InjuryBoard Chicago Archives

• Thousands of Heart Devices Recalled

  Staff Writer | June 27, 2006 4:48 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Defective & Dangerous Products

  Boston Scientific is recalling 23,000 heart pacemakers and defibrillators and recommended that 27,000 patients who already have their chests consult their physicians. The defect is a faulty electrical component that could cause them to fail. Boston Scientific purchased Guidant in April for $27.5 billion. The company said that it is not ready for outside regulators from the FDA to review...

• Bush Has Dismantled FDA

  Staff Writer | June 27, 2006 3:21 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Defective & Dangerous Products

  A 15-month Congressional inquiry into FDA enforcement of the nation's food and drug laws has found a frighteningly sharp decline over the last five years. The number of warning letters to drug companies, medical device makers and others is down 54% from 2000 to 2005. Enforcement actions was down 65%, despite a wave of problems with devices, including implantable defibrillators and pacemakers. ...

• Playing Fast and Loose With Fast Foods

  Staff Writer | June 26, 2006 1:47 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Defective & Dangerous Products

  Do you bellieve Fast Food Restaurants should warn customers that their menu items are fatty? How about the Trans-Fat amounts? The recent lawsuit by the Center for Science in the Public Interest against KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) raises the question of whether the Courts are appropriate places to educate public and teach Fast Food chains a lesson about proper labeling. Consumers do have a...

• First Welding Rod Suit

  Staff Writer | June 19, 2006 12:00 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Miscellaneous

  Corpus Christi, Texas will be the venue for the first jury trial to determine whether welding rods cause Parkinson Disease symptoms. Over 3800 lawsuits have been filed in the U.S, consolidated for supervision by a Cleveland Federal District Court. The suits allege that high expsures to manganese and fumes from the burning rods cause shaking, poor balance, difficullty walking and swallowing. ...

• Guidant Papers Show Warnings Never Sent to Doctors

  Staff Writer | June 13, 2006 2:29 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Defective & Dangerous Products

  Newly released corporate documents show that, last year, Guidant drafted but never sent a detailed document to physicians which would have disclosed significant defects in its heart devices. Instead, executives of the company defended their failure to warn doctors by citing concerns that patients would have been at risk from unnecessary device replacement. The "Dear Doctor" letter was...

• Supremes Put Federal Whistle Blowers at Risk

  Staff Writer | June 07, 2006 1:31 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Miscellaneous

  In a 5 to 4 Decision, split on conservative and liberal basis, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal employees, who complain about misconduct by superiors, have no Freedom of Speech rights in the workplace. The opinion affects about 20 million federal employees who, the Court ruled, are not entitled to the same Whistle Blower protection of non-governmental workers. Big surprise, Judge...

• Video Games Make Better Surgeons

  Staff Writer | June 06, 2006 12:58 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Medical Malpractice

  Who would have guessed that a prudent question to ask a potential surgeon was; "Have you played your video games today?" But a new study of 303 surgeons who perform laparoscopic procedures showed that surgeons who played video games immediately before a surgical training session performed better. A similar study in 2003 involving 5000 physicians also found the surgeons growing up with computer...

• Bone Drug Linked to Jaw Disease

  Staff Writer | June 02, 2006 2:25 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Defective & Dangerous Products

  A month after I blogged about Fosamax, the NY Times has run a front page story on the horrible dilemma facing patients with cancer or osteoporosis. The FDA has now required bisphosphonate labels to disclose the serious side effects of death of areas of bone in the jaw, which may occur in one of 10 patients who take the drug. Pharmaceutical companies are defending about 20 suits filed so far by...

• Malpractice Is Never Frivolous

  Staff Writer | June 01, 2006 2:56 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Medical Malpractice

  Every now and then bad things happen to good people who are related to a doctor, and when they do, doctors file Medical Malpractice Lawsuits just like every other victim deserves to do. Recently, in Tacoma, Washington, an anesthesiologist sued the hospital where he once worked, asserting that the staff failed to perform an emergency surgery which would have saved his wife's life. The suit...