Current Events

Questions  What are the trends in paid medical malpractice claims for physicians in the United States, and do they vary by specialty?

Findings  This database study linked National Practitioner Data Bank claims data with physician specialty and found that the overall rate of claims paid on behalf of physicians deceased by 55.7% from 1992 to 2014. Mean compensation amounts and the percentage of payments exceeding $1 million increased during that time, with wide differences in rates and characteristics across specialties.

Meaning  A better understanding of the causes of variation among specialties in paid malpractice claims may help reduce patient injury and physicians’ risk of liability.

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Ok Food Inc. issued a recall for nearly 1 million pounds of breaded chicken last week after a handful of consumers found metal objects in their food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The Oklahoma-based manufacturer sells chicken under several brand names, including Walmart’s Great Value.
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Johnson & Johnson had a year for the record books -- it lost six of 2016’s seven largest jury verdicts in the U.S. over product defect claims. This year may be no better. The company is facing at least 17 trials in state and federal courts in the U.
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GREENWICH — A lawsuit has been filed by the parents of a Greenwich college student who died of a heroin overdose against the manufacturer of a prescription drug they claim led to his death.

Laurence and Michelle Allen are suing the makers of Suboxone, which was used to treat a previous addiction to painkillers that their son fell into following a car accident. When the Suboxone prescription ran out, according to court papers, Bradley Allen, 19, turned to street heroin and died of an overdose in 2014.

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Three recent lawsuits from six Metro-North power department employees allege they were severely punished for raising safety concerns tied to their work on the dangerous, highly electrified third rail.

The lawsuits, field in federal court in Manhattan, cover a period starting in 2013.

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The family of a New Jersey woman who died after using a prescription version of the potent opioid fentanyl filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the drug’s maker, her doctor, and a specialty pharmacy that provided the drug.

The lawsuit, filed in a New Jersey state court, alleges 32-year-old Sarah Fuller was the victim of a nationwide push by Insys Therapeutics to entice doctors to prescribe its Subsys fentanyl spray for patients for which the drug was not suitable.

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OAKLAND — Forty California residents are suing chemical giant Monsanto, alleging that exposure to the company’s Roundup weed killer caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The complaint, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, seeks compensatory and punitive damages from defendants Monsanto Co. and Willbur Ellis Company, LLC., for wrongful death and personal injuries.

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The co-owner of New England Compounding Center, whose contaminated drugs caused a fungal meningitis outbreak that killed more than 60 people, has been convicted of dozens of federal charges but acquitted of murder.

A jury in Boston convicted Barry J. Cadden of more than 50 counts of mail fraud for his part in peddling unsterile drugs that led to a national outbreak of fungal meningitis in 2012 that infected more than 750 patients and killed 60. Sentencing was set for June, the Boston Globe reported.

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Automakers recalled a record 53.2 million vehicles last year in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In 2016, there was a total of 927 recalls, according to NHTSA. That means there was an average of 2.5 recalls per day and 145,753 vehicles affected daily.
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A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived claims by several hundred plaintiffs who accused Merck & Co of failing to adequately warn about the risks of thigh bone fractures associated with its osteoporosis drug Fosamax.

In a 3-0 decision, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said the plaintiffs may proceed to trial on their failure-to-warn claims, and a lower court judge erred in finding the claims pre-empted by federal law.

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People with breast implants have a small but increased risk for a rare form of deadly cancer.

The federal Food and Drug Administration states breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, has been linked to at least nine deaths. On Tuesday, the agency confirmed the disease can occur after breast implant surgery.

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