Current Events

 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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Novo Nordisk A/S has agreed to settle a U.S. probe of its marketing of diabetes drugs that allegedly included disguising salespeople as medical educators and paying kickbacks to persuade doctors to prescribe its medicines. The allegations were disclosed when a whistle-blower lawsuit was unsealed by a judge.

The U.
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Asparagus extract. Exotic teas. Topical creams for your pet — and you. These and dozens of other products are being touted falsely as having "anti-cancer" properties, according to federal regulators who are trying to stop the practice.

The Food and Drug Administration, in warning letters released Tuesday, ordered 14 companies to stop making the bogus claims or face possible seizures of their products and criminal prosecution.
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A new Public Policy Polling survey commissioned by the American Association for Justice finds that voters in seven states are decisively opposed to H.R. 1215. Voters in traditionally "red" states are appalled by a proposal in the U.S.
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says an investigation by his office found hundreds of vehicles had been sold to consumers without disclosing serious safety issues.

Schneiderman says he has reached settlements with 104 car dealerships around the state that sold vehicles without telling customers about recalls for defects such as unintended acceleration and steering or brake loss.

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A lawsuit filed last week blamed the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for another mold-related death, bringing the total to seven.

The suit brought on behalf of Katherine Landman names UPMC Shadyside hospital, making Shadyside the third UPMC hospital to face such a suit, according to the Associated Press. Two of the lawsuits have been settled for payments of $1.35 million.

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An Indiana-based healthcare management group is facing a class action lawsuit after one applicant claims she was denied a job at the company due to an allegedly false background check report.

The suit was filed last Tuesday by Michele Petry, who applied for a nursing job with Ide Management Group last month. IMG, doing business as Cathedral Health Care Centers, operates 24 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.

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Joseph Boudreaux says taking Johnson & Johnson’s blood-thinning drug Xarelto was one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

While Xarelto was supposed to help cut his stroke risk, Boudreaux says it instead caused internal bleeding that required a week-long hospital stay in the intensive-care unit, several blood transfusions and multiple heart procedures. “I don’t want anybody else to suffer like I have from that drug,” the part-time security guard says.

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TAMPA — A Tampa jury has awarded $15 million in damages to the widow of a man who died from illnesses related to years of cigarette smoking.

After a four-week trial, the jury said Mary Lima, 83, is entitled to $3 million in compensatory damages from the loss of her husband, Johnny Lima. The jury also ordered $12 million in punitive damages against the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
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The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for General Motors Co. to potentially face billions of dollars in legal claims over a deadly ignition-switch defect, turning away the carmaker’s appeal in a clash connected to its 2009 bankruptcy sale.

The justices, without comment, left intact a federal appeals court ruling that said the bankruptcy accord didn’t block GM from lawsuits over accidents that happened before the sale or claims that the flaw caused vehicles to lose value.
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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency also posted a recall for three sizes of packages of one flavor of the Frito-Lay chips. Details and photos below.

Frito-Lay is recalling several varieties of Lay’s and Miss Vickie’s chips nationwide because the seasoning on them has been recalled because of Salmonella.

“This action is the direct result of a supplier’s recent recall of a seasoning blend which includes jalapeño powder that could contain Salmonella,” according to the recall notice on the Food and Drug Administration’s website.

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