Category Archives: Product Liability or Medical Devices

Consumer Group Seeks Ban on Caramel-Colored Soft Drinks

Written On February 18, 2011 By Bob Kraft

I don’t care what color my Diet Coke is, but please don’t change the taste!
NBC Nightly News reported, “Something a lot of us take a lot of in, caramel coloring, the stuff that makes Coke and Pepsi and other soft drinks so dark. … A consumer group says some versions of caramel coloring contain chemicals [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Recalled Medical Devices Were Mostly Untested

Written On February 16, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Two of the major television networks and a number of newspapers and consumer medical sites discussed a study published online Feb. 14 in the Archives of Internal Medicine about a possible link between fast approval of some medical devices and their subsequent recall. ABC World News reported “a new warning about some of the medical [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Nearly Two Million Baby Monitors Recalled After Infant Deaths

Written On February 15, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Here’s a frightening story — almost 2,000,000 baby monitors produced by Summer Infant have been recalled because two children strangled in their cribs after getting tangled in the devices’ electrical cords. What a terrible thing for a parent to face. This announcement was made by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. One of the deaths was in [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Report Finds No Electronic Cause of Unintended Acceleration in Toyotas

Written On February 10, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The New York Times reports, “Federal investigators found no evidence that” Toyota’s “cars are susceptible to sudden acceleration from electronic failures,” but instead, “the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that the sudden acceleration was caused by mechanical problems in some Toyota models…that it had previously identified as causes.” LaHood said, “The jury is back,” [...]

Posted in Product Liability or Medical Devices, Vehicle Law or News

Breast Implants Linked to Lymphomatous Cancer, per FDA

Written On January 28, 2011 By Bob Kraft

ABC World News reported, “An important health warning tonight from the FDA about a possible link between breast implants and a rare form of cancer.” ABC (Stark) added, “The government says they may be linked to a rare form of lymphoma. … There are 60 cases worldwide, in as many 10-million women with implants.”
The Washington [...]

Posted in Product Liability or Medical Devices

FDA Scales Back Changes to Medical Device-Approval System

Written On January 25, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The AP reports, “The Food and Drug Administration is laying out plans to update the 35-year-old system used to approve most medical devices.” Notably, the “agency announced a series of changes it plans to make this year, including streamlining the review process for some low-risk devices,” although “regulators said they will delay a decision on [...]

Posted in Government, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Study Says Splitting Pills Can Be Dangerous

Written On January 12, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Here’s something I hadn’t thought about before — a new study claims that the popular money-saving method of buying large pills and splitting them into smaller doses can be dangerous. The study was mentioned in the Los Angeles Times, and the bottom line is that splitting pills, even with a device made for the purpose, [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Albuterol Used in Nebulizers is Recalled

Written On January 5, 2011 By Bob Kraft

This recall notice is from the site WebMD.com:
The Ritedose Corporation has recalled some single-dose vials of Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Solution because an incorrect label could lead to a possible overdose.
The recall includes 0.083% Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Solution, 3 mL (in 25-, 30-, and 60-unit dose vials) because the 2.5 mg/3 mL single-use vials are mislabeled [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Med Schools Flunk at Keeping Faculty Off Pharmaceutical Speaking Circuit

Written On December 29, 2010 By Bob Kraft

I’ve written several times about pharmaceutical companies paying doctors to shill for them. Speak-for-fee has gotten enough bad publicity recently that fewer doctors are accepting money from the drug companies to tout certain medications.
But, as a lengthy article at the ProPublica site details, medical schools are falling behind physicians in general in reining in this [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

The Medical Implants Loophole

Written On December 23, 2010 By Bob Kraft

“The brief and troubled life of DePuy’s A.S.R. hip points to a medical implant system that is piecemeal and broken on many fronts, critics say.” This quote is at the heart of a lengthy article in the New York Times. The article explores in depth the approval process for medical devices such as the problematic hip [...]

Posted in Product Liability or Medical Devices

After Dozens of Deaths, Drop-Side Cribs Finally Outlawed

Written On December 22, 2010 By Bob Kraft

I know that you, and your parents, and probably your grandparents, used drop-side cribs as infants, and you all turned out just fine. But these cribs are dangerous, and after a couple of years of writing about their dangers, I am very happy that the government has finally, after dozens of toddler deaths, banned all [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Featured Link – ClickCheckAndProtect.org

Written On December 16, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Click, Check, and Protect is a program by Consumer Reports to help consumers find out if products they are considering obtaining have been recalled for safety reasons. It’s a worthwhile effort, and there’s a lot of good information here.

Posted in Consumer Information, Featured Link, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Hidden Hazard of Crib Bumpers

Written On December 15, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Chicago Tribune published an important article about the hazards of crib bumpers. I recommend this story for all parents of young kids. The main point is that babies can suffocate if their faces become wedged between the mattress and bumper pad, which wraps around the inside of a crib and ties to crib slats.

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Air Bags May Have Failed In Hundreds Of Fatal Accidents

Written On December 14, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Here’s a disturbing report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as reported by WSMV-TV in Nashville. According to the television station, an internal memo at NHTSA estimates that air bags failed in 576 fatal auto collisions in the six-year period ending in 2006. In 360 of those wrecks NHTSA believes proper deployment of the [...]

Posted in Product Liability or Medical Devices, Vehicle Law or News

Seriously? Wizard of Oz Glasses Are For Adults?

Written On December 13, 2010 By Bob Kraft

This is a decision I would have expected from the previous Administration, but not from the current one. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has reversed a decision it made last month. The original decision was for a recall of sets of Wizard of Oz drinking glasses because they contained up to 1000 times the federal [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Government, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Patient Care Compromised by Drug Makers’ Price Inflation Scheme

Written On December 9, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The AP (12/7, Caldwell) reported Abbot Laboratories Inc., B. Braun Medical Inc., and Roxane Laboratories Inc. “agreed to pay more than $421 million to settle allegations that the companies reported inflated prices for numerous products,” according to the Justice Department. Assistant Attorney General Tony West said the companies “inflated the average wholesale price for dozens [...]

Posted in Medicaid, Medicare, Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Dosing Instructions for Children’s Medicines Confusing and Potentially Dangerous

Written On December 2, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Los Angeles Times (12/1, Roan) reports that, according to a study published online Nov. 30 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “many over-the-counter, liquid medications meant for children contain dosing instructions and measuring cups or droppers that rarely match each other and could confuse even the most careful parent or caretaker.” As [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Bassettbaby Recalls Drop-Side Cribs Due to Suffocation Hazards

Written On November 30, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Here’s the latest in what seems to be a never-ending stream of crib recalls. Bassett Furniture Industries has recalled about 90,000 Bassettbaby drop-side cribs. I keep telling parents to just not use any drop-side crib. They all seem to have similar problems, and hundreds of thousands have been recalled, by many different manufacturers. Here are [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

CPSC Releases Top Three Tips for a Safer Holiday Toy Shopping and Playing Experience

Written On November 22, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a timely press release about toy safety, just before the Holidays. The report notes the decrease in toy recalls in 2010 compared with 2008, and the decrease in child deaths during the same period. This is great progress, and perhaps a sign of tougher oversight under the new [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Senator Urging FDA to Investigate Lead Content in Grocery Bags

Written On November 15, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Good grief, we’re not safe even when we try to be environmentally sensitive and buy reusable grocery bags so we don’t have to choose between paper or plastic. Here is information from the American Association of Justice:

USA Today (11/15, Armour) reports, “Lead found in some reusable grocery bags is raising concerns that the toxin could [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices