Current Events

Proposition 46, which would have changed California's medical malpractice law, has failed, AP reports. It would have raised the limit on lawsuit awards for pain and suffering from $250,000 to about $1.1 million, to account for inflation since the cap was implemented in 1975.

In addition, the measure would have required hospitals to randomly test their physicians for alcohol and drug use. Doctors also would have been tested after the occurrence of certain medical mistakes or any events that caused a patient’s death or serious disability.

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Nearly nine months after General Motors began recalling millions of its cars for a dangerously defective ignition switch, almost half of the vehicles still have not been fixed.

A spokesman for the automaker said it was increasing its outreach to owners through social media and a new call center staffed with 72 employees dedicated to contacting those who have not scheduled repairs.

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Stryker, the major producer of artificial hip implants, said on Monday that it had reached a settlement of thousands of patient lawsuits involving now-recalled all-metal devices that is expected to cost the company about $1 billion.

The Stryker deal, negotiated with lawyers representing the patients, would be one of the highest amounts paid in the last year by an implant manufacturer to resolve claims by patients who said they were injured by a hip replacement in which a device’s ball and cup components were both made from metal.

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In the largest-ever penalty for a violation of the Clean Air Act, the Korean automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors will pay the federal government a combined $300 million as part of a settlement for overstating vehicle fuel-economy standards on 1.2 million cars, Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency officials said on Monday.

The action, announced by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Gina McCarthy, the E.P.A. administrator, is part of a broader, more aggressive enforcement effort by federal regulators on the auto industry. Analysts said it was meant to send a clear message to automakers that they would be harshly treated for compromising federal rules.

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Nov 3 (Reuters) - Boston Scientific Corp on Monday was set to face its first federal trials in two courts over claims from women who say they were injured by the company's transvaginal mesh devices.

One, in Charleston, West Virginia, involves allegations from four women over the company's Obtryx device, used to treat stress urinary incontinence. The other, in Miami, concerns women implanted with the Pinnacle, which treats pelvic organ prolapse.

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About 14 million older vehicles have been recalled in recent years because airbags made by the Takata Corporation can explode in a crash, shooting pieces of metal into the cabin. But a different Takata defect that can have the same effect is emerging in newer vehicles.

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As more and more shopping takes place online, the safety of consumers’ data is increasingly in the hands of online retailers and websites. While these corporations profit from the data we entrust to them, they are increasingly taking steps to shield themselves in confusing, hard-to-find legalese that gives consumers little or no recourse if their information is leaked or misused, or even if consumers are cheated by online merchants.

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Trinity Industries, a maker of highway guardrails that are suspected of having a dangerous defect, and a whistle-blower have been ordered to enter mediation after the company lost a $175 million verdict for defrauding the United States government.

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Like the others in the clinical trial, Patient No. 11561004 already had tried one treatment for his advanced kidney cancer, but it didn't work. So the 69-year-old man volunteered to try an unproven drug that offered some hope he might live longer.

Less than four months after going on the drug known as Inlyta, the man — identified only by age and a number in an FDA review of the clinical trial— developed severe abdominal pain, was admitted to the hospital and died that day from gastrointestinal bleeding.

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As disease investigators sought to ensure on Friday that they had found and isolated everyone who came into contact with New York City;s first Ebola patient when he was sick and infectious, doctors treating the man were discussing using experimental treatments to help him battle the virus.

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Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) Janssen unit is recalling 13,500 bottles of its top-selling anticoagulant Xarelto because of microbial contamination discovered in a sample.

According to a recall notice in the latest FDA Enforcement Report, the drugmaker said that it confirmed that a sales sample of the drug was contaminated after a customer complaint, and so initiated a nationwide, voluntary recall. The company reported that the product came from a plant in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. The plant was among four on the island that J&J slated two years ago for $225 million in upgrades.

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