Legal Updates
FDA Urges Additional Testing for Diabetes Drugs
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
On July 2, 2008 an FDA panel suggested that diabetes drugs should face stricter standards that could cost manufacturers millions but protect patients from unforeseen heart risks, a government panel has recommended. FDA advisers voted 14-2 on July 2, 2008 that all new diabetes drugs must undergo longer studies to assure they don't increase risks of heart problems. The agency currently doesn't screen for heart risks associated with diabetes drugs. The opinions from diabetes experts, cardiologists and statisticians come less than a year after the FDA was criticized for it’s handling of heart risks connected with a widely used GlaxoSmithKline…
California Girl Testifies About Losing Sight
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
On June 30, 2008, an 11-year-old Topanga Canyon girl informed a Malibu jury that she can barely remember what it's like to see, since she was left near-blind and suffering from a painful condition that her parents and doctors claim was caused by a rare, severe allergic reaction to Children's Motrin. "It's hard to remember what seeing is like, when you haven't been able to see for a long time," Sabrina Johnson testified during the trial of her family's lawsuit against Children's Motrin manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries. She and her father testified that Sabrina's eyes were so…
Construction Cranes Safety Questioned
Monday, June 23, 2008
During the past twenty years, tower cranes have proliferated in the construction industry. It is impossible to stand on a city street in any major U.S. city and see more than one at work. The cranes are the ideal solution to working in crowded spaces. They are built of modular units and are designed for the site where they will stand and the job they will do. They can grow taller as the structure they are helping to build rises next to or sometimes around them. They also represent the application by engineering of the "just in time" strategy that…
Chattem Warned by FDA Over Icy Hot Patches
Monday, June 23, 2008
On June 17, 2008, the FDA announced that Chattem Inc. failed to inform officials about new warnings added to its Icy Hot heat therapy patches after getting more than 168 complaints, according to a recently released letter. In a warning letter to the company, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Chattem did not tell the FDA it was changing the wording on the product's label to help consumers avoid burns and other skin irritations after it received the complaints, the agency said in the letter dated June 6. The company also did not report some complaints to the agency…
Owner of NYC Building Damaged In Crane Accident Sues
Sunday, June 22, 2008
On June 20, 2008, the owner of a building that was badly damaged in a deadly New York City crane collapse that took place on May 30, 2008, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the crane owner, contractor and others working on a new 32-story apartment tower across the street. The company, First & 91 LLC, says in court papers filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that it lost tenants and rent revenue, faces additional costs including repairs, and will suffer because the Upper East Side building has been "stigmatized." The lawsuit names crane owner New York Crane &…
Veterans Get Chantix Warning From VA
Friday, June 20, 2008
On June 19, 2008, the Veterans Administration responded to an ABC News/Washington Times investigation, and announced their plans to inform an estimated 32,000 veterans that they are using Chantix,a drug linked to suicide or violent behavior. The investigation revealed that the VA waited three months to notify veterans in a VA experiment of the possible side effects from the anti-smoking drug Chantix. All of the veterans enrolled in the Chantix study suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and had been recruited, with monthly $30 payments, for a behavioral study with the drug. Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake told Washington…
Paxil Investigation Broadens
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Wall Street Journal announced on June 20, 2008, that a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into whether GlaxoSmithKline PLC withheld information about the suicide risks of the antidepressant drug Paxil is widening. In its online editions, the newspaper said Glaxo confirmed that a previously disclosed Colorado-based investigation of its marketing practices also includes the U.S. attorney's office in Boston and is being coordinated by the agency in Washington. Federal investigators in Boston last year asked lawyers for families that are suing Glaxo for information, documents and depositions concerning Paxil's potential link to suicidal behavior, and how the company portrayed…
Life Threatening Medical Debris Left In Patients
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Twelve years after Pamela Jones had surgery on her right knee, the White Plains, Maryland, woman learned why the pain continued long after the wound had healed: A doctor left a 2-inch scalpel blade inside her leg. LaCheryl Robinson of Pontiac, Michigan, endured nearly eight years of unexplained pain following a breast biopsy until a lump appeared last January and a new mammogram showed the source of the trouble: a broken needle embedded in her left breast. Additionally, Lisa Schweska, a teacher from Springfield, Illinois, missed most of last year with her third-grade class while doctors grappled with a metal…
