Personal Injury Law News & Recall Articles

New York Times, "Defective Ceramic Hip Implant Latest News: Squeaking Artificial Ceramic Hips"

Hundreds of patients have become guinea pigs in an unfolding medical mystery. Their artificial hips are made of ceramic materials that were promoted as being much more durable than older models. But for reasons not yet fully understood, their hips started to squeak, raising questions about whether the noises herald more serious malfunctions. More than 250,000 Americans get total hip implants each year, a procedure that generally costs close to $45,000. Hip replacements have a success rate of more than 90 percent, based on patients’ achieving relatively pain-free mobility after recovery periods that range from a few months to a year. More...

Associated Press, "Families of contaminated heparin victims tell stories of deaths"

The widow of a man who died after receiving contaminated heparin told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday "we have a false sense of security" in a land where people expect to be protected and safe. More...

LA Times , "Contaminated Blood Thinner Heparin Called a Worldwide Problem"

A contaminated blood thinner from China suspected in dozens of U.S. deaths has become a worldwide public health problem, with 10 other countries detecting the often-toxic ingredient, federal investigators said Monday. More...

International Herald-Tribune, "Merck wrote drug studies for doctors"

          The drug maker Merck drafted dozens of research studies for a best-selling drug, then lined up prestigious doctors to put their names on the reports before publication, according to an article to be published Wednesday in a leading medical journal. The article, based on documents unearthed in lawsuits over the pain drug Vioxx, provides a rare, detailed look in the industry practice of ghostwriting medical research studies that are then published in academic journals. More...

New York Times, "Faulty Ford cruise control switch has been blamed for 1,500 fires"

          After six recalls to correct problems with millions of Ford Motor Company cruise-control switches blamed for almost 1,500 fires, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration took an unusual step. In February, it issued a consumer advisory urging owners whose vehicles had not yet been fixed to have the switches disconnected immediately. More...

Portfolio Media, "FDA Warns Of High Mortality Rate For Medtronic Stent"

          Patients using Medtronic Inc.'s AneuRx stent graft system have a higher mortality rate than previously thought, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced this week. In a statement posted on its Web site, the FDA wrote that the per-year mortality risk in patients receiving the stent continues to increase for years after the device is implanted. The mortality rate is also significantly higher for patients who have the stent than for patients who have surgery, the FDA said. More...

Associated Press, "Contaminant found in heparin"

U.S. health officials have identified a contaminant in batches of the blood thinner heparin associated with 19 deaths and are trying to determine how the chemical got into the drug. More...

Associated Press, "FDA Links More Deaths to Medtronic AneuRx Stent"

          Patients treated with a Medtronic AneuRx stent to prevent aneurysms appear more likely to die than those who undergo surgery, the FDA said Tuesday. The FDA said new data on the company's AneuRx stent showed patients who've had the device implanted for five years are increasingly likely to die of an aneurysm. FDA has issued similar alerts before, but the new data show the risks keep climbing years after the stent is implanted. More...

Chicago Tribune, "Flood of drugs, little oversight [Heparin and other drugs]"

          By the time St. Louis Children's Hospital called in its infectious-disease specialist Jan. 4 to diagnose a mysterious spike in allergic reactions to kidney dialysis, it was clear there was a major problem. Three patients had become ill after taking the blood-thinning drug heparin. One had developed the same reaction during a dialysis treatment in November. Minutes after dialysis needles punctured their veins, the boys' lips and eyelids swelled. Their blood pressure dropped, and their heartbeats raced at dangerous levels. When infectious-disease specialist Dr. Alexis Elward homed in on the problem -- putting high on her list the drug made by Baxter International Inc. of Deerfield -- she became the first doctor to alert the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It wasn't until late in February, though, that Elward and others learned that no U.S. or Chinese government inspectors had visited the Chinese plant that produced the drug now linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as 21 deaths across the U.S. More...

Learn more about Heparin dangers and your legal rights.

New York Times, "Blood Thinner Heparin Might Be Tied to More Deaths"

          Amid indications that more people may have died or been harmed after being given a brand of the blood thinner heparin, federal drug regulators said Thursday that they had found "potential deficiencies" at a Chinese plant that supplied much of the active ingredient for the drug. Baxter International, which makes the brand of heparin associated with the problems, and buys supplies from the Chinese plant, announced that it was expanding a recall to include virtually all its heparin products. Though Baxter produces much of the heparin used in the United States, regulators said the other major supplier would be able to meet the demand. More...

