that it had fixed the flaw in devices produced after mid-2002.
          But now data provided by Guidant to a Minnesota hospital suggests that the company continued to sell the potentially flawed devices for months after it changed the way it made the device and had begun selling the new ones. More...

Associated Press, "Advocates Push to Make Cars Safer for Kids"

          Child-safety advocates sought support for a bill that would require auto makers to install technology in vehicles to help prevent children from being accidentally strangled by power windows or backed over. More...

The New York Times, "Defibrillator Maker Didn't Reveal Problem"

          The maker of an internal heart defibrillator is acknowledging it waited three years before telling some 24,000 patients and their doctors about an electrical problem that caused a small fraction of the implanted devices to short-circuit.
          The admission by Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp., first reported Tuesday by The New York Times, came about after a Minnesota college student died on a spring break bicycling trip in March.
          The death of 21-year-old Joshua Oukrop, who had a genetic heart disease, is the only one known.
          Guidant disclosed the flaw in its Ventak Prizm 2 Model 1861 to Oukrop's doctors and told them about 25 other cases in which the defibrillator had malfunctioned, the newspaper reported. It did not, however, issue an alert to physicians until it learned the newspaper was preparing a story on the defibrillator.

The Mountain Press, "Family remains hospitalized after Wyoming accident"

          A Seymour couple and their oldest son remain hospitalized here more than a week after the family survived a single-vehicle accident just outside Buffalo, Wyoming. More...

Associated Press, "Toyota Recalling 750,000 Truck, SUVs"

          Toyota Motor Corp., in one of its largest safety recalls ever, said Tuesday it is recalling more than 750,000 pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles because of problems with the front suspension that could hinder steering. More...

USA Today, "Ford truck fire problems widen; More Fords have suspect switch"

          The cruise-control switch that led federal officials in March to begin investigating 3.7 million Ford pickups and SUVs because the switch was linked to engine fires is on at least 6 million additional Ford vehicles, the company acknowledges.
          So far, no engine fires have been definitively linked to the cruise-control switch in the seven additional models, including the 1997-2002 Explorer and the 2001-02 Escape. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is monitoring reports of fires in those vehicles and could expand its investigation to include some or all of them, according to two people with direct knowledge. More...

Reuters, "GM Recalls 2 Million Vehicles, Most Sold in U.S."

          General Motors Corp. on Monday said it was recalling more than 2 million vehicles to fix a variety of potential safety defects, most of them on cars and trucks sold in the United States.
          GM, which led the auto industry in U.S. recalls last year, said the largest of the latest safety actions included nearly 1.5 million full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles from the 2003-2005 model years with second-row seat belts that may be difficult to properly position across passengers' hips. More...

Tri-City Herald (WA), "Prosser Pastor, Son Killed in Arkansas Car Accident"

          

As a Prosser congregation struggled Wednesday night with the news one of their pastors had died in an Arkansas car accident, many found comfort in the message the man spent much of his life sharing. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Jury Awards Family Millions in Ford Suit"

          A Madison County jury has awarded nearly $43.8 million to the family of a 74-year-old Missouri man who died when the gas tank in his Ford-produced Lincoln Town Car caught on fire after the car was struck from behind by another vehicle. More...

The Mountain Press, "Family remains hospitalized after Wyoming accident"

          A Seymour couple and their oldest son remain hospitalized here more than a week after the family survived a single-vehicle accident just outside Buffalo, Wyoming. More...

Reuters, "Maytag recalls 636,000 vacuum cleaners; Hoover handle, tool area can overheat, causing fire hazard"

          Maytag Corp. agreed to recall about 636,000 Hoover vacuum cleaners due to defective on-off switches that can overheat the handle and tool area of the vacuum, causing a fire hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
          Maytag has received reports of 249 vacuums overheating, with one report of a minor burn injury, the CPSC said in a news release.
          The units recalled are models of Hoover Self-Propelled Upright Vacuum Cleaners. Consumers should stop using the vacuums immediately and contact Maytag to schedule a free repair, the CPSC said. Consumers can contact Maytag at 800-250-6075.
          The vacuum cleaners were sold from May 1998 through July 2000 for $259 to $279, the CPSC said.

