Current Events

The number of people who have become sick from eating McDonald's salads has grown dramatically in the latest count from health officials.

The number of illnesses linked to Cyclospora-tainted greens from the chain has risen to 286 in 15 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Eleven of them were hospitalized.

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Despite progress installing auto-braking equipment, 13 railroads face possible fines for failing to meet Federal Railroad Administration deadlines.   

The agency threatened the railroads with $27,904 fines each for failing to meet milestones for installing the braking equipment and acquiring radio spectrum needed for it to work. The fines are part of an enforcement effort to ensure that railroads meet a Dec. 31 deadline set by Congress for installing the equipment and training workers.

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A Harvard study found surgeons who behave badly — by yelling, snapping, intimidating or talking down to colleagues — are associated with more medical malpractice claims.

Researchers merged assessments of surgeon behavior from peers, supervisors, trainers, co-workers and others — a 360-degree review — with malpractice history for surgeons from four academic medical centers. They used de-identified survey data for 264 surgeons from 2012 to 2013 and matched it to malpractice data spanning from 2000 to 2015.

The researchers concluded surgeon behavior was associated with malpractice claims. Surgeons who exhibited multiple positive behaviors, according to their 360-degree reviews, were less likely to have malpractice claims, while negative behaviors were generally associated with a greater likelihood of malpractice claims.
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There's never really a good place to have a medical emergency, but sitting on an airplane is certainly far from ideal, as Kristen Bull knows all too well.

Bull was on an airplane on the tarmac at a South Carolina airport in October 2015 when her implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) malfunctioned and fired six times. She was taken to the Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, however, the hospital was not equipped to deactivate the device, which was manufactured by St. Jude Medical and used the company's Riata ST lead. A St.
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Medical device maker Medtronic has agreed to pay investors $43 million in a proposed class-action legal settlement that would resolve one of the last remaining lawsuits dogging the company’s bone-growth product Infuse.

The institutional investors who sued Medtronic alleged that the company secretly paid spine surgeons to conceal Infuse adverse events and side effects and to overstate the disadvantages of alternative treatments.

Infuse contains a synthesized human protein that causes bone to grow, avoiding the need for other bone-graft materials for spine-fusion surgery. It can also lead to unwanted bone growth and swelling.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A woman who claimed her cancer was caused by using Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder for decades said she believes justice was served after a jury found the company should pay her and 21 other women $4.69 billion in damages.

A St. Louis jury on July 12 concluded that J&J’s talc-based products contained asbestos, causing the 22 women, six of whom have died, to develop ovarian cancer.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese bulk manufacturer of the common blood and heart drug valsartan said it was recalling the product from consumers in the United States and would halt supplies to the country, after an impurity linked to cancer had been detected.

Earlier this week, European regulators said the problem likely dates to changes in manufacturing processes at Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical in 2012, suggesting that many patients could potentially have been exposed to cancer risk.

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Survivors of the worst mass shooting in modern American history feel they are again in the line of fire.

MGM Resorts International took aim at more than 1,000 victims in a pair of lawsuits filed this month in its bid to avoid all liability for the deadly Las Vegas Massacre last October.

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A Suffolk judge ruled this week that opioid manufacturers and distributors have shown no reason why dozens of suits against them by counties and municipalities from across New York State should be dismissed.

Similar suits from around the state, including those filed by Nassau and Suffolk counties, were consolidated into one action before state Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo in Central Islip, who is hearing Suffolk suit. After he resolves all pretrial issues, the suits will return to their home jurisdictions for trial.

The suits claim the businesses fueled the opioid epidemic through a fraudulent marketing campaign that misrepresented the drugs' safety and effectiveness. They seek compensation for the governmental costs of dealing with opioid addiction, which include higher expenditures on Medicaid, rehabilitation programs, law enforcement and even a greater number of autopsies.
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The Food and Drug Administration has announced a voluntary recall of a widely prescribed blood pressure medication made in China, reviving fears about the safety of imported drugs.

Three companies that sell the generic drug, valsartan, in the United States agreed to recall it after the F.D.A. said it might be tainted by N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), considered a probable human carcinogen.
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The source of romaine lettuce E. coli bacteria that sickened 210 people in 36 states, including 11 in New York, has been detected in canal waters in the Yuma, Arizona, growing region, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced.

The CDC said this week that the agency and the U.
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