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  • Transit Buses Recalled Because of Possible Crash Hazard

    Posted May 7th, 2012 By in Personal Injury, Product Liability, Product Recall With | No Comments

    In a news statement, North American Bus Industries, Inc, in cooperation with and in accordance with the rules and regulations of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), announced the voluntary safety recall of certain model year 2007-2009 transit buses because of an issue that increases the risk of a crash for motorists.

    The recall affects approximately 50 model year 2007-2009 Optima Opus29 and Opus34 transit buses that were manufactured from August 2007 through September 2009. This recall was initiated after the company discovered that the pinch bolts in the steering column shafts of these vehicles could potentially loosen to the point of falling out. If this were to happen, the steering shaft could possibly separate, resulting a loss of control for the driver and increasing the risk of a crash.

    North America Bus Industries, Inc is in the process of notifying owners affected by this recall. Owners will be asked to schedule an appointment at an authorized dealer where mechanics will inspect the buses and make necessary repairs as needed for free.

    As a Harrisburg car accident lawyer, I have witnessed this kind of safety recall before and know the devastating injuries that can result through the use of a defective auto product. If you’ve sustained an injury in a collision that you think was the result of a defective auto product, contact a Harrisburg personal injury attorney to talk about some of the legal avenues that could be at your disposal.

  • Canidae Recalls Dry Pet Food Due to Salmonella Concerns

    Posted May 7th, 2012 By in Foodborne Illness, Product Liability, Product Recall With | No Comments

    In a news release, Canidae Pet Foods, in association with and in compliance with the standards and regulations of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced the voluntary food safety recall of certain dry pet food formulas over concerns of Salmonella contamination at the Diamond Pet Food plant in Gaston, South Carolina.

    This recall applies to all Canidae Dog- All Life Stages, Chicken Meal & Rice, Lamb Meal & Rice, and Platinum foods that feature a “3” in the 9th position and an “X” in either the 10th or 11th positions of the production code and have a “Best Before” date from December 9, 2012 through January 31, 2013. The recalled products were distributed to Florida, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee. The dry dog food is being recalled due to reports that Salmonella was found to be present in the processing facility where the recalled product is made. No illnesses have been reported in relation to this recall, however Canidae is proceeding with the recall out of an abundance of caution.

    Consumers who believe they may be in possession of the recalled dry dog food are encouraged to contact the company directly to receive a replacement of full refund.

    As a Harrisburg personal injury lawyer, I have seen this sort of safety recall many times over the course of my practice and understand the tragic illnesses that can result from the handling and consumption of a contaminated food product. If you’ve fallen ill after consuming a contaminated or otherwise defective food product, it could be in your best interests to consult a Lancaster personal injury attorney.

  • New Seatbelt System Enhances Safety

    Posted May 7th, 2012 By in Car Accident Lawyer, Car Safety, Personal Injury Lawyer With | No Comments

    News agencies reported that Autoliv Inc, a global leader in automotive safety systems and concepts, recently developed a new seatbelt system that adds a 2-point belt to the common 3-point system, so that both occupant shoulders are restrained.

    The commonly used 3-point seatbelt systems are extremely efficient in the majority of head-on accidents at reducing the risks for severe head injuries by anywhere from 45 to 75 percent; however they are less effective in side impact and rollover accidents. The addition of a 2-point shoulder strap distributes the impact load over a wider area of the occupants’ chest, reducing rib-strain by roughly half. The additional strap also provides occupants with protection in all directions, reducing the risk of the occupants’ heads striking objects inside of the vehicles’ cabins.

    Although 4-point safety belt options are available, many of them require the use of both hands to buckle. Studies have shown that this reduces the rate of use due to inconvenience, reducing their usefulness to zero. By contrast, the new seatbelt system from Autoliv is very easy and convenient to use, requiring the occupant to simply slip one arm through a vertical belt and proceed otherwise as if it were a 3-point belt system.

    As a Harrisburg car accident attorney, I’m happy to learn that automakers are continuously looking for ways to make their vehicles safer, as well as more comfortable, and I look forward to future developments in this area. If you’ve sustained an injury in a collision that you think was the result of a defective or poorly designed auto product, it could be in your interests to speak with a Harrisburg personal injury attorney.

  • WellPet LLC Recalled Dry Dog Food Due to Salmonella

    Posted May 7th, 2012 By in Foodborne Illness, Product Liability, Product Recall With | No Comments

    In a press statement, WellPet LLC, in conjunction with and in accordance with the rules and guidelines of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced the voluntary safety recall of one recipe of Wellness dry dog food after receiving notification that Salmonella had been detected at Diamond Pet Foods’ Gaston, South Carolina facility.

