Current Events

 The Supreme Court sided with a Kentucky nursing home Monday in a case challenging the use of forced arbitration agreements in nursing home admissions.

In a 7-1 ruling, the justices said the lower court violated the Federal Arbitration Act when it declined to give effect to the agreements Beverly Wellner and Janis Clark had signed with power of attorney on behalf of their relatives.

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Raylene Hollrah was 33, with a young daughter, when she learned she had breast cancer. She made a difficult decision, one she hoped would save her life: She had her breasts removed, underwent grueling chemotherapy and then had reconstructive surgery.

In 2013, six years after her first diagnosis, cancer struck again — not breast cancer, but a rare malignancy of the immune system — caused by the implants used to rebuild her chest.

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Fiat Chrysler said early Friday that it would recall more than 1.25 million Ram pickup trucks to fix a software bug that could cause certain airbags and seatbelts to fail in rollover crashes.

The automaker said it had identified two crashes involving one death and two injuries that could be connected to the error.

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Healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson said on Monday the U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation concerning management and advisory services provided to rheumatology and gastroenterology practices that bought two of its drugs.

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A federal judge in New Jersey has declined to dismiss most of a lawsuit by car buyers in 22 states accusing Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and their U.S. subsidiaries of hiding an engine defect that allegedly caused cars to lose power on the road.

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Of the more than 200 drugs cleared by the FDA between 2001 and 2010, nearly one-third exhibited safety risks that were only identified after their approval, according to a new study published in JAMA.

To be clear, most of the concerns were not severe enough for a recall (only three drugs were withdrawn from the market). In the vast majority of cases, a postmarket safety event resulted in “a black box warning, or drug safety communication issued by the FDA to let physicians and patients know that new safety information has been determined," Joseph Ross, one of the study’s authors, said in a statement.

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A patient taking an experimental cancer drug from Kite Pharma died after experiencing severe brain swelling, the company said Monday.

The news sparked alarm on the heels of a series of patient deaths at competitor Juno Therapeutics, which is developing the same type of cutting-edge cancer immunotherapy, called CAR-T.  The report may raise caution about the immunotherapy drugs that have sparked sky-high hopes even as their downsides have become increasingly apparent.

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The FDA today released information on a select recall of Medtronic‘s (NYSE:MDT) Newport HT70 and HT70 Plus ventilators over software issues which could cause unexpected shutdowns.

The Newport HT70 and HT70 plus ventilators are designed to provide breathing support for patients in need of mechanical ventilation. The devices can be used with infant, pediatric or adult patients who weigh more than 11 pounds, and are used in hospitals, healthcare facilities, home care environments and can be used during transport and emergency response situations, according to the FDA.

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 Johnson & Johnson on Thursday was ordered by a Missouri jury to pay over $110 million to a Virginia woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after decades of using of its talc-based products for feminine hygiene.

The verdict in state court in St. Louis was the largest so far to arise out of about 2,400 lawsuits accusing J&J of not adequately warning consumers about the cancer risks of talc-based products including its well-known Johnson's Baby Powder.

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As a kid Charles Rutherford drank milk to soothe the burning sensation after eating peanut butter. As an adult he complained to doctors for years about chest pains only to be told it was due to stress.

 New York hospitals are making people sick at an alarming rate.

The state Health Department “flagged” 52 hospitals for patient infection rates that greatly exceeded the state average — and 15 of them are in New York City, The Post has learned.

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