Spartanburg Personal Injury Lawyer

Clarks Children’s Shoes Recalled

Chrissie Cole — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:37:00 GMT

Clarks Children’s Shoes, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is recalling certain pairs of shoes because molded rubber pieces on the sole can detach, posing a choking hazard.

To this date, there have been no incidents reported in the U.S., however, in the United Kingdom, there have been six reports of the rubber pieces detaching. Two incidents included reports of children putting the rubber into their mouths. There have been no injuries.

Clarks children’s shoes sold under the “crawlers” and “hazy daze” style names are involved in the recall. A complete list of names and model numbers can be found on the CPSC Web site.

The shoes should be taken away from children and returned to the nearest Clarks store for a full refund.

Consumer Information: Contact C & J Clark America at (800) 425-2757 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday - Friday, or visit the company’s Web site at www.clarkskidsusa.com.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Trampolines Recalled By Aviva Sports Due to Fall Hazard

Chrissie Cole — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:19:00 GMT

Aviva Sports, Inc. in conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is recalling 14,000 Aviva Leaps and Bounds Folding Trampolines with Safety Pad (L&B) and Aviva Pirate Jump ‘N Play Trampolines (Pirate).

The support legs on the trampolines can bend and/or break posing a fall hazard to consumers.

To date, the company has received 24 reports of incidents in which the legs on the frame of the trampoline have bent or broke and three reports of injury.

Two different trampolines are included in the recall:

Leaps & Bounds Trampoline – model number 12731

Pirate Jump & Play Trampoline – model number 0840525

Consumers are advised to stop using the recalled trampolines immediately and to contact the company for instructions on how to return the trampoline and receive a refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Aviva Sports at (888) 352-9763 anytime Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.aviva-trampoline-recall.com

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Decreasing Quality of Care

Lara Pettiss Harrill — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:43:51 GMT

Les Wiebrod wrote this piece for the Huffington Post earlier this month, and I thought I would pass it along. he talks about two things that came out in the media this month: the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's report that 94% oof nursing homes around the country have violations; and, the NY Times article about Medicare no longer paying for preventable mistakes that occur in hospitals.

Wiebrod points out that the Inspector General's report indicates that for-profit nursing homes are the worst when it comes to nursing violations - which tells you a little something about which comes first, profits or patients. This little bit of informaiton is made worse by the fact that more and more nursing home admissions contracts are including binding arbitration in order to avoid litigation. As for Medicare's position that it will no longer pay for preventable errors, I think that's a fine position, but the reality is, most likely the errors will continue, and the cost will be passed on to the patients, rather than the hospital or nursing home losing money.

Its an interesting article, very much like my own rants . . . so I'll let it speak for itself.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Lara Pettiss Harrill

Making A Complaint Against A Nursing Home

Angela Lizer — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:43:49 GMT

The purpose of the Long Term Care Ombudsman program in South Carolina is to provide advocates for the elderly and their families. If you or a loved one is a resident of a nursing home or assisted living facility in South Carolina, the Ombudsman in your region should be able to answer your questions. Most importantly, if you have a complaint against a facility contact your Ombudsman for help. Click here for to find out more about the Long Term Care Ombudsman program and to get contact information. Another resource to try is SCDHEC, or South Carolina Department of Healht and Environmental Control. This is the agency that licenses and inspects nursing home and assisted living facilites in South Carolina. Click here for more information.

When making a complaint, whether it is made to the Ombudsman, DHEC, or the facility itself, it is best to do it writing, not verbally, and make sure you keep a copy for your records.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Angela Lizer

Where does the money go?

Lara Pettiss Harrill — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:54:53 GMT

I was looking around to day for new nursing home stories, and I'm glad to say Jonathan Rosenfield at the Chicago Nursing Home Lawyer Blog had something i hadn't run across already - although I should have - I really think everyone should know about this story.

In Cincinnati, there is a facility that houses the Health Care Center at Westside and The Terrace, from what i gather, nursing home and assisted living - in March of this year, the police (that's right, the police) found terrible living conditions in these facilities - just after the facility had been inspected by the state in January and the city at the end of February. During those inspetions, the facilities were cited for only minor violations. So a police officer goes in looking for someone else and finds "deplorable living conditions" and returns two weeks later with more officers and both city and state health inspectors.

Now, we're talking about a really nasty place - vomit that has not been cleaned up, pipes tied together with shoe strings, roaches and flies, cigarette butts in the floor, residents smoking near oxygen containers, soiled mattresses, lack of toilet paper, lack of diapers for the residents - the list goes on and on.

So, as usual I got interested, and i found more articles, here here and here. The thing that makes me the angriest is that this facility is one of those facilities that typically houses the mentally ill (and by the way, the staff had no training to deal with the mentally ill) or the very poor, or those with no families - and what that says to me is 'no one to complain.' And then top that with the fact that apparently the state inspectors don't complain either, and these people get to suffer without anyone to speak up for them.

The facility operator Abe Fischer believes he's being somehow railroaded, see his picture here.

The facility has been receiving $3.2 million in payments, but the conditions are that terrible? Where the hell is the money going?

I do have to say, though I cannot explain it, that many of the residents don't want to move, and I can only guess that they just have no where else to go and after some period of time a place becomes your home, no matter how bad it is. I hope to never have that experience. I hope one day that this sort of experience no longer exists.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Lara Pettiss Harrill

Doctors: Lawsuits are a "vital deterrent".