The Oregonian, "Carmaker, families settle suit over van wreck that killed 5 firefighters: Victims' attorneys call the vehicle that rolled in 2002 in Colorado unsafe; Ford Motor Co. officials defend it"

           A lawsuit over a deadly 2002 rollover accident that killed five firefighters was settled Monday for an undisclosed sum. More...

Medical News Today, "Statins, Other Cholesterol Depletors, May Disrupt Hypertension Development: UCSD Study"

        Novel calcium block attacks cause, rather than symptoms, of idiopathic pulmonary hypertension (IPAH), also called primary pulmonary hypertension. More...

Trial Magazine (ATLA), "Power Windows Can Kill"

          Small children can easily trip the window switches in many vehicles sold today, getting caught and even killed by a swiftly closing window. Better options could and should be used. More...

Reuters, "Hyundai, Kia, recall 30,000 SUVs in U.S.; Problem with anti-rollover devices cited"

          Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. and Kia Motors Corp. are recalling more than 38,000 sport utility vehicles on the U.S. market because of a problem with their electronic stability program, or anti-rollover devices, federal safety regulators said Thursday.
          The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said vehicles from the Korean automakers affected by the recalls included 30,558 Hyundai Tucson and 7,619 Kia Sportage SUVs. Both are from the 2005 model year.
          The problem with the electronic stability program may cause the engine on the SUVs to reduce power automatically, and it could also cause a brake on one of the wheels to be applied without brake pedal activation by the driver, NHTSA said in an advisory on its Web site, the agency said.
          "Brake application caused by inadvertent ESP activation may result in a crash," the agency said.

The New York Times, "Lawsuit Documents and a Study Raise Questions on the Safety of Ford Explorer Roofs"

          A new study and documents from a recent lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company raise fresh questions about the safety of roofs on Ford Explorers. The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen released a study on Wednesday that accuses Ford of ignoring evidence that stronger roofs would lead to fewer injuries. More...

The Kansas City Star, "Flavoring maker must pay couple $15 million"

          A former popcorn-plant worker and his wife were awarded $15 million Friday after a jury found that exposure to butter-flavoring fumes led to his severe lung problems. More...

Associated Press, "U.S. Agency to Investigate More Than 3.7 Million Ford Motor Co. Pickups, SUVs for Defect"

          The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it would investigate more than 3.7 million Ford Motor Co. pickups and sport utility vehicles for a defect in a cruise control switch that led to a January recall.
          The agency said it would examine Ford F-150 pickups from the 1995-1999 and 2001-2002 model years, and Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators from the 1997-1999 and 2001-2002 model years.
          NHTSA officials said they have received 218 complaints of engine fires from the cruise control switch in those models. No injuries or fatalities have been reported.
          The new investigation does not include the 2000 model years of the vehicles, which was covered by the January recall of nearly 800,000 vehicles. Ford said the cruise control switch could short circuit and cause an engine compartment fire when the vehicle was parked or being driven, even if the cruise control was not being used.

KPRC Click2Houston.com, "1999 Ford SUV Suspected Of Sparking Deputy's House Fire"

          A Harris County deputy's home in northwest Harris County caught fire Friday morning and investigators think his Ford sport utility vehicle, parked in the garage, may have sparked the blaze. More...

Times-Union (Jacksonville), "Defects in Explorer blamed for fatal crash; $10.2 million awarded"

          A Jacksonville jury returned a $10.2 million verdict against Ford Motor Co., finding defects in its Explorer's roof and seat belt systems. After the four-week trial, the jury said the death of a Jacksonville woman could have been prevented if the roof had not collapsed. The plaintiff's attorneys are calling the verdict the first in the nation finding fault with the popular SUV's roof. More...

Reuters, "GM's Blazer Ranked Deadliest Car on U.S. Roadways"

          The two-door Chevrolet Blazer from General Motors Corp. has the highest driver death rate of any passenger vehicle on U.S. roadways, a research group with links to the insurance industry said on Tuesday. More...

The New York Times, "Is the Car Unsafe, or the Driver?"

