Category Archives: 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

Genentech Offers Doctors Secret Rebates for Expensive Eye Drug

Written On November 10, 2010 By Bob Kraft

There seems to be no end to stories about drug companies paying doctors to push their products. This one seems especially shocking to me because it is costing both consumers and Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars annually, perhaps needlessly. The manufacturer Genentech has been offering “rebates” to the top 300 dispensers of the very [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Rental Car Industry Criticized for Offering Recalled Vehicles

Written On November 9, 2010 By Bob Kraft

I’ve written before about rental car companies continuing to let customers use vehicles that have been recalled, and about Enterprise rental selling cars to consumers without warning them that the standard-equipment airbags were not installed. Now the politicians are finally getting involved in these problems, as pointed out in an article in the Washington Post.
I [...]

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

23,000 Britax Car Seats Recalled

Written On November 8, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Britax is recalling about 23,000 infant car seats due to faulty harness clips. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the clip on the chest harness of the Chinese-made car seats can break loose and pose a risk of cuts or a choking hazard.
Britax Child Safety Inc. has received three reports of cuts and scratches and one [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Injuries From Cribs and Other Nursery Products Rose in 2009, CPSC Says

Written On November 3, 2010 By Bob Kraft

It seems I’ve been writing all year about recalls of defective cribs and strollers. Now, according to an article in Bloomberg News, I see the reason – there was an alarming increase in injuries to babies from these products last year. I don’t know if this increase was caused by lax regulation in previous years, [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Strangulation Concerns Cause Graco to Recall Two Million Strollers

Written On November 2, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Here we go again with another stroller recall. This is becoming way too familiar. Graco is the latest manufacturer to issue a recall, and it’s the largest stroller recall yet. These strollers were all manufactured before July 2007, so it may be harder than usual to locate and warn consumers who are using them. That’s [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Allegation: Toyota Knew of Sudden Acceleration But Kept Owners Quiet

Written On November 1, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The AP (10/29, Risling) reports that court documents filed in a suit against Toyota claim that the company “bought back cars from drivers who reported sudden acceleration defects, but” didn’t report “purchasing concerned owners’ vehicles to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nor did Toyota executives when they testified before Congress earlier this year.” According [...]

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

Ethan Allen Recalls Drop-Side Cribs Due to Suffocation and Fall Hazards

Written On October 26, 2010 By Bob Kraft

I’m getting tired of writing about drop-side crib recalls. If you have any drop-side crib, it’s dangerous. Check online to find out if there has been a recall of your particular crib. Stop using it if you can.
The latest crib recall by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is one produced by Ethan Allen, of Danbury, Connecticut. [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Texas Orders Produce Plant Closed After Alleged Link to Four Listeria Deaths

Written On October 25, 2010 By Bob Kraft

USA Today reports, “Texas officials have ordered a plant that makes cut-fresh produce to close after its chopped celery was linked to at least four deaths and two other illnesses in the state over the past eight months.” The move to shutter Sangar Fresh Cut Produce’s plant in San Antonio follows “laboratory tests of its [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Toyota to Repair More Than 1.5 Million Cars Worldwide

Written On October 22, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Here we go again with a Toyota recall. This one is worldwide, and really big. There is apparently a problem with the brake master cylinder seal and fuel pump wiring on Toyota Avalons and other vehicles. Only a couple of months ago Toyota recalled more than one million Corolla and Matrix cars that had defective [...]

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

U.S. Seeks Limits on Cadmium for Toys and Jewelry

Written On October 21, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a report this week calling for limits to the amount of cadmium that toy and jewelry manufacturers can include in their products. Cadmium fumes can lead to lung disease.
There has been a steady stream in recent months of recalls of toys and jewelry that have toxic levels of [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Product Liability or Medical Devices