Current Events

Some have caused serious injuries

Electronic cigarettes are seen by some as a safer alternative to traditional forms of smoking, though the jury is still largely out on their long-term health effects. Now, the so-called “e-cigs” are facing another safety issue, as multiple users have filed lawsuits alleging their battery-powered devices exploded and, in some cases, caused serious injuries.

Dozens of such suits have been filed in New York, Florida, and California, among other states, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Journal features one affected user in particular: Rachel Berven, who says her e-cigarette exploded in February after she had changed the battery, spilling battery acid across her body and causing burns and dental damage.

E-cigarette models mentioned in lawsuits include those made by Chinese companies Sigelei, iPV Technology Co.
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A Philadelphia jury found Friday that the antipsychotic drug Risperdal caused a Tennessee boy to grow breasts and imposed a $70 million verdict on its manufacturer, Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Lawyers for the boy argued that scientists for the company were well aware of the risks and sought to downplay them. The company disputed that allegation during the Common Pleas Court trial and said that physicians were fully informed of potential side effects.

It was the fifth Risperdal lawsuit tried in Philadelphia, and by far the largest verdict so far. Earlier verdicts ranged from $500,000 to $2.
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Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center and 20 other hospitals tested dozens of specialized medical scopes every day for a month — and found bacteria remained even after rigorous cleaning.

Medical scopes used at 21 Providence Health & Services hospitals in Washington and four other states remained contaminated with bacteria even after cleaning — the same problem that has led to possibly deadly infections in Seattle and across the U.S.

No infections were detected and no patients were harmed during the four-month trial last year, hospital officials said. But the systemwide survey confirmed their worst suspicions, according to Dr.
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Takata Corp. fell after Honda Motor Co. linked its air bag to a fatal accident in Malaysia on Sunday, potentially raising the number of deaths caused by the faulty devices to 15 worldwide

The driver of a 2005 Honda City subcompact died after a crash in the western state of Selangor, Honda’s Malaysia unit said in an e-mailed statement Monday. The model was included in a May 2015 recall, according to the Japanese automaker.

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Anthem Inc., whose $48 billion acquisition of healthcare insurance rival Cigna has run into stiff regulatory headwinds, appears ready to walk away from the deal, The Post has learned.

Anthem Chief Financial Officer John Gallina told a group of 20 analysts earlier that the Indianapolis-based company was working on “remediation plans” that include buying assets from Aetna, two sources at the meeting last week said.

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SEATTLE (AP) -- The physician who used a non-FDA-approved bone cement during a woman's spinal surgery and the company that ran an illegal test market to promote the dangerous product should be held accountable for her death, a lawyer for the woman's daughter told a jury Monday.

Reba Golden was vibrant and healthy when she agreed to let Dr. Jens Chapman operate on her back in 2007, but the surgeon never told Golden or her family that he planned to use a bone cement associated with blood clotting and patient deaths, said attorney Rick Friedman, who represents Cynthia Wilson in a lawsuit against the surgeon, the University of Washington and Synthes Inc.

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Volkswagen will settle its emissions scandal case for $14.7 billion, the largest payout by an automaker to consumers in U.S. history, in an agreement set to be formally announced Tuesday morning, according to two people familiar with the matter.

More than $10 billion of the settlement will go to fix or buy back 475,000 Volkswagens with two-liter diesel engines that were programmed to turn off emissions measurement data outside of laboratory settings, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced.
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The death of 27-year-old Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin has again thrust an auto recall story into the national spotlight.

It has also brought scrutiny to a once-simple function that has grown more complicated in recent years: shifting a vehicle with an automatic transmission into drive or reverse and back to park or neutral.

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Even as the warring parties in Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal prepare to offer a peace proposal this week, the German automaker’s travails are far from over.

Taking shape after months of negotiations is a broad settlement agreement, expected to exceed $10 billion, involving Volkswagen, the federal government and a half-million car owners. The provisions are expected to offer those owners some financial compensation in addition to fixing or buying back their vehicles.

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German automaker Volkswagen Group is expected to deliver a $10 billion settlement to cover government fines and compensate owners of vehicles fitted with software that cheated emissions standards, according to multiple reports.

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A Texas father has been arrested after leaving his 6-month-old daughter in an overheated car where she may have succumbed to heatstroke. But the young child's death was far from a rare occurrence.

So far this year, at least 16 children have reportedly died from heatstroke after being left in hot cars by their caregivers — more than double the number who perished by this time last year.

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