FDA has required the manufacturers of the smoking cessation aids varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Zyban and generics) to add new Boxed Warnings and develop patient Medication Guides highlighting the risk of serious neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients using these products. These symptoms include changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal…
An East Texas company must pay black workers more than $3 million in back pay as damages in a class action lawsuit charging racial discrimination, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Ron Clark said Lufkin Industries Inc. must pay the workers $3.1 million as well as 5 percent…
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Kmart Corp., alleging that the discount retailer fired an employee at a store after discovering he uses a cane to help him walk and stand. Alonzo McGlone worked as a greeter at the Kmart store in Norfolk in September 2004, according to…
The Yaz® birth control pill has been on the market since 2006. Yaz is taken orally once daily to prevent pregnancy. Yaz differs from other birth control methods because it contains a progestin hormone called drospirenone, which can increase potassium levels in the bloodstream. Yaz has been linked with serious…
Ever since the issue of MRI health risks began circulating, Gadolinium kidney failure has been debated—especially with its link to nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) and increased risk for MRI and kidney failure when used in association with MRI for persons with compromised kidneys. However, a new study casts a certain…
A federal judge in Atlanta is permitting dozens of product liability suits against Home Depot and the makers of a tile grout cleaner to proceed to trial on negligence claims, but he has stripped away other claims that sought damages for violating federal consumer product safety laws. Ten of those…
Nicholas Anderson should be a multimillionaire. Instead, he is penniless – and in need of medical treatment he can’t afford. On Dec. 23, 2004, Anderson was driving home when a tire caught on a six-inch lip on the roadside and he lost control of his car. The car crashed into…
Starbucks agreed to pay a former lead network engineer in Seattle $120,000 plus a mediator’s fee to settle a lawsuit that alleges racial discrimination and retaliation “so severe that it required him to take a medical leave of absence.” Victor Washington, who is African-American and worked for Starbucks from September…
There is a big mess at Matrixx Initiatives, a Scottsdale, Ariz., maker of over-the-counter health care products. Best-known for its homeopathic Zicam Cold Remedy offerings, Matrixx hit a rough patch on June 16, when the Food and Drug Administration advised consumers to stop using two of its popular remedies. The…
A Broward Circuit Court judge has ordered an insurance company to pay a paralyzed truck driver $14.6 million because of a 2007 accident. Derry Brown Jr. of Pahokee was hauling a load of sugar in an 18-wheeler when a driver ran a stop sign, cutting him off on May 31,…