          One way of reading the new report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is that the Mercedes E-Class sedan has the safest design of any car or truck and the two-door Chevrolet Blazer the worst. Another way to read the report, to be released Tuesday, is that E-Class drivers tend to drive more carefully than Blazer drivers. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Couple warns some Land Rover seats are dangerous"

          A Danville, California couple plans to launch a foundation warning drivers of what they consider the danger of inward-facing "jump seats" in some Land Rover SUVs after settling a lawsuit with the company over the death of their 9-year- old son, who was partly ejected in a rollover crash. Joey Moore was wearing a lap belt in one of the two third-row, fold-down seats in his parents' 1995 Land Rover Discovery in the July 2001 crash on Highway 50 in El Dorado County. More...

Crossvilee Chronicle, Tennessee, "$7 million awarded in Ford Motor Co. lawsuit"

          A Cumberland County record $7 million judgment was returned by a jury in a product liability lawsuit against Ford Motor Company filed by a Morgan County woman who suffered permanent injury in a 2002 traffic accident. The lawsuit centered around a seat that Betty and Martin Potter claimed broke during a crash and resulted in Betty Potter suffering a broken back that has left her a paraplegic. More...

Medical News Today, "Study Finds Long-term Treatment with Bosentan Improves Outcomes in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension"

          Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease that carries a poor prognosis. Untreated, about half of patients die within two years. Only recently have specific medicines for this disease become available. While effective, the first available therapy, epoprostenol, proved difficult for patients to use because it is delivered on a continuous intravenous basis rather than in a pill form. More...

The Detroit News, "Automakers find safety means sales - As new technology becomes widespread, savvy consumers come to expect it"

         Here's another sign that times have definitely changed for the auto industry: safety is selling. More...

The Washington Post, "A Lethal Combination"

         The many factors in the crash that killed 16-year-old Lauren Sausville on Dec. 3 came together in a split second, on a curve that would claim her life. More...

Daytona Beach News-Journal, "Deltona man warns of truck fires"

          A Deltona man whose Ford pickup caught fire in his garage, extensively damaging his home, is warning others that it could happen to them, too. More...

BNational Law Journal, "Lawsuits Over Tire-Tread Separations Gain Momentum; Tires 6 years and older, regardless of mileage, are a danger, actions allege"

          Auto accidents allegedly caused by tire-tread separations are sparking lawsuits across the country, with plaintiffs charging that tire manufacturers are selling tires without warning consumers of the potential risk when the tires get older. More...

Tri-City Herald, "Families work to prevent van accidents"

          A year ago today, two Prosser High School students, Belen Campos and Corinne Bardessono, died when a 15-passenger Ford van carrying them slid on black ice on Highway 395 near Ritzville and rolled. More...

The National Law Journal, "Tire-tread separations at center of lawsuits"

          Auto accidents allegedly caused by tire-tread separations are sparking lawsuits across the country, with plaintiffs charging that tire manufacturers are selling tires without warning consumers of the potential risk when the tires get older. A handful of cases have settled, and about 25 lawsuits are currently pending in several states, including California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, according to attorneys involved in tire litigation. More...

The New York Times, "Study Backs Systems to Aid Auto Stability"

          A new study by the insurance industry says that the stability systems available in some cars and trucks can greatly reduce the likelihood of an accident. The technology, which applies brake pressure to help a driver maintain control of the vehicle, was found to reduce the chances of a fatal crash by 34 percent, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. More...

Detroit Free Press, "U.S. keeping crash data secret"

          Federal auto safety officials are backtracking on a pledge to give consumers access to detailed data on which cars and trucks may be linked to deaths, injuries and property damage. The reason: Tire makers have sued to prevent its release. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it will hold off indefinitely on releasing the information while the lawsuit by the country's largest tire makers is argued and decided, which could take months, if not years. Consumer advocates have been clamoring for the release of such data since the 2000 Ford-Firestone rollover debacle. More...

Religion News Service, "Lawsuit filed over van rollover deaths"

          The estates of five young people killed in a single-vehicle church van rollover accident last year have sued Ford Motor Co. and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, claiming Ford was negligent in manufacturing its Econoline E-350 15-passenger van, and Enterprise knew the vans were dangerous. More...

The New York Times, "Safety Gap Grows Wider Between S.U.V.'s and Cars"

          The gap in safety between sport utility vehicles and passenger cars last year was the widest yet recorded, according to new federal traffic data. People driving or riding in a sport utility vehicle in 2003 were nearly 11 percent more likely to die in an accident than people in cars, the figures show. More...

