Current Events

More than 150 scientists and 50 farmers came out this week in support of stricter limits on antibiotics used in animal agriculture as part of a broader effort to tackle the "health crisis" caused by growing antibiotic resistance. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a voluntary guidance for farmers on the "judicious" uses of antibiotics in agriculture and asked veterinary drug makers to voluntarily phase out medically important drugs from being available over the counter -- but public health advocates have not relented in their calls for stronger action on the issue. According to the most recent estimates, 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are used to raise food animals and many of these drugs are the same ones used in human medicine. 

Click here to read more.

H&M is recalling 2,900 children's water bottles due to a possible risk of choking.

The water bottle's spout can break off, posing a choking hazard to children.

H&M said Tuesday that it has received one report of the spout breaking off in a child's mouth. No injuries have been reported.
 

Click here to read more.

Seven babies died after being fed an additive used to help thicken infant formula or breast milk, U.S. regulators said.

The deaths were among 21 premature infants and one born full-term that developed inflamed intestines after they were given SimplyThick, the Food and Drug Administration said in a consumer update today. The product is a thickening gel designed to help premature babies swallow food and keep it down, said Benson Silverman, director of FDA’s Infant Formula and Medical Foods Staff.

Click here to read more.

They are known as Water Balz, and at first glance they look like marbles: small and spherical, brightly colored. But these balls are made of superabsorbent polymer, and they are capable of rapidly expanding to the size of a racquetball when doused in water.

This unusual feature has made Water Balz a popular toy. But it is also the very feature that has prompted some pediatricians to warn parents that the toys can pose a unique hazard to small children.  

Click here to read more.

When Paul Ormond signed John Mitchell into a nursing home in Dennis, Mass., in June, he was handed a few dozen pages of admission papers. Ormond, Mitchell's legal guardian and an old friend, signed wherever the director of admissions told him to.

He didn't realize that one of those documents was an agreement that required Mitchell and his family to take disputes to a professional arbitrator rather than to court.

Click here to read more.

Another HIPAA data breach settlement has been reached, this time with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Associates Inc. (MEEI), which will pay $1.5 million to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for potential violations of the HIPAA Security Rule.  

HHS officials announced Monday that the settlement also requires MEEI to take corrective action to improve policies and procedures to safeguard the privacy and security of its patients’ protected health information.  

Click here to read more.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)’s Bengay and Sanofi (SAN)’s Icy Hot are among topical pain relievers that have been associated with a rare risk of serious burns, U.S. regulators said today.

The over-the-counter pain-relieving creams, lotions and patches are linked to 43 cases of burns on the application site, the Food and Drug Administration said in a safety announcement. The cases were identified in a search of the FDA’s adverse event reporting system and medical literature.

Click here to read more.

Most hospitals in Southeast Michigan have received an email from the U.S. Department of Justice that asks the hospitals to examine any inappropriate implantable defibrillator surgeries on Medicare patients.

In an unusual request, the department also wants the hospitals to identify the number of improper surgeries and estimate potential penalties under the federal False Claims Act.

Click here to read more.

Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS AG (UBSN) banker who went to prison after telling the Internal Revenue Service how the bank helped thousands of Americans evade taxes, secured a whistle-blower award of $104 million, the largest individual federal payout in U.S. history.

Birkenfeld told authorities how UBS bankers came to the U.S. to woo rich Americans, managed $20 billion of their assets and helped them cheat the IRS. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy in 2008, a year after reporting the bank’s conduct to the Justice Department, U.S. Senate, IRS and Securities and Exchange Commission. He left prison on Aug. 1.

Click here to read more.

Today, Avery is a chatty 9-year-old who just learned to roller-skate. She is old enough to know that she was not really attacked by monsters. The culprit was a broken wire from the defibrillator that keeps her heart beating normally. Like her mother and two brothers, she has an inherited condition that makes her prone to a fatal heart rhythm. After Avery’s episode, doctors removed the faulty wire, made by Medtronic, and replaced it with a new one made by St. Jude Medical.

Now it is possible that one is damaged, too. The wire, or lead, known as the Riata, was recalled in December after St. Jude warned doctors that internal cables were poking through the outer casing, causing unwanted shocks or failing to work when needed. Nearly 20 percent of the 128,000 people worldwide who have the Riata may be affected, according to the company.

Click here to read more.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and a Livonia-based window-blinds manufacturer announced Thursday they're recalling more than 450,000 custom blinds.

A 2-year-old Commerce Township girl reportedly was strangled by a vertical-blinds cord in 2009. Blinds Xpress owner Larry Carollo said he settled a lawsuit with the family.

Click here to read more.