A wrongful death suit against a gun owner and the gun's manufacturer has demonstrated the difficulty of pursuing a products liability claim involving a firearm. The Appeals Court of Massachusetts affirmed the trial court's summary judgment for the defendants in Ryan v. Hughes-Ortiz, 81 Mass. App....
An appeals court in Massachusetts, reviewing a failure-to-warn claim, examined federal regulations governing labels on hazardous products. The court upheld a directed verdict for the defendants in Namundi v. Rocky's Ace Hardware, LLC, 81 Mass. App. Ct. 665 (Mass. App. Ct. 2012), holding that the ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently published a proposed new rule in the Federal Registerthat would create an identification system for medical devices distributed within the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 directed the FDA to develop rules implementi...
When patients check into the hospital, they usually provide a medical history, including the medications they are taking at the time of admission. Patients cannot always provide a complete and accurate list of medications for various reasons. This and other factors may result in unintentional dis...
For hospital patients who speak limited English, miscommunication between hospital staff and doctors is a serious risk with potentially dire consequences. A misunderstood word or phrase could lead to an incorrect diagnosis or prescription error. A recent study reviewed cases of emergency room vis...
A state agency is recommending changes to nursing home staff training procedures after three residents in separate facilities around Connecticut choked to death in a four-month period earlier this year. At least two of the three patients were clients of the state's Department of Developmental Ser...
A 21-year old man was seriously injured in a boating accident in the waters off Compo Beach near Westport recently. Police say that the driver of the boat, who was friends with the victim of the accident, allegedly put the 26-foot Sea Ray Sun Deck into reverse and cut the victim's legs with the p...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1.7 million people suffer from a traumatic brain injury each year. People living with the long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury can suffer from difficulty with memory and speech, emotional problems, problems contro...
Dementia patients can present particular challenges to nursing home staff, requiring routine care and attention. In some nursing homes around the country, staffers are using antipsychotic medications as a form of “chemical restraint” to treat dementia patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administrati...
In the wake of former football coach Jerry Sandusky's conviction on forty-five counts of sexual abuse, Pennsylvania State University, Sandusky's former employer, issued an invitation to Sandusky's victims to discuss settling their civil lawsuits against the school. Observers have suggested that t...
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a federal agency that investigates automobile and aviation accidents and makes recommendations for improvements to safety regulations, would serve as an excellent model for an agency to monitor patient safety, according to a recent medical journal ...
An 81 year-old woman is suing a hospital in New Haven, alleging that her doctor and other hospital staff failed to properly monitor her and ensure her safety while she was recovering from a medical procedure in 2010. She claims that she suffered multiple severe injuries when she fell off the tabl...
Awareness of concussions as a serious health risk in sports, particularly youth sports, has quickly grown in recent years. Many coaches and athletic officials recognize that contact sports, particularly hockey and football, pose risks of seriously debilitating injuries to players. This awareness ...
A nationwide outbreak of salmonella linked to sushi has sickened at least 316 people, including nine people in Connecticut. Investigators identified as the likely source a product made from raw yellowfin tuna imported from India, known as Nakaochi Scrape. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FD...
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced a recall of roughly 21,000 inflatable water slides. One person has died, and several more have suffered disabling injuries, because of a defective condition in the slides' design or assembly. The slide, which sits on the side o...
A mother in Massachusetts has settled her lawsuit against a treatment facility that, she alleged, subjected her son to shock treatments that constituted torture. Video of the procedure became widely available on the internet after the judge unsealed it and news of the case spread. Although the mo...
An accident in which a teenage driver, allegedly distracted by a hand-held cell phone, struck and killed a jogger in Norwalk, Connecticut has brought attention to the issue of distracted driving and its risks. These risks are particularly pronounced for young and novice drivers. However, distract...
A former high school football linebacker has settled a lawsuit against the school district where he used to play for $4.4 million. Scott Eveland, now 22 years old, suffered traumatic brain injury during a 2007 game that left him confined to a wheelchair, able to communicate only through a special...
The parents of two Hungarian students who died when a barge collided with their tour boat in Philadelphia settled their wrongful death lawsuit against the companies that operated the two vessels and the city. The settlement occurred after two days of trial in federal court, after the judge urged ...
The death of a young baseball player in Illinois has demonstrated the need for comprehensive data on youth sports injuries. Extensive data are available for high school and collegiate sports, but not for participants in sports who are younger than high school age even though they face many of the...
The fentanyl patch, which delivers a potent narcotic painkiller through the skin to people receiving treatment for injuries and pain management, poses a serious threat to children. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning to the public that exposure to the patch can b...
A survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reveals that as many as 22 million Americans use illegal drugs of one kind or another. “Illegal drugs,” as defined by the survey, includes both controlled substances like cocaine and marijuana and prescription medications used imp...
The victim of a brutal 2009 attack by a chimpanzee is seeking to hold the state of Connecticut liable for her injuries for failing to enforce animal control regulations and protect the public. Charla Nash, who suffered severe and disfiguring injuries in the attack, alleges that the state had warn...
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced that its port investigators identified and blocked around 650,000 units of products deemed dangerous or in violation of U.S. safety standards. Investigators reportedly screened over 2,900 shipments arriving at U.S. ports during...
A Connecticut man travelling in Vermont recently brought an injured bobcat to the Guilford Welcome Center near the Vermont-New Hampshire state line. A state game warden had previously received a report of a bobcat hit by a vehicle on Interstate 91 on the morning of Sunday, March 25, 2012, but she...
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