Detroit News, "Feds link injuries to weak roofs; Auto industry will challenge new drive to toughen regulations"

          A new federal study that could have major implications in the growing debate over vehicle roof strength found a strong link between fatalities and injuries, and the severity of crushed roofs in rollover accidents. Automakers have contended for years that there’s no solid evidence of a correlation between roof strength and the likelihood of injury and death in rollover accidents. More...

Associated Press, "Wyeth Agrees to a Fen-Phen Pact"

          More than 40,000 former fen-phen users who contend the diet drugs caused minor heart-valve damage would be compensated faster -- but get substantially less money -- under a proposed deal to speed review of less-serious cases in the protracted litigation. More...

The Dallas Morning News, "Big rigs, big risks on highways"

          The truck had two bad brakes and a tired driver. It carried a load of cars. And it slammed into the back of an SUV carrying two young boys and their fathers. One of the dads was a firefighter, the other a state trooper whose job was to keep bad rigs off the road. Everybody died. More...

New Jersey Law Journal, "New Jersey Judge Readies First Batch of Fen-Phen Lawsuits for Trial"

          Calling the drug manufacturer's protests "overblown," a Bergen County, N.J., judge last week consolidated five fen-phen diet drug cases as the first of 5,800 to go to trial in New Jersey. More...

The Wall Street Journal, "Safety Data Give SUVs Poor Grade In Rollover Tests"

          More than a third of the most popular 2004-model sport-utility vehicles show a tendency to roll over, federal car-safety regulators said yesterday, giving auto makers another dent in their SUV lines. More...

The Associated Press, "Lawmaker calls for stronger guardrails on highways"

          A lawmaker called for stronger guardrails along Florida's highways Monday after a church bus plunged into a canal and killed three children. State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, said highways should be lined by barriers similar to those used to keep airplanes on aircraft carriers. More...

Associated Press, "Government releases new rating system for vehicle rollovers"

          The government's traffic safety agency is expanding its rollover rating system for cars and trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's old rollover ratings were based on height and width as well as a test that includes a sharp turn at up to 80 kph (50 mph) Five stars are given to vehicles that roll over 10 percent of the time or less, and one star to vehicles that roll over between 40 and 50 percent of the time. More...

Detroit Free Press, "U.S. regulators to gauge rollover risk; Vehicles to be ranked good to bad"

          U.S. safety regulators will begin predicting the probability that a vehicle will roll over, cause of more than half the fatalities for sport-utility vehicles. More...

Philippine Daily Inquirer, "A Roof-Crush Lawsuit"

          Despite multimillion-dollar lawsuits arising from rollover accidents involving sport utility vehicles in the United States, SUVs and pickup trucks continue to outsell passenger cars. A series of lawsuits have charged General Motors, Ford and other auto manufacturers with failing to protect occupants in rollovers of SUVs and pickups. More...

Tri-City Herald (Washington), "Large vans focus of lawsuit"

          Tim and Frances Bardessono couldn't help but notice the large number of 15-passenger vans on the road as the Prosser couple drove to Seattle. Their daughter, Corinne Bardessono, 15, was killed in December when the 15-passenger Ford van she was riding in hit black ice on Highway 395 near Ritzville and rolled. Belen Campos, 17, also died in the accident. The two girls were classmates at Prosser High School. More...

The New York Times, "Suspension Failure on Saturn SUV's in Rollover Tests Prompts Inquiry"

          The suspensions on two Saturn Vue sport utility vehicles broke during rollover tests performed by the government last month, causing the left rear wheels of the vehicles to collapse. The suspension failures occurred in separate tests of the two- and four-wheel-drive versions of the Vue, which is made by General Motors. More...

Associated Press, "Wyeth, Fen-Phen Lawyers Propose New Settlement"

          Former fen-phen users seeking compensation for heart problems under a national class-action settlement would get payments sooner but would receive less under a proposed new agreement between drug maker Wyeth and claimants' attorneys. The new agreement must be approved by a federal judge after some details are ironed out over the next couple weeks. More...

