Current Events

His pulse was frighteningly slow and he wasn’t breathing.

The father was Middle Eastern and couldn’t tell my fellow doctor-in-training what was wrong.

A Listeria scare has triggered a massive recall at hundreds of grocery stores nationwide.

The recall includes 382 frozen fruits and vegetables sold under 42 different brand names at stores including Trader Joe's, Safeway, Walmart (Great Value brand), Costco (Kirkland brand), and others.

The nation’s consumer watchdog is unveiling a proposed rule on Thursday that would restore customers’ rights to bring class-action lawsuits against financial firms, giving Americans major new protections and delivering a serious blow to Wall Street that could cost the industry billions of dollars.

Nightmare stories of nurses giving potent drugs meant for one patient to another and surgeons removing the wrong body parts  have dominated recent headlines about medical care. Lest you assume those cases are the exceptions, a new study by patient safety researchers provides some context.

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Regulators are expected to announce as early as Wednesday that at least 35 million additional airbags made by Takata will need to be fixed, according to a person briefed on the matter. This would more than double what is already the largest automotive recall in American history.

The airbags can unexpectedly explode, sending metal parts hurtling into the cabin. At least 11 deaths worldwide have been linked to the defect.

The expansion would bring the total of recalled Takata airbags to at least 63 million in the United States — possibly affecting nearly one in four of the 250 million vehicles on America’s roads.
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Johnson & Johnson must pay $55 million to a 62-year-old South Dakota woman who blamed her ovarian cancer on the company’s talcum powder in the second such trial loss this year.

J&J is accused in more than 1,000 lawsuits in state and federal courts of ignoring studies linking its Shower-to-Shower product and Johnson’s Baby Powder to ovarian cancer. Women contend the company knew the risk and failed to warn customers. In February, J&J lost a $72 million verdict in the same St. Louis courthouse to the family of a woman who died of the disease.

An earlier investigation of the 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the 2012-2014 Dodge Charger, and the 2012-2014 Chrysler 300 has resulted in a recall to fix a problem with their shifters, which allowed some owners to exit their vehicles without putting them in 'PARK'.

Back in January, we told you about a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation of rollaway complaints related to the 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the 2012-2014 Dodge Charger, and the 2012-2014 Chrysler 300. That investigation has now resulted in a recall of those models to fix a problem with their shifters, which has allowed some owners to exit their vehicles without putting them in "PARK".

The recall affects more than 1.1 million vehicles worldwide.
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Nearly 4 million Nissan cars are being recalled due to major safety problems where passenger air bags or seat belts could fail in a crash, leading to serious injuries or fatalities.

The two recalls are just the latest in a string of safety problems to hit automakers in the past year with Acura, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Lexus, Mazda, Toyota and other manufactures having to recall cars over air bag problems. The Nissan problems are unrelated to the other air bag issues.

Nissan North America, Inc. said that 3.
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Takata Corp. raised provisions for its air bag recalls that involve more than a dozen auto manufacturers, after denying reports that the biggest safety crisis in the industry’s history will expand further.

The auto parts supplier will book a combined 20.1 billion yen ($189 million) in charges, 16.6 billion of which was decided after reviewing air bag recall costs, according to a statement on Monday.