Current Events

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for car owners suing General Motors Co (GM.N) over faulty ignition switches and other defects on Thursday accused the carmaker of meddling in settlement talks and having issued threats that led to the canceling of an agreement.

Under a deal with a trust that holds many GM liabilities from before its 2009 bankruptcy, the automaker would have been forced to pay $1 billion in shares to resolve millions of claims.

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A few days ago, we reported that Americans are still not buckling up when they sit in the back seat. Now, a lawsuit blames the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for not requiring a warning system in cars similar to the one that reminds front-seat passengers to buckle up, as it was supposed to do under legislation signed by President Obama in July 2012.

The non-profit groups Center for Auto Safety and Kids and Cars Inc., say nearly 1,000 people are killed annually in the rear seats of U.S.
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The Food and Drug Administration sent a sharp letter this month to a Canadian-based homeopathic pharmaceutical manufacturer named Homeolab USA. The letter warned of “significant violations” the agency found during a recent inspection and poor quality control of the company’s infant teething products that contain the deadly poison belladonna, aka deadly nightshade.

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BOSTON (Reuters) - Mylan NV (MYL.O) has finalized a $465 million settlement resolving U.S. Justice Department claims it overcharged the government for its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment, which became the center of a firestorm over price increases.

The U.
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FORT MYERS, Fla. — Two of the nation’s largest cancer-care providers are accused of engaging in an illegal “gentleman’s agreement” to divide up treatment services in Florida.

The allegation against Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute and 21st Century Oncology lists multiple claims — gender discrimination, fraudulent Medicare billing and unsafe medical practices — against the companies in a 50-page federal whistleblower lawsuit filed last year that had, until recently, been under seal and out of the public eye.

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The recall involves about 10,200 batteries placed in refurbished AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4 cellphones by FedEx Supply Chain and distributed as replacement phones through AT&T’s Insurance program only from Dec. 2016 to April 2017.

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The Food and Drug Administration has filed court papers in support of an effort to overturn a New York City law requiring calorie counts to be posted by certain establishments — at least the second time the Trump administration has inserted itself into a local case.

Last month, the Justice Department entered a federal discrimination lawsuit filed in Brooklyn, filing papers to argue that a major federal civil rights law does not protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

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This article is a collaboration between MedPage Today® and:   Medpage Today
The FDA sent a letter to healthcare providers warning of reports of seven deaths with liquid-filled intragastric balloon systems used to treat obesity.
In five cases, the cause of death was unclear, but all occurred within a month or less of balloon placement, the agency said. In three of those cases, the patient died within one to three days of having the balloon inserted.

Four of these reports involved the Orbera Intragastric Balloon System from Apollo Endo Surgery, and one involved the ReShape Integrated Dual Balloon System by ReShape Medical.

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One in 12 doctors has received money from drug companies marketing prescription opioid medications, according to a study released Wednesday afternoon.

Researchers at Boston Medical Center found that from 2013 to 2015, 68,177 doctors received more than $46 million in payments from drug companies pushing powerful painkillers. Researchers believe it is the first study to look at the practice of pharmaceutical companies marketing opioids to physicians.

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The District of Columbia and 16 states are pushing the Trump administration to protect nursing home residents’ right to take facilities to court over alleged abuse, neglect and sexual assault.

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and state attorneys general for California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington sent comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) opposing its proposal to reverse coarse on an Obama-era rule that banned nursing homes from putting language in resident contracts that require disputes to be settled by a third-party arbitrator rather than a court.

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(CNN)There were 206 cases of cyclospora infections reported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from the first of May to the beginning of August, a 134% increase from the 88 cases reported over the same time period in 2016.

Cyclospora infections or cyclosporiasis are caused by ingestion of the parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis in food or water. Cyclospora infect the small intestine and most commonly cause watery diarrhea; other symptoms include abdominal cramping, nausea and weight loss.

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