Current Events

Medtronic and the FDA were both aware of battery and wire connection defects in a now-recalled heart failure pacemaker for over a year before patients developed serious side effects, according to a report published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

When the FDA did issue a recall, the report found, the agency’s information was incomplete and underestimated the severity of the pacemaker’s defects.

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(Reuters) - E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc bought online advertisements on teen-focused websites for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Seventeen magazine after it launched its product in 2015, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office. The allegations in the lawsuit, stemming from a more than year-long investigation, contradict repeated claims by Juul executives that the company never intentionally targeted teenagers, even as its products became enormously popular among high-school and middle-school students in recent years. Read More
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The official number of people who have died after suffering from lung injuries linked to the use of vape pens and e-cigarettes has risen to 64.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the deaths have been confirmed in 28 states and the District of Columbia as of Feb. 4. Four of those deaths occurred in the last three weeks, and more deaths are currently under investigation.

A total of 2,758 hospitalizations have been reported to the CDC from across all 50 states, and D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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In February 2012, a safety engineer at Evenflo, one of the biggest sellers of children's booster seats, wanted the company to make a major change to its instructions for parents.

He recommended Evenflo stop selling booster seats for children who weigh less than 40 pounds.

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Dear Clients,

I am pleased to inform you that my law firm has joined with the prestigious personal injury law firm of Duffy & Duffy, PLLC, located in Uniondale, Long Island. Our association will provide more resources and experienced attorneys to better serve our clients throughout greater New York and Long Island. Duffy & Duffy, PLLC is known throughout the New York legal community as a top-rated and highly successful medical malpractice and personal injury law firm. The firms have a combined 70 years of experience.

I will be "Of Counsel" to Duffy & Duffy, PLLC, pursuant to which I will be utilizing their experienced attorneys and staff to work on your case to obtain the best possible outcomes and recoveries. Both firms will share the existing legal fee as per the retainer agreement so there is absolutely no additional fee to be paid by our clients at the conclusion of the case. All disbursements and expenses will continue to be paid and reimbursed from any settlement or recovery at conclusion of the case. We believe this relationship will promote greater efficiency and utilize combined resources to achieve the best success for our clients.

Please feel free to call me or schedule a convenient appointment with myself and Mike Duffy to answer any questions or concerns.

We look forward to successfully representing you in your pending case with the same dedication, integrity and trust that you have come to expect.

Very truly yours,

Alan W. Clark

Michael E. Duffy

Click Here to read original announcement

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A New Jersey jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $750 million in punitive damages to four people who said the company’s baby powder gave them cancer.

The Thursday verdict came after the pharmaceutical giant’s CEO, Alex Gorsky, testified in the lawsuit last month, marking the first time he had taken the stand in a jury trial over the alleged dangers of its baby powder.

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Walgreens will pay $7.5 million to settle allegations that for more than a decade it let an unlicensed pharmacist handle hundreds of thousands of prescriptions, including some for highly addictive painkillers, the authorities in California said on Monday, another setback for a company already facing broader accusations that it helped feed the opioid epidemic.

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Lynne Calloway had been taking a newly refilled arthritis prescription for a few days when she mentioned she wasn’t feeling well.

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Johnson & Johnson should pay $344 million in damages because the company deceptively marketed transvaginal pelvic mesh implants to tens of thousands of women in California, a judge ruled Thursday.

Johnson & Johnson said it intended to appeal the ruling, which it said “disregards” the company’s compliance with federal regulations.

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Dive Brief:

• Mylan has started a voluntary nationwide recall on three lots of a commonly prescribed stomach ulcer drug after finding trace amounts of a probable human carcinogen, the drugmaker stated Wednesday.
• The recall is focused on three batches that were distributed in 2017 and 2018. Testing found low levels of NDMA, or N-nitrosodimethylamine, a likely carcinogen and environmental contaminant. Mylan said it had received no reports of related adverse events.
• The medicine, nizatidine, is approved as a short-term ulcer treatment as well as for the treatment of esophagitis and heartburn from gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.

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Three people who say they were seriously injured by Medtronic surgical staplers are suing the company for knowingly selling defective devices and intentionally hiding risks from doctors and patients.

An attorney for one of the plaintiffs said the three cases, filed in Minnesota and Texas courts in the waning days of 2019, might signal the beginning of litigation against Medtronic over the way it sells and reports safety information on its now-recalled staplers.

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