Issues |
Govt Fails to Vet Chemical Plants with Terror Risk |
The government has failed to inspect virtually all of the chemical facilities that it considers to be at a higher risk for a terror attack and has underestimated the threat to densely populated cities, congressional investigators say. The year-long investigation by Republican staff on the Senate Homeland Security Committee paints a picture of inspection delay, government errors in risk assessment and industry loopholes in a $595 million terror prevention program passed by Congress in 2006. A copy of the investigators' report was obtained by The Associated Press. Coming a year after a massive explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant, the report points to threats from the release of toxic and flammable chemicals. HOPE YEN, AP, Yahoo News 07/31/2014 |
Read Article: Yahoo News |
Elder Abuse, Telemarketing Consumer Complaints Growing |
Telemarketing and elder abuse were the the worst and fastest-growing consumer complaints in 2013, according to Consumer Federation of America's annual survey of consumer protection agencies released Wednesday. Scams against the elderly were reported as the worst kind of complaint in 2012. Worst complaints aren't based on the number received but by how egregious the incident was, such as whether someone lost a large amount of money or a particularly vulnerable group of consumers was targeted. Hadley Malcolm, USA Today 07/31/2014 |
Read Article: USA Today |
Laws/Cases |
GM Facing Another Faulty Switch Lawsuit |
A Texas lawyer has filed a lawsuit against General Motors on behalf of 658 people who he says were injured or killed in crashes allegedly caused by faulty ignition switches. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan names 29 people who were killed in crashes and 629 who were hurt. All the crashes occurred after GM emerged from bankruptcy protection in July of 2009. That makes them exempt from GM's efforts to shield itself from claims due to crashes that occurred before the bankruptcy, the attorney said in a statement. Wire Report, USA Today 07/30/2014 |
Read Article: USA Today |
McDonald's Ordered to Pay $27M in Deaths of Teens |
A Central Texas jury on Wednesday ordered McDonald's to pay $27 million in actual damages to the families of two teenagers killed in a car accident while en route to a hospital after a fight outside the fast-food restaurant. McDonald's said it will appeal the verdict. A release from the attorney representing the families of 18-year-old Denton James Ward of Flower Mound and 19-year-old Lauren Bailey Crisp of Dripping Springs said McDonald's lax security led to their deaths in 2012 in College Station. Associated Press, Houston Chronicle 07/31/2014 |
Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
Hospital Medication Mistake Kills Woman |
In Dec 2011, Dalia Hernandez went to the hospital to have a gangrenous toe amputated. She made it through the surgery, but a prescription written in error and filled - for a deadly dose of potassium phosphate ended her life. According to court documents, Dr. Flavio Alvarez wrote the initial prescription. His attorney said Alvarez initially ordered 10 mm of potassium phosphate, then changed it tp 20, writing over the 1 with a 2. The nurse read it as 120 mm, which was ultimately filled by the pharmacy at 120 mm. Nearly five hours after the medicine was given by IV, Dalia Hernandez was dead. Dalia Hernandez's family settled their lawsuit with Northeast Baptist Hospital, but Alvarez is appealing a verdict against him in this case, and was disciplined by the Texas Medical Board. Steve Spriester, KSAT.com 07/31/2014 |
Read Article: KSAT.com |
Products |
GM Misses Red Flags From Rental Car Canaries on Crashes |
More than seven years before GM began the biggest wave of auto recalls in history, an investigator for Vanguard Car Rental USA Inc. contacted the carmaker about a fatal rollover crash in CA. Vanguard wasn't alone in its concern. Customer-service call transcripts, warranty records, letters and police reports show Enterprise Holdings Inc. had pressed the largest U.S. automaker about a potential Cobalt defect because air bags failed in routine crashes. Avis Budget Group and Hertz Global Holdings also had Cobalts in their fleets that crashed. Jeff Plungis and Tim Higgins , Bloomberg 07/31/2014 |
Read Article: Bloomberg |
J&J Pulls From Market Hysterectomy Device |
Johnson & Johnson is pulling from the global market a device used during hysterectomies and other uterine procedures after reports that it may spread and accelerate the growth of undetected cancer inside women. The move builds on J&J's decision in April to suspend use of the devices after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned doctors that the widely used surgical tool may disperse malignant cells. The equipment, known as a power morcellator, shaves tissue or growths into tiny pieces they can be extracted without open surgery. Michelle Fay Cortez, Bloomberg 07/31/2014 |
Read Article: Bloomberg |
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