Associated Press, "Popcorn worker's lawsuit claims lung damage"

The Washington Post, "27 Fires Linked To Oil Changes In Honda CR-V"

          At least 27 Honda CR-V sport-utility vehicles from the 2003 and 2004 model years burst into flames shortly after getting their first oil changes, according to records provided to the federal government by the manufacturer. While no injuries were reported, many of the vehicles were destroyed, usually with 10,000 miles or fewer on their odometers. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Power window reforms sought in wake of deaths"

          At least seven children nationwide have died since March 30 from strangulation or asphyxiation after their necks were caught by power windows. The rash of deaths has prompted safety advocates to increase pressure on Congress to enact measures that would require vehicles to have safer power-window switches. "We are devastated by these fatalities," says Janette Fennell, president of Kids and Cars, a consumer advocate group that has strenuously pushed for tougher vehicle safety. "Congress can stop children from being needlessly killed by dangerous power windows." More...

Washington Post, "Car Window Deaths Anger Safety Groups"

         

At least seven children have died nationwide in the past three months by getting strangled in automobile power windows, prompting safety advocates to charge the auto industry and the government with dragging their feet in making relatively simple changes to reduce the danger. More...

Associated Press, "Lawsuits could mount in popcorn factory lung problems"

         Several lawsuits have followed a federal study that found breathing problems among popcorn plant workers exposed to butter flavoring, and lawyers say more lawsuits may be on the way. Earlier this year, a jury ordered the company that makes the flavoring to pay a worker in Joplin, Mo., $20 million in damages. Eric Peoples, 32, of Carthage, Mo., claimed he had developed bronchial obliterans, more commonly called "popcorn packer's lung." More...

Good Morning America, "One Wrong Move: Car Window Switches Can Be Deadly for Children"

          Matthew Chappell was serving in the Middle East with the U.S. Air Force when he got the bad news. His 4-year-old daughter was killed in an accident involving a car. More...

CNN Money, "Behind the rollover ratings: NHTSA's SUV rating system doesn't say much"

          If you're shopping for a new sport utility vehicle and you want to buy one that's less likely to roll over in a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's five-star rollover resistance ratings can be helpful. More...

Newsday (New York), "GM's Stabilitrak"

          General Motors says the addition of its stability enhancement system to 15-passenger vans is preventing accidents. The assertions come at a time when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is restating its warning of the rollover risk of 15-passenger vans. More...

Associated Press, "Worker says breathing butter flavoring damaged lungs"

         A worker at the Sioux City factory that makes Jolly Time microwave popcorn has filed a lawsuit claiming that butter flavoring he breathed on the job damaged his lungs. Kevin Remmes, of Sioux City, claimed that the manufacturers of the flavoring didn't provide instructions for its handling and use. The flavoring contains diacetyl, a chemical linked to a rare respiratory disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans, commonly known as popcorn packer's lung. More...

Reuters, "Ford likely to hit speed bump with rollover suit"

          The $369 million in damages slapped on Ford Motor in an Explorer rollover case by plaintiff Benetta Buell-Wilson last week may expose it to more legal setbacks and highlight the automaker's inability to put one of the worst crises in its 100-year history behind it, experts said. More...

The New York Times, "Some Popular SUV's Fare Badly in Rollover Tests"

          The rear-wheel-drive version of the Ford Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport utility vehicle, tipped up on two wheels during a rollover test performed by the government, according to results released Monday. The news comes less than a week after a woman paralyzed in an Explorer rollover accident won a $369 million judgment against the Ford Motor Company. More...

The Detroit News, "Van rollovers spark driver training, fixes; Churches, schools abandon, modify 15-passenger vehicles"

          In Metro Detroit and across the country, fears about the stability and safety of 15-passenger vans have prompted owners churches, child-care centers and white-water rafting operators to rip out seats, arrange special driver training and even install dual rear wheels. Some owners have gone a step further, trading in the vans for small school buses and other vehicles. More...

The Daily News of Los Angeles, "Tire Failure Leads to Two Fatal Crashes"

          Three people from Tehachapi and Rosamond died in two separate weekend crashes on Highway 58 after tread came off tires on the vehicles in which they were riding, officials said Monday. More...

Daily Journal, "Rollover Case Yields Punitives of $246 Million"

         

A San Diego, California jury added $246 million in punitive damages to the $122 million the panel had awarded in compensatory damages to a woman paralyzed by a rollover accident in her Ford Explorer. The plaintiff's lawyers in the case said the verdict against Ford Motor Co. was the first in which a jury decided that poor design of the Explorer caused injuries in rollover crashes. The combined monetary award totaling $368 million is the second-largest verdict against an automaker. More...

