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According to news reports, eight patients who underwent heart bypass surgery at a Pennsylvania hospital most likely suffered bacterial infections because of a contaminated medical device used during the surgeries. The device is a heater-cooler unit used to control a patient’s blood pressure during open-heart surgery. Of the eight patients who were likely infected by the device, four died.

After a joint investigation with the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the hospital announced that the infections were probably the result of the contamination of tap water used in the device. According to the hospital, the devices were not being cleaned in full compliance with the manufacturer’s guidelines. To prevent further bacterial contamination, the manufacturer now recommends that the devices be filled with filtered water and hydrogen peroxide and cleaned with bleach.

Patients undergoing bypass surgeries are more susceptible to infection. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there have been 32 reports around the world of infection or contamination relating to the medical devices. Even so, the total number of infections resulting from the device is not exactly known, since symptoms do not always surface immediately after surgery.

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While a number of states are moving to legalize the use of cannabis, manufacturers of products containing marijuana may not be entirely clear when it comes to understanding how product liability rules will apply to them. In the recent case of Flores v. LivWell, Inc., two marijuana consumers sued the defendant, claiming that a fungicide known as Eagle 20, a petroleum-based product, was used during the marijuana growing process. The plaintiffs sought to certify a class action against the Colorado-based defendant, one of the largest producers of cannabis in the state.

The plaintiffs alleged specifically that the company used Eagle 20 without adequately warning consumers of the potential side effects and dangers associated with the insecticide. According to their complaint, however, neither of the two plaintiffs alleged that they became ill or experienced any of the potential side effects after ingesting cannabis products they purchased from the defendant.

Eagle 20 is a controversial substance, especially when it comes to cannabis cultivation. The product is used to kill pests and mites that destroy crops. One of the main ingredients in the product is Myclobutanil, which breaks down into hydrogen cyanide–a poison–when subjected to heat. The product is permitted for use in vegetation that will not ultimately be inhaled. As a result, the Colorado Department of Agriculture has banned the use of Eagle 20 for tobacco crops because the end use for tobacco and similar plants is inhalation.

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A 24-year-old woman was found dead inside a cryochamber at a cryotherapy salon where she worked in Nevada. According to one local news article, the woman is believed to have suffocated inside one of the ice chambers at the salon.

In whole-body cryotherapy, a customer stands in a cylindrical or sauna-like chamber chilled to extreme sub-zero temperatures, often between minus 200 and minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The duration of time a person remains in the chamber varies, but it is generally very short — between two and three minutes. Users of cryotherapy tout its supposed healing properties, but at the present time it is unclear if the therapy is any more effective at reducing inflammation and accelerating muscle recovery than cold-water baths or traditional ice packs.

Authorities believe that the salon manager was stuck in the cryochamber for at least 10 hours before being found by other employees of the salon. Besides death, cryotherapy carries risks of frostbite and increased heart and breathing rates. As body temperatures drop, cryotherapy patients may also experience confusion, a loss of coordination, and even cardiac arrest, when the heart ceases to function properly and a person stops breathing and loses consciousness.

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According to nationwide reports, families are bringing countless lawsuits against the makers of the drug Zofran and related substances, alleging that the use of the anti-nausea drug resulted in children being born with severe birth defects. As a result of the high number of Zofran and related drug lawsuits being brought, they have been consolidated in a multidistrict litigation, or MDL, in the District Court of Massachusetts in Boston. The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has named the action MDL No. 2657, or In Re: Zofran (Ondansetron) Products Liability Litigation.

The prescription drugs Zofran, also known as ondansetron, and Zuplenz have been associated with severe and debilitating pregnancy complications and birth defects. Doctors initially prescribed the drugs to pregnant women to help curb the high levels of vomiting and nausea that pregnant women often experience. Studies have linked the drugs to birth defects, causing families who have suffered grave consequences as a result to bring lawsuits against the maker of the drug, GlaxoSmithKline, claiming that the company marketed the drug to the public without first obtaining appropriate U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approvals.

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In a landmark 2010 case, the Illinois Supreme Court decided that a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases is unconstitutional. In the case, the plaintiffs, a minor and her mother, sued a doctor and hospital for medical malpractice, alleging that the defendants’ negligence caused the daughter to suffer from severe and permanent injuries. The injuries included cerebral palsy, cognitive mental impairment, neurological damage, severe brain injury, and the need for a feeding tube, among others.