    The recall applies to all 15- and 30-pound bags, as well as 5-ounce sample packages, of Wellness Complete Health Super5Mix Large Breed Puppy that feature “Best By” dates January 9, 2013 through January 11, 2013. No other WellPet recipes or products are included in this recall. The company is conducting this recall out of an abundance of caution, as all WellPet products have tested negative for pathogens of any kind. The recalled dry dog food was produced at the Diamond facility where Salmonella was detected, sparking the company’s decision to recall this recipe.

    Chief Executive Officer of WellPet Tim Callahan stated, “As a pet parent myself, I know how important peace of mind is when it comes to the health of our pets, and that is why we require that all of our products undergo testing for Salmonella, among other things. All of these lots tested negative prior to being released for sale. We are voluntarily taking this additional step to further safeguard our dogs and to put our customers’ minds at ease.”

    Consumers that believe they are in possession of the recalled dog food are encouraged to contact the company to receive a free replacement.

    As a Harrisburg personal injury lawyer, I’ve witnessed this sort of safety recall in the past and understand the illnesses that can result through the consumption of a contaminated food product. If you’ve suffered adverse health effects after the handling or consumption of a contaminated or otherwise defective food product, consult a York personal injury lawyer to learn more about your legal rights as a consumer.

  • Cacao Nibs Recalled Because of Possible E. coli

    Posted May 7th, 2012 By in Foodborne Illness, Product Liability, Product Recall With | No Comments

    In a press release, FunFresh Foods, Inc, in cooperation with and in compliance with the standards and guidelines of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced the voluntary food safety recall of one lot of FunFresh Foods World Berries Organic Cacao Nibs due to their potential for being contaminated with E. coli.

    This recall affected roughly 500- 6-ounce packages of FunFresh Foods World Berries Organic Cacao Nibs that were distributed from April 12 through April 17 of this year across 30 states to health and natural food retail outlets. The recalled 6-ounce packages of Organic Cacao Nibs can be further identified by their UPC code 632474929022 and lot code 161104. The recall was initiated after a routine sample testing conducted through the company’s internal audit system revealed the presence of E. coli in the recalled lot. E. coli is a bacteria that can lead to severe diarrhea in individuals that have been exposed to it. Though most individuals fully recover from exposure within a week, the bacteria can cause kidney damage or failure in the young, elderly and others with compromised immune systems. The majority of the affected lot has been accounted for and removed from store shelves and production of this product has been halted while the FDA conducts an investigation into the contamination. To date, no illnesses have been reported in connection with this recall.

    Consumers are being advised not to consume this product and to return the recalled Cacao Nibs to the place of purchase to receive a full refund.

    As a Harrisburg personal injury attorney, I’ve seen this type of food safety recall many times over the course of my career and I am aware of the horrible illnesses that can result from the consumption of contaminated food products. If you’ve fallen ill due to the handling or consumption of a defective food product, contact a Lancaster personal injury lawyer to talk about some of the legal options that may be open to you.

  • PA Adds 20 Drug Recognition Officers to Patrol

    Posted May 7th, 2012 By in Car Safety, DUI, Personal Injury Lawyer With | No Comments

    News sources reported that Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan announced the training of 13 state troopers and 7 municipal police officers as drug recognition experts (DREs) in an effort of strengthening road safety.

    The DREs are specially trained to spot the signs of impairment in motorists that are under the influence of drugs other than alcohol, as well as the category of drugs resulting in the impairment. Noonan commented, “The addition of more specially trained drug recognition experts will enhance efforts to reduce all types of impaired driving on our roadways. These troopers and officers are assets to their communities and improve traffic safety through their knowledge of the signs, symptoms and effects of controlled substance use.”

    The program focuses on training the officers to recognize whether a driver is under the influence of an illegal substance, prescription drugs or any other substance that could possibly impair their driving abilities. It also trains officers to recognize the difference between those under the influence and individuals suffering from a medical condition. “Motorists should know that they may be incapable of driving safely and can be charged with driving under the influence after ingesting any intoxicating substance, whether the substance is legal or illegal, prescribed by a physician or purchased over the counter. Individuals need to be aware of how taking a particular drug will affect their body,” Noonan stated.

    The addition of the new DREs puts the state’s total at 80 troopers and 29 municipal police officers that have been certified by the program.

    As a Harrisburg car accident lawyer, I’m glad to hear that state agencies are working to make our roadways safer by providing officers with additional training and look forward to further developments to this end. If you’ve suffered an injury due to the negligent actions of another driver, speak with a Harrisburg personal injury lawyer to discuss your legal rights as they pertain to the matter.

