- Staff Writer | May 31, 2006 3:51 PM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsWatch out for ads about Zetacap, which is being touted as a gastric bypass pill, far cheaper than surgery. The pill does not require a doctor's prescription because it contains all-natural ingredients which have nothing to do with weight loss. The company who makes Zetacap claims it contains a secret they call "visco-fiber" whic supposedly fills up your stomach, and can transform a person's...
- Staff Writer | May 25, 2006 11:38 AM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsA professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin has conducted a new study which showed that shocks from Tasers cause the hearts of healthy pigs to stop beating. This finding contradicts the previous research financed by, guess who, Taser International. The new study took into account that pigs have a thick layer of muscle insulating their hearts from their skin, so the...
- Staff Writer | May 24, 2006 11:13 AM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsYou can't believe everything you read, even in Medical Journals. Merck deliberately withheld information about three heart attacks from its data when the New England Journal of Medicine reported on VIoxx in March of 2000. Recently, Merck's spin machine is citing new data about patients who stopped using Vioxx after its recall to suggest that it reinforces Merck's argument that only patients...
- Staff Writer | May 22, 2006 11:51 AM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsA study based on FDA records for the last 10 years found that 164,000 external defibrillators (one out of every five) were subject to recall or agency alert. The data included 370 reports of deaths in which the defibrillator malfunctioned. Actually, the number was much higher, 801 adverse-event reports associated with death, but the study only counted the cases in which an emergency worker...
- Staff Writer | May 19, 2006 12:07 PM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsHey Bausch & Lomb, "what took you so long"? The first reports of the Fusarium fungus concerning ReNu with MoistureLoc arose from Hong Kong last November, but in its filing with the FDA on December 15, the company denied any problems with the product. Later, in February, Singapore reported a cluster of cases from the month before. Still later, on March 3rd, a New Jersey opthamologist complained...
- Staff Writer | May 18, 2006 3:10 PM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsSeveral Medical Safety Groups have criticized the makers of heart devices, like defibrillators and pacemakers, for failing to alert doctors to life-threatening flaws in their products. The physicians believe the these companies don't fully assess the patient consequences because engineers, rather than doctors, made the decisions. Finally, two of the companies have agreed to broaden their...
- Staff Writer | May 16, 2006 12:17 PM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsCiting safety concerns, Bausch & Lomb has permanenetly recalled its soft contact lens solution Renu with MoistureLoc. Scientists suspect the disinfectant, Alexidine, in combination with novel moisturizing agents, could have been absorbed into the lens and contributed to an outbreak of rare fungal infections which can scar the cornea and blind its victims. The company is NOT recalling its other...
- Staff Writer | May 15, 2006 2:39 PM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsAfter analyzing the data collected from about 15,000 patients, the FDA has written a letter to doctors and patients of newly discovered links between antidepressant PAXIL and an increased risk of suicides. The latest data revealed that 11 young patients (late teens to thirties) had attempted suicide after taking the drug. Paxilis one of the Serontin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs, like Prozac...
- Staff Writer | May 11, 2006 10:14 AM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsJust because the FDA approves a drug for a specific purpose, that does NOT mean that the drug is safe or effective for other off-label uses. A recent study by the Stanford Prevention Research Center revealed that 15% of prescriptions were for off-label uses lacking scientific support, most commonly among heart drugs (excluding those for cholesterol and high blood pressure) and...
- Staff Writer | May 10, 2006 10:53 AM |
Category:
MiscellaneousThis week's winner of the "Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction" award goes to the $1.7 Million verdict against Alarm One for spanking a female salesperson "for motivation". A California jury rejected the defense argument that the spankings were not discriminatory because they were given to both male and female workers. What a perfect match - a wacking defendant with a wacky defense lawyer! What...
- Staff Writer | May 09, 2006 11:11 AM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsHere they go again. We all know that the oil industry wrote Cheney's energy policy, so it should come as no surprise to learn that the Vaccine manufacturers wrote their Shield Law which Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist secretly amended into a defense bill. His good buddy, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, was his co-conspirator who ordered the exact lanuage to be inserted without debate. ...
- Staff Writer | May 08, 2006 10:19 AM |
Category:
MiscellaneousGood News. The U.S. Merit Protection Board has overturned a 2004 ruling by an Administrative Law Judge so that federal doctors can be guaranteed the same protection as other Federal Whistleblowers. This protects thousands of federal doctors and medical researchers, so called Title 42 workers who work on government research, medical work and safety reviews, who allege federal corruption. Title...
- Staff Writer | May 05, 2006 2:33 PM |
Category:
Automobile AccidentsPlaintiff lawyer David Beradinelli is fighting Allstate's suit to block him from publishing a knockout book entitled, "From Good Hands To Boxing Gloves", which chronicles the insurance company's bad faith strategy to increase profits from its claims handling. Beradinelli's book showcases the role played by consultant McKinsey & Co, who also advised State Farm, Fireman's Fund, USAA, and Farmers...
- Staff Writer | May 04, 2006 3:37 PM |
Category:
MiscellaneousPhysicians are finally realizing that pharmaceutical companies are giving the doctor's prescription preferences and patterns to their 90,000 sales people. The Prescription Data sets up which physicians should be rewarded with perks like gifts, meals and seminars. Targeting "early prescribers" or "cowboys" helps pharmaceutical salesmen promote particular name brand drugs to willing physicians. ...
- Staff Writer | May 03, 2006 3:48 PM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsAttorney Chris Searcy has filed suit against Bausch and Lomb on behalf of two clients who were permanently injured by using its Renu with Moisture LOC solution. Fellow InjuryBoard Attorney Joe Saunders in Florida has also filed suit on behalf of users of Bausch & Lomb's MoistureLoc Renu solution who have suffered eyesight loss or injury. One 69 year old woman lost her eye and the other gentleman...
- Staff Writer | May 01, 2006 3:23 PM |
Category:
Defective & Dangerous ProductsThis July, the first trial is scheduled to commence against Wyeth on the question of whether its menopause drug PREMPO causes breast cancer. Thousands of women who took the drug to combat night sweats and hot flashes, now claim that Wyeth failed to disclose its carcinogenic health risks. The FDA approved PREMPO in 1995. Women who have used the drug for long periods of time should consult...