Legal Examiner staff writers come from diverse journalism and communications backgrounds. They contribute news and insights to inform readers on legal issues, public safety, consumer protection, and other national topics.
You can’t believe everything you read, even in Medical Journals. Merck deliberately withheld information about three heart attacks from its data when the New England Journal of Medicine reported on VIoxx in March of 2000. Recently, Merck’s spin machine is citing new data about patients who stopped u
A study based on FDA records for the last 10 years found that 164,000 external defibrillators (one out of every five) were subject to recall or agency alert. The data included 370 reports of deaths in which the defibrillator malfunctioned. Actually, the number was much higher, 801 adverse-event repo
Several Medical Safety Groups have criticized the makers of heart devices, like defibrillators and pacemakers, for failing to alert doctors to life-threatening flaws in their products. The physicians believe the these companies don’t fully assess the patient consequences because engineers, rather th
After analyzing the data collected from about 15,000 patients, the FDA has written a letter to doctors and patients of newly discovered links between antidepressant PAXIL and an increased risk of suicides. The latest data revealed that 11 young patients (late teens to thirties) had attempted suicide
This week’s winner of the “Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction” award goes to the $1.7 Million verdict against Alarm One for spanking a female salesperson “for motivation”. A California jury rejected the defense argument that the spankings were not discriminatory because they were given to both male and
Good News. The U.S. Merit Protection Board has overturned a 2004 ruling by an Administrative Law Judge so that federal doctors can be guaranteed the same protection as other Federal Whistleblowers. This protects thousands of federal doctors and medical researchers, so called Title 42 workers who wor
Physicians are finally realizing that pharmaceutical companies are giving the doctor’s prescription preferences and patterns to their 90,000 sales people. The Prescription Data sets up which physicians should be rewarded with perks like gifts, meals and seminars. Targeting “early prescribers” or “co
Attorney Chris Searcy has filed suit against Bausch and Lomb on behalf of two clients who were permanently injured by using its Renu with Moisture LOC solution. Fellow InjuryBoard Attorney Joe Saunders in Florida has also filed suit on behalf of users of Bausch & Lomb’s MoistureLoc Renu solution who
This July, the first trial is scheduled to commence against Wyeth on the question of whether its menopause drug PREMPO causes breast cancer. Thousands of women who took the drug to combat night sweats and hot flashes, now claim that Wyeth failed to disclose its carcinogenic health risks. The FDA app
Even after more than $100 Million in damages awarded to popcorn factory workers, the industry continues to ignore the health risks to its workers. The popcorn flavoring contains a chemical called Diacetyl which causes a potentially fatal lung disease requiring lung transplants. Epidemiologists have
After telling us to be very worried about global warming, this week’s Time Magazine scares the bejeebers out of us concerning our modern health care system. With insider information from physicians, the cover story provides several practical pointers how to avoid catastrophy – like avoiding new inte
According to amednews.com (The Newspaper For America’s Physicians), liability issues are becoming a lesser factor in specialty choices by medical student’s. The 2006 National Resident Matching Program held March 16 provided proof that medical students are more concerned with lifestyle concerns. The