  • Consumer Reports Takes on Fast-Track Approval of Medical Devices, Hip Implants

    Posted May 4th, 2012 By in DePuy ASR Hip Recall, Hip Recall Lawyer, Personal Injury With | No Comments

    In an email blast to more than 1 million Americans early in 2012, Jim Guest, the president of Consumer Reports fired the opening salvo in the publication’s campaign to apprise Americans of the dangers of poor medical device regulation in the United States and to seek reform of the process.

    In his email, Guest spoke of “a nightmare scenario” citing the thousands of medical devices the Food and Drug Administration has fast-tracked for approval under its 510(k) process. This method allows manufacturers to compare their device to a “predicate” device and to seek approval with no testing in humans.

    The 510(k) approval method was intended for low to moderate risk devices like hypodermic needles or blood pressure cuffs. Now, however, 510(k) is routinely used with such things as heart valves and hip implants with catastrophic results.

    For instance, FDA approved metal-on-metal hip implants are currently failing at a rate three times greater than the industry standard. The devices are also linked to metal fragments in surrounding tissue and to metal ions in the bloodstream. In many cases, when these  hips fail, the patients are not candidates for a second, revision surgery and are crippled for life.

    “This isn’t science fiction,” Guest said. “Millions of medical devices including artificial hips, contact lens solution, heart stents, and pacemakers are being recalled – 700 different products a year. And the vast majority of recalled products were never safety tested in humans, because the manufacturers claimed they were ‘similar’ to products already on the market.”

    Consumer Reports, an independent non-profit organization, publishes a well-respected monthly magazine looking at issues of health, finance, and travel among a wide range of other topics. The subscriber base for the main publication is more than 8 million, with some 800,000 receiving the group’s special “On Health” newsletter.

    The group is actively campaigning to change the approval process for medical devices, an effort its advocacy entity, Consumer Union, called a top priority. Other groups, like the non-profit Institute of Medicine, which is not linked to the government in any way, are also raising their voices in protest over 510(k). The Institute characterized the approval process as “fatally flawed.”

    In response, Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health said that while 510(k) could be improved, it should not be eliminated. Only lawmakers can change the actual device approval process, but the FDA does have the power to classify devices. Hip implants are currently termed “moderate risk” and are thus eligible for 510(k) fast tracking.

    As a DePuy hip recall lawyer, I hope that an approval process can be developed that prioritizes both consumer safety and the industry’s need of a diligent review process. If you have experienced the premature failure of a metal on metal hip implant, it could be in your interests to speak with a personal injury lawyer to discuss your possible metal hip lawsuit.

  • FDA Invites Public Commentary on Metal-on-Metal Hips

    Posted May 4th, 2012 By in DePuy ASR Hip Recall, Hip Recall Lawyer, Personal Injury With | No Comments

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced a public meeting of the Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Devices Panel of its Medical Devices Advisory Committee for June 27-28 specifically to discuss metal-on-metal hip implants.

    Over the past two years a series of studies and published findings have raised serious safety concerns about these devices both in the United States and abroad. In addition to exhibiting an early failure rate three times above industry standard, the hips shed metal fragments and ions into the tissue, bones, and bloodstream.

    Taking into consideration these and other facts and claims, the committee will discuss metal-on-metal hip implants in the United States with emphasis on failure rates, metal ion testing, imaging methods, complications, risks to patients before and after surgery, and follow-up considerations including the potential need for revision surgeries.

    Background materials relevant to the meeting will be made available to the public online two days prior to the session or at the meeting itself, and will also be posted online after the sessions.

    These public sessions will occur in tandem with closed meetings with representatives from the hip manufacturers, professional organizations, and other societies with an interest in the metal-on-metal hip debate.

    The sessions begin at 8 a.m. on each day, and close at 7 p.m. The location has not been determined, but public comments are being solicited in writing or electronically prior to May 9, 2012.

    Electronic comments may be submitted via the Internet at www.regulations.gov. Written comments should be sent to: Division of Dockets Management, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Via either venue, use the following identifying number: Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0293.

    More information on this meeting is available at the FDA home page at fda.com/AdvisoryCommittees/Calendar/ucm297884.htm.

    As a DePuy hip recall lawyer, I know that, over the past year, there have been many metal on metal hip lawsuits. If you have suffered a premature failure of your hip implant, speak with a Harrisburg personal injury lawyer to discuss the possible legal avenues that could be open to you.

