Has your Takata air bag been recalled?
The biggest recall in automotive history grew even larger Monday when Toyota Motor Corp. said it is recalling an additional 1.6 million vehicles to replace potentially faulty front-passenger air bag inflators made by Takata.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has created some online resources to help consumers whose vehicle may have a defective...
Why victims of deadly meningitis outbreak haven’t been compensated
Kathy Pugh quit her job when her mother got sick from a tainted medication, and now Pugh spends her days helping the once-vibrant 85-year-old get out of bed, shower and dress. If her mom ever were compensated for what she endured, Pugh said she would like to install laminate flooring — which would make...
Former Pfizer employee loses another bid to press illegal marketing lawsuit
A federal appeals court last week refused to revive a lawsuit in which a former Pfizer employee alleged the company promoted off-label use of its Lipitor cholesterol pill. In doing so, however, the court also raised a question about the extent to which drug makers may be held responsible for causing federal health...
A New Study Says Your Fitbit Is Probably Wrong About Your Heart Rate
A new study finds that Fitbit’s PurePulse heart monitors can produce “highly inaccurate” results, adding fodder to an ongoing class action against the health care wearables maker.
The study was conducted by researchers at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona on behalf of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, the law firm leading the charge against Fitbit...
Tony Gwynn’s Family Sues Tobacco Industry, Seeking Recourse Over Fatal Habit
The family of Tony Gwynn, a baseball Hall of Famer who died of salivary gland cancer in 2014, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Monday against the tobacco industry, charging that Gwynn had been manipulated into the addiction to smokeless tobacco that ultimately killed him.
The suit was filed in Superior Court in San Diego...
FDA approved high-risk women’s health devices without proper data: Study
Some high-risk women's health devices were approved without proper data, according to a recent study. The findings point to a need for increased oversight from the agency, researchers said.
Scientists at Northwestern University looked at 18 high-risk devices approved by the FDA from 2000 to 2015, including those for menstrual flow reduction, contraception and fetal...
Lawsuits Over Baby Powder Raise Questions About Cancer Risk
Deane Berg thought she was going to die, and she wanted to know why. She was 49, way too young, she thought, to have advanced cancer in her ovaries.
As she scrolled through websites that listed possible causes of ovarian cancer, one jumped out at her: talcum powder. She did not have risk...
How to stop superbugs from killing 10 million people a year
Superbugs could kill one person every three seconds by 2050, the equivalent of 10 million people a year, according to the final report last week from the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, established in 2014 to keep the world from being "cast back into the dark ages of medicine." The authors highlight the increasing...
After years of alleged bullying, an Ohio teen killed herself. Is her school district responsible?
Growing up, Emilie Olsen had an infectious smile, a love for horses and a perfect attendance record. She was a straight-A student and an excellent volleyball player. Emilie “had an extremely sweet spirit about her,” a family friend recalled.
On Dec. 11, 2014, the 13-year-old shot and killed herself at home.
It was a tragedy...
The BMW i3’s range extender is now the subject of a lawsuit
When you buy a BMW i3 electric vehicle, you have the option to include a range-extending gas motor. The REx, as it's known in car-geek parlance, is a 34-horsepower, two-cylinder engine that provides juice to the battery to boost range from about 80 miles to somewhere around 150. But in certain conditions, engaging the...