Free Press News Services, "Jury orders Ford to pay $122 million"

          A San Diego, California jury ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay at least $122 million to a woman paralyzed in an SUV rollover accident, the first setback in a string of lawsuits involving the Ford Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport-utility vehicle. The final award could be much higher. The award issued late Tuesday covered only compensatory damages. The jury began deliberations Wednesday on punitive damages. Ford said it will appeal. More...

The New York Times, "Regulators Question the Stability of Big Vans"

          

         Federal regulators released a report yesterday that raised new questions about the stability of 15-passenger vans and how they are used. The report comes two days after three members of a Bronx church group were killed and nine were injured in the rollover of a large van at the Canadian border. More..

Associated Press, "Third trial set this month in popcorn flavoring lawsuits"

          The third trial involving claims that butter flavoring used at a popcorn factory caused disabling lung injuries to workers is scheduled to begin later this month. The lawsuits of four former employees, and a spouse of one of the employees, have been combined for a trial that is scheduled to begin June 14. More...

Associated Press, "Texas judge affirms $1 billion award in diet drug case"

          A Texas judge has affirmed a jury's award of more than $1 billion in damages against drug maker Wyeth to the family of a woman who took Pondimin, part of the now-banned weight-loss combination fen-phen. A jury in Beaumont, Texas, granted the award to the family of Cynthia Cappel-Coffey, who died in 2003, a year after she was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension, a condition her attorneys said resulted from taking the drug. More...

The New York Times, "Few SUVs Win Highest U.S. Safety Ratings"

          General Motors' sport utility vehicles generally have poor ratings in the government's frontal crash tests but perform well in side-impact crashes, according to results released Wednesday. The 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Rainier, GMC Envoy, GMC Envoy XUV and Oldsmobile Bravada each earned three out of five stars in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's frontal crash tests. But they earned five stars on the side-impact tests. Three stars means there is a 21 percent to 35 percent chance of serious injury in a similar real-world crash. NHTSA conducts the front-impact test at 35 mph and the side-impact test at 38.5 mph. More...

The New York Times, "In Door Safety Cases, Ford Settles and a Mother Struggles"

          Deborah Seliner says she does not remember the accident, just one moment when she was driving her used 1997 Ford pickup along Highway 6 near College Station and the next moment when she was in the dark carrying on a conversation with someone she decided was God. She was begging him, "God, please, if that is you, let me live for my babies." Her truck, she found later, had blown a rear tire, sending her off the road onto a grassy divider. The truck rolled over, ejecting her, even though she had apparently been wearing a seat belt, through the open driver's side door and hurling her 20 yards onto the pavement.
More...

Associated Press, "Settlement is reached in popcorn plant trial"

          Attorneys announced a confidential settlement Friday just moments before a jury was set to announce a verdict in the second of a series of suits from people who claim a butter flavoring used at the popcorn factory where they worked caused disabling lung injuries. Details of the settlement were not disclosed, but the attorney for sick worker Linda Redman said he was pleased. More...

The New York Times, "Texas Jury Rules Against the Maker of Fen-Phen, a Diet Drug"

          A jury in a state court in Beaumont, Tex., ruled yesterday that the pharmaceutical company Wyeth should pay $1 billion to the family of a woman who died from lung disease that the plaintiff's lawyers said was caused by a diet drug the company made in the 1990's. More...

The Associated Press, "Family Awarded $1 Billion in Diet Drug Case"

          A jury awarded $1 billion to the family of a woman who once took the Wyeth-made diet drug Pondimin, part of the now-banned weight-loss combination fen-phen. The New Jersey-based drug company said Tuesday it would appeal the jury's huge award, which included $900 million in punitive damages. More...

Monterey County Herald, "Danger for Popcorn Workers; Health Workers Try to Determine Extent of Illnesses"

          "We know that butter flavorings are very widely used," said Dr. Gregory Wagner, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Division of Respiratory Disease Studies. "What we don't know is how much injury has occurred." More...

Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho), "Slender at a price... Diet Drugs Users Seek Compensation for Heart Damage"

          On July 8, 1997, the Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory that revealed some unnerving findings at the Mayo Clinic. Twenty-four of the clinic's patients had developed heart valve disease after taking Fen-Phen. Five of them ended up in open-heart surgery, and eight more ended up developing pulmonary hypertension, a sometimes fatal disease of the heart and lungs. More...

