Personal Injury Law News & Recall Articles - Third Quarter 2008

Chicago Tribune, "Heparin taint tied to deaths FDA: 3 fatalities linked to material in Baxter product"

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for the first time, has conclusively linked deaths of patients infused with the blood thinner heparin to a foreign substance found in specific lots of the drug made by Deerfield-based Baxter International Inc. In an interview Tuesday with the Tribune, the FDA said it completed its review of 93 death reports related to heparin that the agency received from Jan. 1 to March 31, a period when there was a dramatic spike in potentially deadly allergic reactions from patients who had been injected with heparin. The popular blood thinner is used widely in large dosages, often before patients have dialysis or heart surgery. More...

LA Times, "Liability cap could be tested in deadly Metrolink crash"

Claims in the Chatsworth collision could exceed a federal limit of $200 million for single rail accident

Compensation awards to victims of Friday's Metrolink train crash could easily overwhelm a $200-million cap that Congress imposed 11 years ago on a railroad's liability in any one accident. The limit, adopted as part of the reauthorization of Amtrak in 1997, has never been tested on constitutional grounds, and lawyers and legal scholars differ in their predictions of whether the government will prevail in restricting payouts. More...

Washington Post, "Bisphenol A Linked to Higher Rates of Heart Disease, Diabetes and Liver Problems"

Study: Exposure to Plastics Chemical Elevates Health Risks

The first large study of humans exposed to a chemical widely used in everyday plastics has found that people with higher levels of bisphenol A had higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and liver abnormalities. The research, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association by a team of British and American scientists, compared the health status of 1,455 men and women with the level of the chemical, also known as BPA, in their urine. The researchers divided the subjects into four groups according to their BPA levels and found that those in the quartile with the highest concentrations were nearly three times more likely to have cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest levels, and 2.4 times more likely to have diabetes. Higher BPA levels were also associated with abnormal concentrations of three liver enzymes. More...

Associated Press, "Child dies caught in car's power window"

A 3-year-old boy died after his neck became wedged between a car's power window and door frame, police said Friday. Arturo Campos was apparently playing with the power window controls in the passenger seat while his father spoke on a nearby pay phone, officials said. More...

Timesunion.com, "Worries about a drug's safety: Singulair medicine's side effects can include suicidal tendencies, a grieving family believes"

It strikes Kate Miller as odd that the FDA will tell people to stop eating tomatoes suspected of causing illness, but it doesn't pull a drug off the shelves that might make people suicidal. "If it was a tomato or pepper or dog food, they would have been blasting it all over the media," Miller said. Miller son's Cody, 15, killed himself last summer, 17 days after he started taking Singulair for allergies. The Millers believe Cody's swift transformation from happy to anxious is linked to the drug, though a recent study raised doubt about the connection. More...

CBS News, "New Lawsuit Could Take Bite Out Of Crocs"

The family of a child whose foot was maimed in an escalator accident at the Atlanta airport is suing Crocs Inc., saying the Colorado-based footwear company failed to put safety features in the soft-soled shoes. It's the second federal lawsuit filed this summer involving a child wearing Crocs injured on escalators at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The lawsuit filed Aug. 26 by Clark Meyer, who is the father of a 4-year-old boy identified as "A.M.," seeks $2 million in damages. More...

CNN, "Ford vehicles recalled for fire risk; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warns that defective cruise control switch can cause fires in some Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and trucks"

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has put out another recall warning the owners of some Ford, Lincoln and Mercury SUV's, pickup trucks, vans and cars that their vehicles have a defect that could cause them to catch fire at any time. It's the second advisory NHTSA has put out on this problem, which it describes as a "defective cruise control switch that could lead to a fire at any time, even while the vehicle is turned off, parked and unattended." More...

Law 360, "Following 12 Reported Deaths, FDA Demands Stronger Warnings For TNF-Blockers"

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that the manufacturers of four drugs known as tumor necrosis factor alpha blockers must strengthen the existing safety warnings for the medications in the wake of reports of invasive fungal infections and several deaths. In calling for the move, the agency exercised its new authority under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 to require manufacturers of TNF inhibitors to make safety-related changes to prescribing information for Centocor Pharmaceuticals' Remicade, Amgen Inc.'s Enbrel, Abbott Laboratories' Humira and Nektar's Cimzia. More...

Kansas City Star, "Simplicity Bassinet Recall: Infant's Death Spurs Warning on Bassinets"

Federal officials on Thursday urged retailers to stop selling Simplicity bassinets connected to two infant deaths, including one last week in Shawnee. The Consumer Product Safety Commission secured agreements with Wal-Mart, Toys "R" Us, Kmart, Big Lots, Target and J.C. Penney to voluntarily stop selling the nearly 900,000 bassinets. More...

Associated Press, "5 Americans among 10 killed in Guatemalan plane crash"

A small plane crashed in a field in eastern Guatemala on Sunday, killing 10 people, including five Americans, aviation and army officials said. The Cessna Caravan 208 was on route to the town of El Estor when it crashed in a field of crops about 60 miles east of Guatemala. More...

