Miscellaneous

• Alaska Town Files Lawsuit Over Global Warming

  Scott Kappes | February 28, 2008 5:36 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  This week a small Alaska village has filed a lawsuit against a dozen oil, power, and coal companies alleging that the large amounts of greenhouse gases emitted by the companies contributed to global warming that threatens the community's existence. The town of Kivalina, the home of a federally recognized tribe, has filed the lawsuit in the federal court of San Francisco. Kivalina is located...

• Patients at Risk of From Drugs With Similar Names

  Scott Kappes | January 30, 2008 10:35 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  A study suggests that confusion over drugs with similar looking and sounding names is more common than you might think. A report from the US Pharmacopeia that probed records from 2003-2006 found over 25,000 occurrences of "look alike/ sound alike" errors. Reporting of these errors is voluntary so the actual number of mistakes could be even higher. Nearly all of the errors did not cause any harm...

• Lawsuit Stems From Involuntary Rectal Exam

  Scott Kappes | January 17, 2008 5:12 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  I came across an interesting and strange story today that I thought I would throw out there. A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 38-year-old Brian Persaud in response to him being forced to undergo a rectal exam in a New York ER. Persaud was taken to the ER at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weil Cornell Medical Center, after sustaining an injury at a Midtown construction site. Subsequent to...

• Doctor Sued After Patient's Car Accident

  Scott Kappes | December 11, 2007 11:19 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  Yesterday the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that a doctor could be sued in the event that a patient causes injury to another due to effects from the drugs prescribed by the doctor. Yesterday's ruling involved a 75 year-old man with emphysema, high blood pressure, and lung cancer. The man was prescribed several drugs to treat his various ailments. The man apparently fell asleep at the wheel...

• Heartburn Drugs Cleared by FDA

  Scott Kappes | December 10, 2007 1:30 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  Today the FDA announced that the heartburn medications Prilosec and Nexium do not cause heart trouble. The agency says that after investigating a possible connection suggested by a couple of studies they are now satisfied that the extremely popular medications are not responsible for the increased risks suggested by the studies. With recent controversy surrounding other one-time blockbuster...

• Victoria's Secret Sued for Injury of Customer

  Scott Kappes | September 13, 2007 2:24 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  The retail giant for unmentionables, Victoria's Secret, has had a lawsuit filed against them as result of an incident that happened at the Parkdale Mall location in Beaumont. Tamma Douglas has filed a personal injury claim against the company alleging that she was injured by a fragrance bottle that an employee knocked off the top shelf while trying to get something else down. Douglas says that a...

• Rare Skin Disease Attributed to MRI Dye

  Scott Kappes | September 06, 2007 9:13 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  Health officials are now warning physicians of a rare skin disease that has been linked to a certain type of metallic dye. The dangerous condition causes burning and inching and can lead to stiffening of the skin. Over the past few years dozens of cases have been reported but many doctors think that the disease is under recognized. The skin disease, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, seems to effect...

• China Opens Doors in Response to Toy Recalls

  Scott Kappes | September 04, 2007 10:35 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  This morning some Chinese factories opened their doors to foreign media. The factory workers were seen scraping paint off plastic toys. The workers, wearing white lab coats, are twisting and turning the toys in the testing lab. This openness is in response to the recent recalls of almost 19 million Chinese-made toys due to the use of lead based paint and small magnets that could cuase serious...

• Nursing Home Hit With Wrongful Death Case

  Scott Kappes | August 31, 2007 11:33 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  A lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of the family of a Texas woman who was allegedly neglected during her stay at Kountze Nursing Center. The suit claims that Alice Wyatt met her demise as a direct result of the care given or lack thereof in her final days. The suit has been filed against not only the nursing home but also South East Texas Medical Associates, Memorial Herman Healthcare...

• China Blames U.S. Designers For Toy Recalls

  Scott Kappes | August 30, 2007 2:23 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  In the past couple of months various companies have recalled almost 20 million Chinese-made toys. Most of the blame seems to be focus around China and poor manufacturing; however, the Chinese manufacturers say that this should not be the case. They allege that the recalled toys were very poor in design and that is reason they were dangerous to children. The manufacturers say that most of the...