Raymond Mullman Jr — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:15:47 GMT

CNBC has an interesting story about how doctors believe lawsuits serve as a "vital deterrent" to protect consumers from unsafe drugs. Lawsuits protect consumers if drug companies do not disclose risks to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before it approves medicines for use, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said in a friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court. The FDA "is in no position" to guarantee drug safety, the brief said.

Although the FDA is considered by many "the gold standard" in drug evaluation, the journal editors urged the justices to be skeptical.

"The FDA alone simply lacks the ability to serve as the sole guarantor of drug safety," the doctors said in a brief filed Thursday. Without the discoveries dredged up by plaintiffs' lawyers through liability litigation, "the FDA would be stripped of an essential source of information that the agency has consistently relied on when making its regulatory decisions, and the American public would be deprived of a vital deterrent against pharmaceutical company misconduct."

The medical editors joined 47 state attorneys general and two former FDA commissioners, David Kestrel and Donald Kennedy, in supporting Levine's position. Kestrel served in the administrations of former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and Republican President George H.W. Bush. Kennedy served in Democratic President Jimmy Carter's administration.

The case is being closely watched because the Supreme Court ruled this year that manufacturers of FDA-approved medical devices were shielded from litigation in state courts.

However, David Vladeck, a lawyer representing Kessler and Kennedy, said the statute that applies to medical devices is different from the law that governs medications.

"The law in the (devices) case had a pre-emption provision," said Vladeck. "Congress has never put a pre-emption provision in the Food and Drug Act."

The Bush administration is supporting Wyeth's position.

________

It is ridiculous that drug manufacturers get immunity for dangerous medications when they refuse to disclose all the test results or when they knew of damgerous side effects but did not disclose it to the FDA. The FDA rubber stamps most medications and does not do a thorough job of making sure medications are safe for use.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Raymond Mullman Jr

E. Coli Outbreak Reported in Michigan, Ohio

Courtney Mills — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:02:26 GMT

A spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health alerted the public to the existence of a multi-state outbreak of E-Coli bacteria, evidently involving raw ground beef from Kroger Food Stores, the largest grocery chain in the U.S. Cases of the same strain of the bacteria were discovered in both Ohio and Michigan.

According to media reports, the spokesman for Ohio’s Department of Health reported that CDC testing of samples of ground beef culled from Kroger processing centers in Ohio and Michigan revealed the same strain of E. coli present throughout. E. coli is a noxious food contagion that causes cramping, vomiting, and diarrhea, and can be fatal in immunospressed populations. Fifteen cases of food-poisoning through E. coli were discovered in Michigan, and two were reported in Ohio. These cases are all related to the same strain of E. coli, E. Coli 0157:H7.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this strain of E. coli is one of the most toxic. Ten have been hospitalized from this latest outbreak.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Courtney Mills

One Died in Hopkins Car Accident

Jenny Albano — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:05:56 GMT

On Saturday morning there was a car accident that left one dead in Hopkins, South Carolina.

Around 4:00 a.m. a 51-year-old driver of a 1994 Ford Explorer was driving north on Mt. Elon Church Road when the driver drove off the side of the road into a ditch. The Explorer then overturned and the driver died at the scene from injuries.

The driver was wearing his seatbelt when the accident occurred.

The name of the driver has no been released by the Richland County Coroner's Office until the next of kin has been notified.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

CPSC Recalls Toy Wrestler Figures for Excessive Lead

Courtney Mills — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:31:47 GMT

The federal government issued a recall today for about 5,600 toy figurines because they violated the federal lead paint standard. These toy figures were sold mainly over Christmas and were made by A.A. of America of East Brunswick, New Jersey.

The CPSC, the U.S. agency charged with the oversight of toy safety, announced the recall in conjunction with the toy company to alert the public to the high lead content of paint on these toy figures. The agency directed parents to remove these toys from children as soon as possible.

The toy figures were sold in the U.S. from January to December 2007 for about $1. Parents can return the action figures, which were sold in sets of four, for a full refund at the place of purchase.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Courtney Mills

Pet Food Maker Pays $3.1 Million Settlement for Tainted Product

Jenny Albano — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:56:02 GMT

Diamond Pet Foods is paying a $3.1 million settlement to pet owners because they produced contaminated pet food that killed dozens of dogs. The contaminated pet food, which was made at the company's South Carolina plant, contained a mold called aflatoxin. The company is planning to reimburse pet owners for the loss of their dogs, their veterinarian bills, and the cost of unreturned contaminated food.

Diamond Pet Foods, based in Meta, Mo., acknowledged that workers at its Gaston, S.C., plant failed to follow internal testing procedures to ensure its products were safe. The company made the acknowledgment after the Food and Drug Administration released a report showing the company has no record of test results for 12 shipments of corn in 2005, when grain tainted with the deadly fungus slipped into the plant.

The contaminated pet food was recalled when a veterinarian in New York linked a dog's death to the company's dog food. Around 350,000 bags of the dog food was recalled. Diamond is claiming it did nothing illegal and recalled the product as soon as it found out about the problem. The company plans to cooperate with the claimants and feels the settlement shows how Diamond has continued to take care of its customers.

So far Diamond and its insurance company have settled around 1,200 claims. The settlement states that pet owners whose pet died from the contaminated pet food could recieve up to $1000. Owners could also be compensated up to $1,000 for testing and treatment for aflatoxin poisoning and for payment for up to two bags of pet food.

Aflatoxin, a naturally occurring chemical that comes from a fungus sometimes found on corn and in other crops, can cause severe liver damage.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano