Current Events

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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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) has agreed to pay $120 million to resolve claims from 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia over faulty ignition switches, state attorneys general and the company said on Thursday.

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A new mom is suing a hospital in Canada after being diagnosed with a flesh-eating disease four days after giving birth.

Lindsey Hubley claims negligence by doctors at IWK Health Centre in Nova Scotia contributed to her health problems, reports The Canadian Press.

In March, Hubley gave birth to her son, Myles. A day after discharge, Hubley returned to the hospital and was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis.

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BOSTON — Microbiologists from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration testified Thursday that they found mold, yeast and bacteria, some of it potentially deadly, in several drugs shipped from a Massachusetts drug compounder.

The FDA scientists, testifying in the trial of one-time supervising pharmacist Glenn Chin, said that a variety of bacteria were found in multiple drugs shipped by the New England Compounding Center to health facilities from Massachusetts to Florida and Washington.

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Side effects may include confusion and irritability.

Marketers for direct-to-consumer medication often trick consumers, downplaying the risks of drugs by presenting too many possible dangers simultaneously, according to a study.

The research, conducted by a team at the University of Michigan and published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, reveals that when a drug advertisement throws too many risks at you — we all know the oft-parodied endless scroll of side effects with a speedy narrator — the less risky a drug is perceived to be by consumers. It’s a psychological phenomenon called “the dilution effect.”

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Corporations have a responsibility to their customers and the public to be ethical, honest, and forthright.

But that obligation is heightened to a degree for pharmaceutical firms, especially the ones whose customers are dealing with serious illness or acute, chronic pain.

Insys Therapeutics deals with both types of patients.

The Arizona-based drug company got approval five years ago from the U.S.
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A Collierville man has been awarded more than $140 million in a lawsuit against the makers of a testosterone drug that he says caused him to have a heart attack.

A federal court jury in Chicago handed down the verdict in favor of Jeffrey Konrad on Thursday after several weeks of testimony in which his lawyers argued that Chicago-based AbbVie Inc. misrepresented the risks of its drug known as AndroGel.

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The billions of dollars that Medicare has spent on recalled or defective medical devices are a “significant cause for concern,” yet the government lacks a reliable way to track such spending a decade after it emerged as a sore point, auditors concluded this week.

The U.S. Health and Human Services inspector general’s office issued a report Monday concluding that Medicare claim forms lack information that would let the government track expenses including $1.5 billion spent on thousands of surgeries for heart devices that were recalled or failed earlier than expected.
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into a circuit split over whether plaintiffs suing for age discrimination or retaliation can reap damages for pain and suffering.

The court denied certiorari to Susan Vaughan, a former nurse supervisor at Anderson Regional Medical Center in Mississippi who had argued that amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act passed in 1977 expanded the damages available under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

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One of the largest distributors of pharmaceuticals in the United States, the Valley Forge-headquartered AmerisourceBergen Corp., will pay $260 million in penalties after pleading guilty in a subsidiary’s scheme that put the health of thousands of cancer patients at risk.

AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group operated divisions in Alabama — Medical Initiatives Inc. and Oncology Supply Co. — that were not registered with the Food and Drug Administration.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday defended the right of workers to bring class-action claims against companies but their conservative counterparts who are in the majority sounded skeptical in the biggest business case of the court’s new term.

A win for employers would give the green-light to an already growing trend in which companies require workers to sign arbitration agreements waiving their right to bring class-action claims either in court or before private arbitrators.