All news posts from April 01, 2003 to April 30, 2003

A Virginia jury awarded $1.8 million last week to the family of a woman killed in a horrific tractor-trailer accident. Martin Andrews was driving his truck in the rain along state Route 47, a two-lane road, near Farmville in 2001 when he suddenly came upon a line of stopped vehicles waiting for a car to make a left tu

As part of an agreement reached Thursday with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Nissan will replace passenger-side airbags in 1994 and early 1995 model Nissan Altimas. For several years, numerous public interest groups have called on the NHTSA to recall the airbags due to their connection w

One person was killed and another suffered minor injuries Wednesday night when their tractor-trailers collided on eastbound Interstate 70 in Missouri. Terry D. Tanner, 46, of South Dakota was traveling near Boonville when his truck was struck in the rear by another tractor-trailer driven by Nancy Kosier, 36. Tan

Three victims of the February 20 Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 99 people have filed the first federal lawsuit over the tragedy. Two survivors, Tammy Passa, 24, and Walter Castle Jr., 29, along with Cheryl Harris-Rossi, whose husband died in the blaze, filed the 61-page suit Tuesday. Defendants named in

One of the nation's leading consumer advocacy groups called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week to ban the sale of dietary supplements containing the herbal stimulant ephedra. In the latest report, Washington, DC-based Public Citizen, which originally asked the FDA to ban ephedra in September 2001

Exposure to lead levels considered safe by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may actually impair a child's intellectual abilities, according to a new report on the toxic substance. As part of the study, researchers from Cornell University followed 172 infants, testing their blood for lead starting a

Inspectors investigating a fire that killed 99 people at a Rhode Island nightclub discovered a document last week that suggests the bar's owners lied about the location's maximum capacity. Found in the rubble of The Station nightclub in West Warwick, the unsigned contract between the club's owners and the popular 80's

A New York jury last week found pharmaceutical maker Warner-Lambert liable in a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed over the withdrawn diabetes drug Rezulin. Attorneys representing Concepcion Morgado alleged Warner-Lambert, which was acquired by Pfizer Inc. in June 2000, misrepresented the drug and "omitted material in

UnumProvident Corporation received more troubling news last week when a federal jury in Arizona ordered the insurance provider to pay $84.5 million to a former policyholder. Cardiologist Joanne Ceimo filed suit against UnumProvident after two of its subsidiaries, Paul Revere and Provident Life, and a third insurer, Ge

Another healthcare organization has joined the growing number of public interest groups calling for the immediate ban of dietary supplements containing the herbal stimulant ephedra. In a statement submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Thursday, the American Heart Association urged the federal government

Less than a month after Bayer Corporation was found not liable in the first lawsuit to go to trial over the cholesterol medication Baycol, a Mississippi court cleared the pharmaceutical maker in the second U.S. case to reach a jury. The lawsuit involved a woman in her 70s who alleged Baycol use led to debilitating m

In a ruling that may have a major impact on the future of health maintenance organizations (HMOs), the United States Supreme Court Wednesday determined that health care networks must accept all providers who agree to abide by their terms. The High Court decision upheld a Kentucky law, known as the any willing provider