All news posts from November 01, 2007 to November 30, 2007

An Amtrak passenger train collided with a parked freight train outside of Chicago today. At least 47 are hurt, eight seriously. Antonio Romanucci of Romanucci & Blandin LLC Chicago, with a specialty in mass transit litigation, has information for consumers on protecting your rights if you are involved in a train crash.  

A website written by moms for moms has turned its investigative skills into the classroom.  Mom•Logic reveals that one in five kids surveyed has witnessed sex in school.

A pandemic of worldwide influenza is overdue scientists believe.  During an influenza outbreak or widespread pandemic, everyday life can be disrupted including schools, government, food delivery and medical services as widespread illness and even death grips a population. The influenza

A new study has the medical field rethinking a diagnostic tool that's frequently used on children.  CT or computed tomography scans are used millions of times every year but the authors warn that the radiation used may result in a spike in cancers over the next decades from the "super X-rays" involved. 

An FDA advisory panel says the anti-flu drugs Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and Relenza (zanamivir ) should carry a stronger warning about the possible side effects for children including delirium, hallucinations and psychotic behavior.It concludes that the present label for Tamiflu is not specific enough in warning that the bizarre behavior the drugs can induce can lead to death. 

The Rhode Island Hospital has had three wrong-site brain surgeries so far this year, even though it has recently tightened up procedures. The focus needs to be on the neurosurgery department and its procedures and protocols.

Retailers report consumers are wary this shopping season, especially when it comes to toys.  In Macon, Georgia, Ladonna Gosner carried a list of recently recalled toys when she shopped for her toddler sons this weekend.  "I try to get my

The FDA has given approval to a Seattle company to resume testing of a controversial drug that is suspected in the death of a 36 year old otherwise healthy mother who was a participant in a drug trial.  

It has reportedly happened before at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.  This time actor Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins are fighting for their lives after receiving an overdose of Heparin, an anti coagulant. The twins,  Thomas Boone and Zoe

Dr Jan Adams walks off the Larry King Show , after saying he'd talk about the death of Donda West. King says the family has threatened to have the doctors license revoked if he appears.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown and the Los Angeles city attorney have filed suit against toymakers that have distributed products with an “unlawful” quantity of lead. The lawsuit names 20 toymakers and says companies knowingly exposed consumers to contaminants that cause cancer and reproductive harm and did nothing to warn the public. The suit is intended to force more compliance with state law and Proposition 65 which requires warning labels on dangerous products. 

The image on ABC Television is shocking.  A young model faints on Israeli television before being rushed to the hospital. She weights barely 60 pounds. Now that model, Hila Elmalich, is dead and the photographer

A Cook County judge has ruled that limiting caps on medical malpractice is unconstitutional, striking down a two-year old state law.

An arbitration hearing in California opened to the public is shining light on the inner workings of the health insurance industry, specifically Health Net Inc. which has dropped about 1,600 policies between 2000 and 2006. Patsy Bates is suing for $6 million.

Avandia, a drug to treat Type 2 diabetes, will have to carry a black box warning telling consumers about an increased risk of heart attack. Dissent within the FDA exists, but the agency will let the drug stay on the market.

There isn’t a single person who watches television that hasn’t seen the ads. “One Less” is the campaign theme created by drug maker Merck to promote Gardasil.  Approved by the FDA in June, 2006, Gardasil is being aggressively marketed to parents

Wanting to move on from the legacy of its deadly painkiller, the maker of Vioxx,  Merck & Co. this morning signed an agreement to pay $4.85 billion to settle the outstanding individual product liability claims against the drug. "This is

Just in Time for Christmas Target, Toys R Us, Amazon and Wal Mart, are all scrambling to pull Aqua Dots from the store shelves because of a contaminant that's hospitalized 5children. The toy is made in China

Morris and Mildred Brasovankin just want to continue caring for their five-year-old grandson, Steven, until his 54-year-old father, their son, gets his life together.  Their son had temporarily lost custody and the little boy’s mother abandoned Steven soon after he was born. 

It's coming soon to a theatre near you. March 2008, Paramount Pictures will release the film, Stop Loss, starring Ryan Phillippe, a young enlistee who is anxious to return home after fighting the war in Iraq. That’s when he hears the

During her son’s first deployment, Miller says she just went through the motions of daily life. She put on her best face about the war, put a magnet in the back windshield of her car half of a heart that

Expect to hear more about MRSA ever since the government’s first assessment of the potentially deadly staphylococcus infection finds its growth is out of control. No one knows why it is mutating into strains with unique properties that make it a more virulent form of infection.

First he lost his pants, then his frivolous lawsuit. Now Administrative Court Judge Roy L. Pearson Jr. has lost his job. Pearson was booted this week from his $100,000 job and asked to clear out of his office by the

An Interview with Richard Alexander Alexander has been a California attorney since 1972 and is among the most published, authoring more than 200 articles on personal injury. Alexander is dedicated to public education and the 35th lawyer to have an

50 years ago, Americans were being injured by washing machines, power tools, toys, kitchen appliances and cribs.  The enforcement on hazardous products was largely reactive. The Refrigerator Safety Act of 1956 and the Flammable Products Act of 1953 resulted only