Portfolio Media (NY), "Mitsubishi Ordered To Pay $11M In SUV Death Case"

          A Florida state court jury ordered Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to pay $11 million to the parents of a 25-year-old man who died after being thrown through the window of a Mitsubishi sport utility vehicle in a 2004 crash. On Tuesday, the jury found that there was a design defect in the SUV and that the defect caused Scott Laliberte's death, according an attorney for the plaintiffs (Laliberte's parents). The jury award totaled $11 million in compensatory damages. More...

Palm Beach Post , "Mitsubishi must pay $11 million to family of man ejected from SUV"

In a products liability case watched across continents, a jury this afternoon ordered Mitsubishi Motors to pay nearly $11 million in damages to a Maine couple whose son died after being partially ejected from a Nativa SUV. More...

IV Press Online, "Two Young Persons Killed Yesterday by Yamaha Rhinos at Same Dunes"

          The names of victims involved in two separate fatal crashes that occurred within hours of each other at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area were released Monday. Yucaipa resident Stephanie Ann Katin, 26, was killed Saturday after being partially ejected from a rented Yamaha Rhino all-terrain vehicle that slid sideways down a 30-foot sand dune. More...

Detroit News, "Ford faces lengthy lawsuits over cruise control switch fires"

Carmaker wins merger of cases in Texas over faulty switches, but it still has other court fights.

          Ford Motor Co. won a legal battle last week to merge 77 lawsuits filed in Texas over a series of fires linked to a faulty cruise control deactivation switch. But the Dearborn automaker still faces many other court fights stemming from a series of engine fires linked to a faulty switch in 10 million vehicles that Ford has recalled in seven campaigns since 1999. Combined, the campaigns represent one of the largest recalls in U.S. history. The $21 Texas Instruments switches were installed in 16 million Ford vehicles over a decade before the automaker stopped using them in 2002. The switches have been linked to nearly 550 vehicle fires and 1,500 complaints. And now Ford faces more than 125 lawsuits around the country. More...

Los Angeles Times, "California lags in reporting of hospitals' drug-resistant infection rates"

Experts say the state should require healthcare facilities to publicly disclose such information; "The hospitals are the infection hot spots... They're not following hygienic procedures. These deaths are preventable, and whatever they're doing is obviously not enough."

When California officials announced this month that they would begin tracking virulent "superbug" infections in gyms, schools and other community settings, they billed it as a major advance in public health. But the plan would capture just a fraction of drug-resistant infections, leaving the vast majority unreported to the state and unknown to the public, according to experts and consumer advocates. Disease-tracking experts say California lags behind at least 15 other states that monitor such infections where they are most likely to occur: in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "New link to deaths for off-the-market heart surgery drug Trasylol"

          Heart surgery patients were more likely to die if given the anti-bleeding drug Trasylol, two more U.S. studies have found, renewing the claims that the drug is dangerous. Bayer AG stopped selling the drug last fall, after a Canadian study was halted because of deaths among patients taking Trasylol. But the new research reignited controversy over Trasylol, which was on the market for 14 years and used by doctors to treat hundreds of thousands of heart bypass patients each year. More...

CBS, "Researcher estimates Trasylol killed 22,000 patients"

          A renowned researcher calculates that 22,000 patients could have been saved if the Food and Drug Administration removed the heart surgery drug Trasylol two years ago, when his study revealed widespread death associated with it. The researcher, Dr. Dennis Mangano, also told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley that Bayer, the drug's maker, failed to tell the FDA about negative results of their own Trasylol study and that the company's failure placed the drug's success before patient well-being. More...

Associated Press, "Pain patches recalled due to possibly fatal flaw"

          Patches containing the prescription painkiller fentanyl were recalled Tuesday because of a flaw that could cause patients or caregivers to overdose on the potent drug inside. Sold in the United States under the brand name Duragesic by PriCara and generically by Sandoz Inc., the recall includes all 25-microgram-per-hour patches with expiration dates on or before December 2009. More...

ABC News, "Congress - Science for Sale? Congress Launches Probe Into Firm's Work on Chemical Used to Make Many Plastic Bottles"

          Congress is investigating a Washington, D.C.-based firm which critics charge "manufactures uncertainty" on behalf of chemical companies to help keep their products free from government bans or other restrictions. "The tactics apparently employed by the Weinberg Group raise serious questions about whether science is for sale at these consulting groups," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, in a statement Wednesday. His panel is heading up the probe. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Cold medicines reportedly send 7,000 kids a year to ER"

          More than 7,000 children get rushed to emergency rooms each year after suffering adverse reactions to cough and cold medicines, according to the first national estimate of the risks posed by the widely used remedies. Most of the problems occur in children ages 2 to 5 who get into the medications on their own, researchers said, based on their analysis of data from a nationally representative sample of 63 emergency rooms in 2004 and 2005. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "5 Patients Sue Over Tainted Syringes"

          Five people filed a lawsuit Thursday against the manufacturer of a batch of pre-filled syringes that were contaminated with bacteria, claiming they became seriously ill and were hospitalized. In December, doctors traced numerous infections to heparin-filled syringes used during home treatment for cancer and other ailments. About 40 people in Illinois and Texas became sick, including 20 outpatients from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The syringes are used to flush catheters and intravenous lines. More...

