Current Events

Christopher Ellison went to a veterans medical center in Philadelphia to get eight teeth extracted in 2007. What should have been a routine dentist visit left him permanently incapacitated.

The $17.5 million Ellison and his family received in a malpractice judgment against the Department of Veterans Affairs was the largest against the agency in a dozen years -- and one of more than 400 payments the U.S. government made last year to resolve VA malpractice claims, according to agency records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The total cost came to $91.7 million, also the highest sum in at least 12 years.

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Toyota is recalling about 780,000 vehicles for a second time after its first effort to prevent a handling problem did not work, according to a report posted Sunday on the Web site of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The recall covers about 18,000 2010 Lexus HS 250h autos, a hybrid model, with the rest being the 2006 through 2011 Toyota RAV4 sport utility vehicle. The agency says the failure of a rear tie rod on the suspension could “cause a loss of vehicle control.”

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Chobani, the biggest Greek yogurt maker in the U.S., has recalled some yogurt cups that contained mold after an unspecified number of people reported feeling ill, the company said Thursday.

According to the company, a small batch of yogurt from an Idaho facility -- less than 5% of its production -- was found to contain mold.

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Volvo will recall almost 7,800 of its 2014 models because a computer problem could cause electronic malfunctions, including a problem similar to what many will remember from Detroit’s malaise era where the windshield wipers operate continuously when the ignition is on, according to a report from Volvo posted Thursday on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web site.

Volvo says the vehicles affected by the recall are the S60, S80, XC60 and XC70 models equipped with keyless ignition. The automaker says the problem is that the Central Electronic Module “will not perform as intended.” As a result, not only will the windshield wipers run continuously when the ignition is on, but the vehicle may experience one or more of the following problems:

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Ford is recalling more than 373,000 Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car models to fix steering shafts that can fail, according to filings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

On all 2005-2011 models registered in "Salt Belt" states, a lower part of the steering shaft could rust out and cause the upper portion to separate or collapse on itself, which could lead to a total loss of steering. The recall affects Washington, D.C., and 19 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio-- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning for patients who take the multiple sclerosis drug fingolimod, sold under the brand name Gilenya by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis after a patient taking the drug developed a rare but serious brain infection.

Gilenya was FDA–approved in 2010 for adults with relapsing forms of MS to reduce the frequency of relapses and to delay physical disability. Multiple sclerosis affects more than 2 million people worldwide.

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Taylor Farms, the large vegetable producer whose salad mix has been linked to hundreds of sickened people in 22 states, has had an unusual number of voluntary recalls for potentially tainted products in the last three years.
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The recent recall of greens used at Olive Garden, Red Lobster and possibly other restaurant chains is Taylor Farm’s fourth this year. The company initiated three others in 2012 and three in 2011, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) said it will add a red warning to caps of Tylenol to reinforce the risks of taking too much of the painkiller.

The alert will appear on the caps of Extra Strength Tylenol beginning in October, New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J said today in an e-mail. The message will reinforce existing warnings that the over-the-counter pill contains the ingredient acetaminophen, which has been linked to fatal liver failure. Tylenol bottles already alert consumers to the liver risk.

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Billionaire Leonard Blavatnik won a $42.5 million breach of contract award against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) over claims the bank stuffed a fund with risky mortgage securities and lost 10 percent of his $1 billion investment. Blavatnik lost a negligence claim against the bank.

Blavatnik, 56, ranked 51st on Bloomberg’s billionaires index with a net worth of $15.6 billion, sued JPMorgan in 2009 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accusing the biggest U.S. bank by assets of putting more money into mortgage securities in his CMMF fund than investment guidelines allowed.

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In a Monday update on the nationwide Cyclospora outbreak from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency stated that not all of the more than 600 current cases reported in 22 states and New York City are directly related to each other.

Many of the recent cases have been reported from Texas, so CDC is collaborating with state and local health officials there by interviewing ill people about their exposure two weeks before becoming sick and identifying a cluster of those who reported eating at the same restaurant.

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