All Topics

• Girl's Bicycles' recall - frame failure

  Donald Caminiti | February 13, 2008 3:15 PM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  Trek Recalls Girls Bicycles Due To Frame Failure WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, incooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntaryrecall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop usingrecalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. Name of Product: Trek MT220 Girls BicyclesUnits: About 49,000Importer: Trek Bicycle...

• Use of Cell Phone while Driving

  Donald Caminiti | February 13, 2008 3:08 PM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  International Paper Co. has agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed the company was liable for a car crash caused by an employee who was talking on a company-provided cell phone. The plaintiff in the case eventually lost most of her arm following medical complications. Attorneys for International Paper maintained that the employee was not talking on the cell phone at the time...

• Antidepressants: Are Doctors Being Given Accurate Information

  Karen Gatlin | January 30, 2008 3:36 PM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  The Food and Drug Administration has determined that doctors and patients are receiving inaccurate information as to the effectiveness of antidepressants. Published data indicates that drugs such as Effexor and Zoloft are very effective in treating depression; however, unpublished data is contrary to the published information. Antidepressants are hugely profitable for the pharmaceutical...

• Prednisone and Fractures

  Karen Gatlin | January 28, 2008 12:00 PM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  Corticosteroids such as Prednisone are used in inflammatory conditions for their anti-inflammatory effects. When used properly, these drugs save lives and avert injury to bodily organs. They have a rapid onset of action, and profoundly affect many parts of the immune system as well as most other body systems. Corticosteroids are used to treat a variety of conditions such as vasculitis;...

• Are Caps Ever Fair

  Donald Caminiti | January 25, 2008 4:26 PM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  Legislature Considers Payment Cap for Bridge Victims Minnesota lawmakers met Tuesday to decide whether to cap awards to victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse or leave the size of the payments to neutral party. A $400,000 ceiling for lost income, medical expenses and mental anguish garnered support from both Democrats and Republicans. Federal law has further complicated matters because...

• NJ Patient Safety Report

  Donald Caminiti | January 18, 2008 10:47 AM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  In the first two years of New Jersey's Patient Safety Initiative, hospitals worked with the Department of Health and Senior Services to analyze more than 800 serious patient safety events and make comprehensive changes to prevent such errors from recurring, Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard, J.D., announced today. Nearly all hospitals reported adverse events in 2005 or...

• Doctors fail to report medical errors

  Donald Caminiti | January 16, 2008 4:07 PM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  Most doctors agree that medical errors should be reported to their hospitals, but a significant number admit they don't always report their own, a University of Iowa study shows.Researchers surveyed 338 physicians at three unidentified teaching hospitals around the country. Seventeen percent of the doctors admitted anonymously that they had failed to report minor errors, defined as mistakes that...

• Automobile Insurance

  Donald Caminiti | January 16, 2008 11:44 AM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  The AP reported today that the Florida Insurance Commissioner suspended Allstate companies from writing new automobile insurance policies in Florida for refusing to comply fully with a subpoena from the state.The Commissioner ended a scheduled two-day meeting Tuesday after just two hours. He reportedly was angered that Allstate officials failed to turn over some information the state requested...

• Insurance Companies Limit Payments

  Karen Gatlin | January 15, 2008 10:55 AM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  Some insurance carriers, including Aetna Insurance Company, have decided that they will not provide payment for treatment of conditions that were caused by medical negligence. Such restriction on payment include foreign objects left in patients during surgeries and procedures (instruments, packing, sponges); bedsores arising during admissions; incorrect blood transfusions; patient falls;...

• Punitive Damages

  Donald Caminiti | January 09, 2008 2:15 PM | 0 CommentsBergen County, NJ

  A Missouri appeals court Tuesday upheld an $8 million punitive damages judgment imposed in Jackson County against State Farm Insurance.The case involved a lawsuit filed by Johnson County residents Jennie Hampton and Marvin Vail, who accused State Farm of malicious prosecution and breach of contract.The case began a decade ago when Hampton reported the theft of her Toyota 4Runner, which was found...