The Detroit News, "Thousands killed, hurt as auto roofs collapse"

          Penny Shipler remembers the Chevrolet Blazer rolling over and over, then the sound of the roof crashing down over her head. When it finally stopped, she tried to move. "I was thinking get out, I had to get out," she said. "I thought I was getting out." But the Nebraska woman was paralyzed, her spinal cord crushed on impact with the metal roof that caved in around her. More...

Patient Care Law Weekly, "Popcorn worker awarded $20 million in lawsuit over lung damage"

          Eric Peoples cradled his wife and wept after a jury agreed that vapors from butter flavoring at the microwave popcorn factory where he once worked had permanently ruined his lungs. Peoples said his tears didn't only come out of satisfaction with the $20 million verdict. He also was thinking of the 29 other former workers at the Gilster-Mary Lee plant in Jasper who have cases pending against the same butter-flavoring manufacturers. More...

New York Times, "Viagra may get a role as a lung medication"

          Viagra is only one of several drugs approved or being developed for the lung disease. Some doctors and insurance companies say that it has not been proven effective in rigorous clinical trials, whereas other drugs have. Pulmonary hypertension patients use the drug every day and in higher doses than men who use it before sex, they say, potentially raising new risks. More...

April 10, 2004

The Tribune (Port St. Lucie/Fort Pierce, FL), "Ohio man's lungs crippled by vapors at popcorn plant, doctors say"

          A coughing fit jerks Keith Campbell's body tight, as if he's being strangled by invisible demons. When the spasm passes, he leans his head back into his worn orange recliner and closes his eyes to let the dizziness pass. More...

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), "Arkansas underdog bites big SUV makers in their bank accounts"

          In 1989, a co-worker's grief thrust Tab Turner into an area of trial law that changed his career. An attorney with Friday Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock, Turner was handed the case of Kelly Klemestrud of Memphis, brother of an employee at the law firm. Klemestrud suffered brain damage when his Ford Bronco II rolled over. Turner, 30 years old at the time, refused Ford's initial offer of a $100,000 settlement. More...

Medical Letter from the CDC & FDA, "EPA examines link between microwave popcorn and lung disease"

         The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is studying the chemicals released into the air when a bag of microwave popcorn is popped or opened. Exposure to vapors from butter flavoring in microwave popcorn has been linked to a rare lung disease contracted by factory workers in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has said it suspects the chemical diacetyl caused the illnesses. More...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), "Snack Food: Is It Hurting Workers Who Make It?"

WHAT'S KNOWN: Vapors from butter flavoring used in microwave popcorn put factory workers at risk for developing lung disease.

WHAT'S FEARED: These dangers could also affect workers who make candy, snack cakes and potato chips that use the flavoring. More...

The Associated Press, "Jury awards Nevadans $52 million in suit over Ford truck brakes"

          A federal jury awarded $52 million in damages Friday to the family of a young Nevada boy who was killed nearly 10 years ago when a Ford pickup truck rolled over him because of a defective parking brake. More...

CBS News, "Firestone Tires Under Fire Again"

          William Robbins survived not one, but two accidents where his Firestone Steeltex tires exploded out of the blue. "Looks like a hand grenade went off inside of it," says Robbins. More...

Newsday, "'Real-World' Rollover Tests; In fed check, no SUV gets best rating"

          A Ford Explorer Sport Trac, a small SUV, earned the lowest score among 28 vehicles in the first group to be rated for their rollover propensity using a new track test. More...

          For the first time, some truck-based sport utility vehicles received as many as four out of five stars in rollover ratings, according to 2004 model ratings released yesterday by federal regulators. But the higher ratings may not necessarily mean the vehicles have become safer, because the government has changed the way it tests them. More...

Associated Press, "New rollover test puts Ford SUV at bottom of list"

          The Ford Explorer Sport Trac got the worst rating among 14 vehicles subjected to a new government safety test designed to predict the likelihood of a rollover during a sharp turn. The federal auto-safety agency, which announced the ratings Wednesday, uses a system in which five stars is the best score and means the likelihood of rollover is less than 10 percent. More...

The Detroit News, "Ford Explorer plagued by lawsuits; Majority of cases settled out of court, company says"