An Oklahoma jury has ordered Farmers Insurance Co. to pay $80 million to a class of policyholders who claimed that the insurer underpaid claims. In the lawsuit, policyholders alleged that Farmers engaged in bad faith and fraud by failing to pay for general contractors. The award includes $50 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages. Staff and Wire Reports, Tulsa World 09/26/200
Heparin Deaths Linked to Baxter
Chicago Tribune reporter
Inhalers Increase Heart Risk
Commonly prescribed inhalers used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, have been linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and heart disease. According to a study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients treated with the drugs tiotropium or ipratropium were statistically more likely to develop cardiovascular disease or suffer cardiovascular death when compared to patients not treated with tiotropium or ipratropium. Tiotropium or ipratropium can be found in brand name drugs Spiriva, Atrovent and Combivent. Rita Rubin, USA Today 09/23/2008
Construction Workers File Wage Suit
A large construction contractor and its subsidiary violated federal labor laws during the housing boom, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles. In the lawsuit, workers for Building Materials Holding Corp. and its subsidiary SelectBuild Construction Inc. say they were not paid overtime, forced to sign blank time sheets, skip breaks and travel without compensation. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, seeks unspecified damages for lost wages. Tiffany Hsu, LA Times 09/23/2008
$5.5 Million Settlement in Birth Injury Case
Two doctors and a suburban Chicago hospital will pay $5.5 million to settle allegations that that they were negligent in the birth of a child with severe brain damage. In the lawsuit, Eva Liberato claimed the child was deprived of oxygen after a family medicine physician at Westlake Hospital failed to deliver the baby. The child was subsequently delivered by C-section but too late to prevent permanent injury. AP, Chicago Tribune 09/22/2008
Medical Errors: Young at Greater Risk
The overdose of Dennis Quaid's children last year has brought added attention to a problem that experts say is more prevalent than commonly thought. Studies show that about one in ten children will be the victim of a medical error during their hospital stay and nearly one quarter of those errors are preventable. Still, the very nature of being a child puts young patients at greater risk of injury or death when compared to adult patients, experts say. Laurie Tarkan, The New York Times 09/14/2008
Hospitals Fail to Educate ER Patients
Hospitals routinely fail to provide emergency room patients with adequate information to care for themselves upon discharge from the hospital, according to a recently released study. Researchers say that confusion among patients about self-care leaves patients at risk for medication errors and serious complications. Other studies have produced similar results with non-emergency room patients and Medicare recipients. Laurie Tarkan, The New York Times 09/15/2008
Bus Firms Often Have Deficient Insurance
The family of Yani Bocanegra, a 19-year-old student killed in a bus crash in Mexico, is finding out the hard way that most of the protections they expect in the United States essentially end at the border. Since the 1980s, insurance companies have worked to limit the payment of claims for accidents that occur in Mexico - even if the insured primarily does business in the U.S. The Bocanegra's story highlights a growing safety problem among bus companies operating routes along the U.S and Mexican border. James Pinkerton and Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle 09/17/2008
Safety of Supplements Doubted
The growing popularity of herbal and other alternative medicines has drawn many to ayurveda supplements, an ancient Indian medical system. However, recent reports have linked ayurveda supplements purchased on the Internet to dangerous heavy metal contaminants. Researchers say that such findings may be the tip of the iceberg in terms of impurities that may be lurking in these unregulated medicines. Abby Ellin, The New York Times 09/17/2008
FDA Releases List of Problem Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration released a list of 20 medications Friday that are currently under investigation for potential safety problems. The release of the list comes after Congress last year ordered the agency to produce a quarterly report of drugs being investigated by regulators. Consumer advocates have complained that the list, which states little more than the name of the drugs and their potential safety problems, will be of little use to patients. Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Yahoo News 09/05/2008
Off-the-Clock Judgment for $185 Million Upheld
Wal-Mart should pay nearly 200,000 current and former Pennsylvania employees about $185 million for forcing employees to work without pay, a Philadelphia common pleas judge has ruled. The opinion by Judge Mark I. Bernstein affirms a jury verdict that found the retail giant forced employees to work off-the-clock and to skip required rest breaks. The cases are Braun v. Wal-Mart and Hummel v. Wal-Mart. Amaris Elliot-Engel, Law.com 09/04/2008 Read Article
Fablyn Linked to Deaths
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday concluded that patients treated with an experimental osteoporosis drug were more likely to die than those treated with a placebo. The FDA analysis noted that patients who took the drug Fablyn, produced by Pfizer Inc., showed a statistically significant increase in death and were also more likely to develop blood clots when compared to others in the test group. The FDA is still evaluating the overall safety of the drug. Reuters, Reuters 09/04/2008
TNF Blocker Medications Linked to Infections
A class of prescription drugs is being blamed for the deaths of a dozen patients who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and other conditions. The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that so-called TNF blocker medications have been linked to serious fungal infections including histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis and blastomycosis. The agency in now urging stronger warning labels for drugs such as Remicade by Johnson & Johnson, Humira by Abbott Laboratories, Cimzia by UCB and Enbrel from Amgen and Wyeth. Susan Heavey, Reuters 09/04/2008
Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft Linked to Problems
A series of spinal procedures involving the Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft that resulted in severe complications have been linked to doctors with financial ties to the medical device maker. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the device has not been approved for procedures in the cervical spine and could cause life threatening problems. Previous lawsuits have accused Medtronic of providing improper financial incentives to physicians who used the device. Jacob Goldstein, WSJ Blogs 09/04/2008
Supermarket Failed to Pay Overtime
Supermarket chain Gristede's wrongly denied overtime pay to more than 400 current and former lower-level managers, a federal judge ruled last week. Federal District Judge Paul A. Crotty found that Gristede's had sought to treat the managers as hourly workers for some purposes but as salaried employees for the purposes of overtime . Attorneys for the plaintiffs estimate that damages could reach $25 million. Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times 09/02/2008 Read Article