Sunday Times UK, "August 20 Spanair crash that killed over 150 recalls 1987 Detroit disaster"

Experts investigating the August 20, 2008 Spanish air crash, in which 154 people died, are reviewing a disaster in Detroit two decades ago that had striking similarities. Mechanical failure, human error or a combination of the two are presumed to have doomed Spanair flight JK5022 as it tried to take off for the Canary Islands from Barajas airport in Madrid on Wednesday afternoon. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "68 die, 22 survive airliner crash in Kyrgyzstan"

A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyz high school sports team, crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday near the Kyrgyz capital, killing 68, government officials said. The Boeing 737 was headed to Iran when it crashed near Bishkek's Manas International Airport, said government spokeswoman Roza Daudova. Twenty-two people, including two crew members, survived the accident. Earlier, Daudova, had said there were at least 71 dead and 25 survivors, but she later gave lower figures. More...

ABC News, "At Least 150 Dead When Spanair Plane Catches Fire on Takeoff at Madrid Airport"

A Spanish passenger plane crashed on takeoff from Madrid's Barajas International Airport Wednesday. According to the airport authority and local media reports, the Spainair plane shot off the runway at Terminal 4. El Mundo newspaper reported that 150 people have died, and another 20 are believed critically wounded. More...

Tulsa World, "ATV crashes kill two, hurt one"

Two people died and a third person was injured in all-terrain vehicle accidents over the weekend, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported. More...

News-Express, "Yamaha Rhino ATV accidents claim two lives over weekend"

An ATV accident on Sunday claimed the life of a 12-year-old Dorton girl. More...

Reuters, "FDA: Boston Scientific Recalls NexStent Products"

Boston Scientific Corp is recalling its NexStent carotid artery products because part of the stent's delivery system can detach and cause injury, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. More...

New York Times, "Zimmer Hip Sales Suspension; A Call for a Warning System on Artificial Joints"

Dr. Lawrence Dorr, a nationally known orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles, realized last year that something was very wrong with some of his patients. Months after routine hip replacements, patients who had expected to live without pain were in agony. "I saw one of Zimmer's engineers at a meeting, and I told her that you should pull this cup because you are crippling patients," Dr. Dorr said. More...

Ortho Supersite, "Zimmer temporarily suspends marketing, distribution of Durom acetabular hip replacement component"

Zimmer Holdings Inc. announced in a press release that it is temporarily suspending marketing and sales of the Durom acetabular component – also known as the Durom Cup – in the United States. The company also lowered its earnings outlook as a result of the suspension, and its shares fell sharply the day after the announcement was made. The company will update labeling for the Durom Cup to provide more detailed surgical technique instructions to surgeons, and the company will implement a surgical training program in the United States. Learn more...

News Inferno, "Durom Cup Hip Device Sales Halted Over Questionable Design"

The nation's biggest producer of orthopedic devices says it is suspending sales of an artificial hip component that some say is failing at high rates. Zimmer Holdings, based in Warsaw, is also lowering its earnings outlook due to the suspension; shares fell sharply yesterday. The Durom cup has been implanted in over 12,000 patients since it was first sold in the United States in 2006. More...

New York Times, "Complaints Undermine Zimmer Hip Cup Device; Hundreds Expected to Require Revision Surgeries"

Zimmer Holdings, the nation's biggest producer of orthopedic devices, says it will suspend sales of an artificial hip component that some doctors have complained was failing at a high rate. The company lowered its earnings outlook as a result of the suspension, and its shares fell sharply Wednesday. More...

Portfolio Media, "New Study Hints At More Fosamax Problems"

While the litigation over Fosamax continues to unfold, another clinical study has been released that suggests the osteoporosis drug may actually hinder bone growth and increase the possibility of fractures. The study, conducted by physicians at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, indicated that extended use of Fosamax and other bisphosphonates may increase the risk of femur fractures, News Inferno reported. The study also revealed that long-term use of Fosamax can suppress bone metabolism, which reportedly restricts the repair of microdamage and increases the chance of breaks. More...

Learn more about Fosamax injuries and your legal rights.

San Francisco Chronicle, "Hospital error blamed for more infant Heparin overdoses, 2 deaths"

The case of 14 babies who received accidental overdoses while in intensive care has raised new questions about how a common blood-thinning medication could be given to infants repeatedly in the wrong dosage. Unlike a previous case involving twins of actor Dennis Quaid, the Texas newborns got the overdose because of an error at the hospital pharmacy, not a labeling problem. Quaid sued one of heparin's manufacturers last year after his children's overdose was traced to a hospital pharmacy worker who grabbed vials of the wrong dosage because the labels looked almost identical if turned a certain way. More...

CNN, "Up to 17 babies given overdoses of heparin blood thinner, one dies"

A Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital is investigating how up to 17 babies in a neonatal intensive care unit received overdoses of the blood thinner heparin. One of the babies died. The infant was one of 17 who may have received a more concentrated form of heparin than was prescribed, Christus Spohn Hospital South said in a statement. Officials at Christus Spohn Hospital South say corrective action was taken after the discovery of the overdoses. More...