Current Events

Malpractice claims dipped dramatically among Massachusetts physicians after they began using electronic medical records, according to new research, although it's not clear whether the record-keeping was connected to the decline in claims.

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Almost 16,800 adverse events associated with metal-on-metal hip implants were reported in the U.S. from 2000-2011, regulators said.

The reports almost quadrupled to 682 in 2008 from the year earlier, and rose again after a unit of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) began recalling hip devices in 2010, according to report posted today on the Food and Drug Administration’s website. Adverse event reports in 2011 totaled 12,137 for the metal-on-metal devices, compared with 6,332 associated with other types of hip implants, according to the FDA document.

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Johnson & Johnson said Friday that it would add about $600 million to its reserves to cover a possible settlement of allegations that it paid kickbacks to a company that dispenses drugs to nursing homes. Johnson & Johnson said it would take a one-time charge in the second quarter to cover a possible settlement of a whistle-blower lawsuit.

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The UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, announced Sunday night that it planned to continue offering some of the popular consumer protections required by the federal health care law, even if the Supreme Court declares the entire law unconstitutional later this month.

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Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon unit told a federal judge in West Virginia it intends to stop selling four vaginal mesh implants after being sued by more than 600 women who say the products caused internal injuries.

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(Reuters Health) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalls potentially harmful drugs about once every month, but they could be doing a better job of letting doctors and patients know about them, says a new study.

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For most of her life, Hope Rubel was a healthy woman with good medical insurance, an unblemished credit history and a solid career in graphic design. But on the day an ambulance rushed her to a Manhattan hospital emergency room shortly after her 48th birthday, she was jobless, uninsured and having a stroke. . . .

NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that a group of 14 hospitals will pay more than $12 million to settle allegations that they converted some outpatient spinal surgeries into more expensive inpatient procedures so they could get bigger payments from Medicare. . . .

WASHINGTON – More than a million home coffee makers are being recalled after dozens of reports of the brewers spraying hot liquid, coffee grounds or tea leaves onto people.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says there have been 140 reports of problems with the Tassimo single-cup brewers dousing people, including 37 cases involving second-degree burns. . . .