  • Metal-on-Metal Hip Implant Failures at 23 Percent in New Zealand

    Posted May 4th, 2012 By in DePuy ASR Hip Recall, Hip Recall Lawyer, Personal Injury With | No Comments

    According to recent figures from the New Zealand hip registry, 23 percent of patients in the country who received the DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip joint have been forced to or have chosen to have the device removed as of March 2012.

    Previous data from New Zealand showed a 7 percent failure rate in December 2010. The ASR device itself was recalled in August 2010 after statistics compiled in Great Britain illustrated a failure rate of 14 percent within six years of implantation as compared to the industry standard 3-4 percent.

    At the same time that the DePuy hip was recalled, the comparable ASR hip surface replacement device was also taken off the market. This second device was used to resurface the patient’s own hip ball with metal, and in practical use displayed a similar failure rate to the complete artificial joint.

    Both hip replacement implants employed a metal cup made of chromium and cobalt. Some patients have elected to have the devices removed voluntarily in the wake of the recalls even though the prosthetics appeared to be functioning. Metal on metal implants have been found to shed fragments into surrounding muscle and bone, causing necrosis, and other patients have tested positive for abnormally high levels of both metals in their bloodstream.

    Globally, some 93,000 of the ASR devices were implanted, with 507 used in patients in New Zealand. A group of those patients is now seeking action in Britain against the hip manufacturer citing poor attention to the regulation of medical devices.

    The ASR resurfacing system was actually rejected for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration, but was sold elsewhere in the world. The total ASR hip was used in America, but went to market via an approval loophole that did not require it to be tested in human subjects.

    That approval system, the 510(k) process, is drawing sharp fire from critics. It was originally developed to allow low-risk medical devices to be approved when compared to similar or predicate devices already on the market. Now, however, serious medical devices like hip implants and even artificial heart valves are being approved for use in humans with no clinical trials to validate their safety.

    The rising number of medical device recalls, including metal-on-metal hips, has led to a flurry of metal on metal hip lawsuits as well as a push for a complete overhaul of the approval process in the United States.

    If have suffered do the premature failure of a metal on metal hip implant, it could be beneficial for you to contact a DePuy hip recall lawyer.

  • New York Times Reveals DePuy Sold Metal-on-Metal Hips In Spite of Known Dangers

    Posted May 4th, 2012 By in DePuy ASR Hip Recall, Hip Recall Lawyer, Personal Injury With | No Comments

    In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration sent a “non-approval” letter to DePuy Orthapaedics indicating its application to sell a metal-on-metal hip implant device in the U.S. was being denied. The same letter asked the company to supply additional safety data if it wished to pursue approval of the device.

    A year passed before the device in question, or its companion model were recalled by DePuy in August 2010. However, within weeks of the arrival of the 2009 letter, DePuy began to phase out the device, selling remaining stock of the implant for use in patients in this country and abroad.

    The “articular surface replacement” implant was sold under the trademarked name ASR. Over a period of 8 years the two versions of this device were used in 93,000 patients around the world. About one-third of those patients live in the United States.

    The ASR hip devices have been shown to fail prematurely at a rate three times that of the industry standard, but more disturbingly, the device sheds metallic debris as it wears, sending fragments into surrounding bone and tissue, with cobalt and chromium ions passing into the patient’s bloodstream.

    Documents obtained by the New York Times and published in a report by Barry Meier on March 22, 2012 show that in 2009 DePuy knew that “high concentrations of metal ions” had been found in the blood work of some patients who received the ASR hip implants. Even after being informed of this fact by the FDA, however, the company continued to sell the hips as the product was phased out of production.

    DePuy was also aware of the fact,, by mid-2009, that data collected in Australia showed the hips to fail within five years of implantation. The expected industry standard for an artificial hip’s working life is 15 years.

    The company has consistently defended its position in selling off the remaining hips, insisting that the FDA’s letter merely indicated there was inadequate data “to evaluate the safety and effectiveness” of the devices.

    In phasing out the device, DePuy executives started a program of “rationalization,” ending the production of the ASR device while selling off existing stock and persuading surgeons to switch to other DePuy manufactured implants.

    There are currently thousands of hip replacement lawsuits in progress against DePuy with more on the way as the ASR devices fail in increasing numbers. The documents unearthed by the New York Times only seem to validate the assertion that DePuy not only knowingly left an unsafe device on the market, but liquidated remains stocks of that device with little thought to the safety of consumers.

    As a DePuy hip recall lawyer, I understand the frustration that individuals that have experienced the premature failure of or other illnesses attributed to their hip implant must feel and encourage anyone affected by such an experience to contact a Harrisburg personal injury lawyer to discuss the possible legal options open to you.

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