InjuryBoard Richmond Archives

• Contaminated Heparin Syringes Recalled

  Michael Phelan | December 27, 2007 11:30 AM | 0 Comments
  Category: Defective & Dangerous Products

  Manufacturers of sterile medical products are supposed to follow strict sterility standards. Unfortunately, there has been a growing number of reports and recalls of contaminated medical products caused by poor quality controls by manufacturers of products required to be sterile. The latest recall involves heparin IV flush syringes found to be contaminated with Serratia marcescens, a...

• Toy Fingerprint Kit Contains Deadly Asbestos Powder

  Michael Phelan | December 21, 2007 1:00 AM | 0 Comments
  Category: Defective & Dangerous Products

  No sane parent should buy a toy made in China. As if the lead paint crisis was not bad enough, a children's toy modeled after the popular television series CSI tested positive for tremolite, a deadly asbestos powder. Shockingly, the toy is a "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Fingerprint Examination Kit" and the fingerprint powder contains asbestos. The directions instruct the kids to blow on...

• Federal Regulators Miss Chance to Lower Truck Accidents

  Michael Phelan | December 20, 2007 4:23 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Tractor-Trailer Accidents

  Driver fatigue is a leading cause of tractor trailer truck accidents. Consumer advocates sued recently to require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to lower the current 11-hour driving limit to 10 hours. The requested change would have resulted in one less hour behind the wheel each day. The Teamsters union supports the lower limit. Alas, the Bush Administration once again...

• R.I. Supreme Court Upholds Lead Hazard Mitigation Act

  Michael Phelan | December 12, 2007 1:32 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Head & Brain Injuries

  On Tuesday, Rhode Island's Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of The Lead Hazard Mitigation Act (LHMA) which went into effect in 2005. The purpose of the LHMA is to reduce the hazards of deteriorating lead based paint to humans. Lead is a neurotoxin which can cause severe brain damage. Toddlers are particularly susceptible because they tend to put everything in their mouths and...

• Fatal Truck Crash Results in $36.3 million Verdict

  Michael Phelan | December 05, 2007 2:57 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Tractor-Trailer Accidents

  On a clear day in April 2004, a father of eight kids and owner of a plumbing supply company, was driving his Chevrolet Suburban and obeying the rules of the road. At the same time, a driver of a Swift Transportation tractor-trailer drove 65 mph across three sets of rumble strips designed to warn of an approaching stop sign, ran the stop sign, and crashed into the Suburban, killing the father. ...

• Dennis Quaid and Wife Sue Drug Maker

  Michael Phelan | December 04, 2007 5:04 PM | 0 Comments
  Category: Defective & Dangerous Products

  In a lawsuit filed today, actor Dennis Quaid and his wife sued Baxter Healthcare Corp., the maker of the blood thinner, heparin. The Quaid's newborn twins and a third patient at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center were mistakenly given doses of heparin that were 1,000 times stronger than the intended dose. The product liability lawsuit, filed in Chicago, alleges the heparin was unreasonably dangerous...

• Wal-Mart Wage & Hour Class Action Largest Ever

  Michael Phelan | December 04, 2007 10:39 AM | 0 Comments
  Category: Workplace Injuries

  The largest wage-and-hour class action ever certified in Washington state is set for trial in the spring of 2009. The statewide class action is against retail giant Wal-Mart, and it includes 75,000 current and former employees. Any worker employed at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club between September 10, 1997 and the present is automatically a member of the class. The complaint alleges Wal-Mart...