Current Events

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed a Congressional resolution on Wednesday that lets banks block customers from filing class action lawsuits, partly delivering on his election campaign promise to lighten U.S. financial regulation.

The White House confirmed Trump signed the resolution, which kills a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule released in July, despite heavy lobbying for a veto by the president.

The rule, set to go into effect next spring, gave bank customers the option to band together in lawsuits known as class actions to lower their legal costs, but Republicans say the suits only benefit attorneys who reap large fees.
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ALBANY — More than 60 patients rights and other groups are urging Gov. Cuomo to sign a bill to make it easier for victims of misdiagnosed cancer to get their day in court.

The dozens of groups signed on to a letter pleading with Cuomo to back the legislation, known as Lavern’s Law. It would start the window to bring medical malpractice cases involving cancer when an error is discovered by the patient — not when the mistake occurred, as under current law.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors Co agreed to a $13.9 million settlement with Orange County, California after prosecutors accused the Detroit automaker of intentionally concealing serious safety defects including those involving faulty ignition switches tied to nearly 400 deaths and injuries, the company said on Sunday.

More than 4,000 people who came down with serious infections after joint surgery have sued 3M Co., blaming the Maplewood-based company for selling a warm-air blower that may have deposited infectious bacteria in their incisions during surgery.

A supplier to ultra-high-end sushi palace Masa has allegedly been playing dirty.

The restaurant was recently served with a letter from the FDA, which accused one if its importers of "serious violations" of food safety rules. Allegations include using fish "prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions," which the FDA apparently found during a recent investigation of one of the restaurant's suppliers.

 Skipjack tuna was one of the fish named as potentially compromised, according to Eater.

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An alarming study released Wednesday found many baby food products test positive for arsenic, including 80% of infant formulas. And, that's not the only dangerous contaminate found.

The Clean Label Project, a nonprofit advocating for transparent labeling, tested baby food, infant formulas, toddler drinks and snacks purchased within the past 5 months. The group, which did not publish findings in a peer-reviewed journal, looked at top-selling formulas and baby food using Nielsen data, and also included emerging national brands. After about 530 baby food products were tested, researchers found 65% of products tested positive for arsenic, 36% for lead, 58% for cadmium and 10% for acrylamide.
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A federal appeals court last week upheld a plaintiff’s $27 million win over Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) in a product liability lawsuit brought over its Pinnacle pelvic mesh.

A Florida jury in November 2014 found for Amal Eghnayem and three other plaintiffs who alleged that the Pinnacle mesh caused injuries including pain, bleeding and infection. Pelvic mesh implants are used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and female stress urinary incontinence.

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Senate Republicans voted on Tuesday to strike down a sweeping new rule that would have allowed millions of Americans to band together in class-action lawsuits against financial institutions.

The overturning of the rule, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-to-50 tie, will further loosen regulation of Wall Street as the Trump administration and Republicans move to roll back Obama-era policies enacted in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis. By defeating the rule, Republicans are dismantling a major effort of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog created by Congress in the aftermath of the mortgage mess.

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NAPA, Calif., Oct. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Malpractice claims in which the use of electronic health records (EHRs) contributed to patient injury have increased continuously over the past decade, according to a study released today by The Doctors Company.

The study by the nation's largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer reveals that claims in which EHRs are a factor grew from just two from 2007 through 2010 to 161 from 2011 through December 2016. Typically, the EHR is a contributing factor in a claim, rather than the primary cause, according to David B.
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Reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels could prevent as many as 8 million tobacco-related deaths and keep 30 million people from becoming regular smokers this century, according to new estimates from the Food and Drug Administration.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb revealed the initial estimates on Thursday during a tobacco discussion at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Another toddler has reportedly been crushed to death by an unsecured Ikea dresser, after the furniture giant recalled millions of chests and dressers over the risk of deadly tip-over accidents.

Jozef Dudek, 2, died in May, according to lawyers for his family, when he was crushed by an Ikea Malm dresser in his parents' room after he was put down for a nap.

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