Globe and Mail (Canada), "More links between birth-control patch and blood-clot risk"

          A new warning is being issued over the safety of the birth-control patch after a study found women on the patch are twice as likely to develop serious blood clots as those taking oral contraceptives. It's the second study in less than two years that found women using the Ortho Evra patch - marketed as Evra in Canada - face increased risks for developing blood clots, and is raising new concerns about the potential dangers of this contraceptive method. More...

USA Today, "Popcorn additive out of bag"

ConAgra has removed a controversial chemical from its microwave popcorn that gives the snack a buttery, creamy taste, citing concern for its workers' health. More...

Star-Ledger (NJ), "New label for Ortho Evra birth control patch"

          The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved an updated label for Johnson & Johnson's Ortho Evra birth control patch that gives heightened emphasis to the risk of serious blood clots some women could face. More...

AP, "Study links blood clots to Ortho Evra contraceptive patch"

          A new study showing an increased risk of blood clots among women using a contraceptive skin patch prompted the Food and Drug Administration on Friday to add that finding to the drug's label. More...

FDA Safety Warning: FDA Approves Update to Label on Birth Control Patch

          The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved additional changes to the Ortho Evra Contraceptive Transdermal (Skin) Patch label to include the results of a new epidemiology study that found that users of the birth control patch were at higher risk of developing serious blood clots, also known as venous thromboembolism (VTE), than women using birth control pills. More...

University Wire, "Too much popcorn can be dangerous"

Although everyone's comfort foods are different, many people probably regard popcorn as their sustenance of choice after a hard week. More...

Progressive Grocer, "Pop Corn Maker Sued by Man with 'Popcorn Lung'"

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages on behalf of plaintiff Wayne Watson, stated that the companies "failed to warn that preparing microwave popcorn in a microwave oven as intended and smelling the buttery aroma could expose the consumer to an inhalation hazard and a risk of lung injury." More...

Associated Press, "Popcorn eater files lawsuit claiming flavor chemical caused lung condition"

A Denver man believed to be the only consumer to develop "popcorn lung" from regular servings of microwave popcorn filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming injury from the artificial butter flavoring that previously sickened only pop-corn factory workers. More...

Greenwire, "Service industry workers call for ban on diacetyl in cooking oils"

North America's largest union for hotel, restaurant and kitchen workers, called UNITE HERE, has called on manu-facturers of cooking oils to stop using a chemical ingredient in their products called diacetyl, which is blamed for the development of a lung-destroying condition called bronchiolitis obliterans in people exposed to large amounts of the substance. More...

Lab Business Week, "Californian With Recalled Heart Lead Files Class Action Lawsuit to Hold Medtronic Responsible for Cost of Medical Care"

       Class counsel announced that Rashid Hunter of Fremont, California, filed a class lawsuit against Medtronic Inc., on behalf of all Californians implanted with Sprint Fidelis leads, the wiring that connects a defibrillator to the heart. More...

Times Leader (PA), "Family sues Pennsylvania hospital over newborn twin's death"

          The family of a newborn twin who died after what a Montour County hospital acknowledges was a medication error has filed a lawsuit against the hospital. The surviving twin was left with a permanent brain injury, according to the suit filed against Geisinger Medical Center. A day after their premature birth last August, twins Josiah and Nevaeh Mertune were given an antibiotic to defend against infections. An overdose of the medicine sent both babies into cardiac arrest, which caused the twins "catastrophic and permanent injuries," according to the lawsuit. More...

Lab Business Week, "Californian With Recalled Heart Lead Files Class Action Lawsuit to Hold Medtronic Responsible for Cost of Medical Care"

        Class counsel announced that Rashid Hunter of Fremont, California, filed a class lawsuit against Medtronic Inc., on behalf of all Californians implanted with Sprint Fidelis leads, the wiring that connects a defibrillator to the heart. More...

Inside Bay Area.com, "Fremont man sues medical firm; Class-action lawsuit could affect thousands of Californians"

          A Fremont man has filed a class-action lawsuit against Medtronic Inc., a Minnesota-based medical technology company whose defibrillator wires for heart patients were recalled in October. In a complaint filed in a San Francisco federal court late last month, plaintiff Rashid Hunter alleged that four types of wires, or leads, sold under the Sprint Fidelis label were prone to bending or kinking. More...