Current Events

Three Long Island doctors selected to lead a committee that recommends the drugs two Suffolk hospitals stock for patients accepted tens of thousands of dollars from pharmaceutical companies while serving on the advisory panel.

The doctors -- affiliated with John T. Mather Memorial and St. Charles hospitals in Port Jefferson -- accepted about $125,000 from drugmakers between 2009 and 2013, company records show.

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May 9 (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Chrysler unit said on Friday it was recalling an estimated 780,477 minivans after reports of overheating, including some fires, in third-row power window vent switches.

The company said it would replace the window vent switches. It said there were no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue, but 36 incidents of overheating and an undisclosed number of fires.

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In two actions, Ford is recalling nearly 1.4 million vehicles from the 2013-14 model years for an air bag malfunction and door handles that may not latch properly, the automaker said Friday. The air bag issue covers about 692,500 Escape and C-Max models, including 591,000 in the United States, about 78,000 in Canada and almost 19,700 in Mexico.

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Federal transportation officials won't order General Motors to insist that owners of 2.6 million recalled small cars park them and not drive them until their ignition switches have been replaced.

"Such an action is not necessary at this time," either by GM or federal safety officials, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in letters to Senators Edward Markey (D., Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.). The two had asked last month for that warning.

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Medtronic said it will pay $22 million to settle about 1,000 legal claims related to its spine surgery product known as Infuse, and it is setting aside up to $140 million for an even larger number of expected claims.

The payment announced Tuesday is the latest chapter in a medical saga played out over more than a decade that became a symbol of how conflicts of interest in medicine can adversely affect the health of patients.

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The owners of New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc., the drug supplier blamed for a nationwide meningitis outbreak that killed 64, agreed to a settlement providing $100 million toward compensation for victims.

The settlement, which includes money from insurers, will be implemented as part of a Chapter 11 plan, according to a filing by a trustee seeking approval of the accord in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston. Criminal investigations involving company insiders, 322 lawsuits against the pharmacy and 3,300 claims from injury are continuing, according to the filing.

The pharmacy’s tainted drugs, including a steroid administered by spinal injection, caused 64 deaths and 700 cases of meningitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2012 as a result of the lawsuits.

Aspirin generally shouldn’t be used to prevent heart attacks or stroke for patients with no history of the disease, U.S. regulators said today.

The use of the medicine raises serious risks of bleeding in the stomach and brain, the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement. While evidence shows that aspirin’s benefits for people who have already had a cardiovascular event outweigh the increased risk of bleeding, the data doesn’t support using the drug to help people prevent a first attack, the agency said.

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An Orem family is mourning the death of their young daughter after she was strangled by cords on window blinds last week.

One Utah mother in Plain City knows all too well what this family is going through.

“It puts me back into the day it happened to us,” Leslie Wentz said. “You feel for the family. You know exactly what they’re going through.”

Wentz wants families to know just how deadly this common household item can be, and she's pushing for change. She now sits on the board of the nonprofit organization Parents for Window Blind Safety.

Wentz lost her daughter Abbigale in September 2006. The 18-month-old was rambunctious and got into everything like any toddler would, Wentz said. She died at day care.

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ST. JAMES, N.Y., April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM), a non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce diagnostic error, today addressed the first meeting of a new Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee studying the problem. The IOM committee will examine a spectrum of issues, including definitions, epidemiology, the burden of harm and costs, and will develop recommendations to reduce diagnostic error.

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(Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd started recalling 29,790 packs of an allergy-relief medicine in the United States in February, after finding defects in the packaging, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

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WASHINGTON — Early one Sunday evening six years ago, Army Pfc. George D.B. MacDonald made his way through his Fort Benning barracks to the bunk where a 23-year-old recruit named Rick Bulmer lay sleeping.

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