In the case, the Illinois Supreme Court was asked to decide if a law enacted by the Illinois General Assembly that limited non-economic damages against doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice actions was constitutional. Under the law, non-economic damages against doctors were capped at $500,000 and non-economic damages against hospitals and hospital personnel at $1,000,000. Non-economic damages included, but were not limited to, damages for pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of consortium, and loss of society.

In its ruling, the court found that the statute, which was passed by the Illinois General Assembly, violated the state constitution’s separation of powers clause. The separation of powers clause reserves certain powers for each branch of government. In this case, the Court found that the General Assembly exceeded its power by passing the damages cap, since determinations about the appropriateness of a damages award is a power reserved for Illinois state judges, not lawmakers.

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A Chicago Transit Authority Red Line train traveling south near the Granville stop at Broadway derailed around 2:00 pm on Halloween today in Chicago. Hundreds of passengers were stranded for over an hour until power was shut off. All passengers were eventually evacuated and escorted to safety. Fortunately, it seems no serious injuries or deaths occurred in this derailment. According to a local news source, only one person was transported to the hospital with a shoulder injury.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis, over 900 train derailments have occurred in the United States so far this year. Over 550 deaths and almost 6,000 serious injuries have been reported due to train accidents and incidents in 2015.

Derailments happen far too often and usually lead to serious injuries and deaths due to the lack of seat belts and other safety features missing on trains. Train derailment led to the deadly Santiago de Compostela train disaster that killed almost 80 people and injured over 150 in Spain. The data recorder proved that the high speed train derailed because the train was traveling twice the posted speed limit of 80 km per hour (50 mph) when it was entering a curve in the track. Conductor error is one of the most preventable causes of train accidents and train derailments.

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Last month, the Ohio State Court handed down a decision holding that courts cannot certify proposed class actions that include members who have not suffered any injuries. In Felix v. Ganley Chevrolet, Inc., the trial court granted class certification to a proposed class defined as including all consumers who purchased vehicles from a specific dealership subject to a contract including an arbitration provision that was unenforceable.

At the time the trial court granted the motion for class certification, there was no evidence that any of the class members, besides the representative, had an actual dispute with the defendant dealership or even suffered injuries as a result. Ultimately, the trial court awarded each class member $200 as damages.

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In a recent case in front of an Illinois appellate court, a woman lost her right to recover for injuries that she claimed were due to negligent treatment by her attending physician. In the case, McDonald v. Lipov, the court determined that the “certificate of merit” requirement is strictly enforced in medical malpractice cases, and it may also be enforced in medical battery claims, depending on the surrounding facts.

According to the court’s written opinion, the plaintiff filed suit against her treating physician pro se, meaning without the assistance of an attorney. The court granted her ample time to comply with the procedural requirements of § 2-622, which mandates that a certificate of merit be obtained from a qualified medical expert. The plaintiff failed to do so, and the case was dismissed.

The plaintiff then refiled the action, rephrasing several of the same claims. Rather than bringing the claims as “medical malpractice” claims, the plaintiff phrased them as “medical battery” claims, in hopes of avoiding the requirements of the statute.

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On October 14, 2015, the United States Food and Drug Administration released a document providing draft guidance for animal studies used in medical device development and testing. In many lawsuits regarding defective medical devices, studies and guidance documents of this nature are used by the parties’ experts to testify about certain aspects of a party’s legal theory or to rebut testimony from another expert.

These studies will frequently provide evidence regarding the purported safety of a drug or device based on how the drug or device affected animals used in studies. As a result of this precarious situation, there are strict regulatory and industry standards associated with how these studies can be performed.

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An Illinois Appeals Court recently confirmed that some plaintiffs in medical battery claims are required to include a certificate of merit at the same time that they file the initial lawsuit. According to one news source, this was the second appeals court to require the certificate in this type of case.

Under Illinois law, when a plaintiff files suit against a medical professional alleging negligence, the plaintiff is required to attach a sworn statement, or affidavit, to the complaint indicating that the claim is reasonable and that there is merit to the case. The statement must be based on the plaintiff’s consultation with a medical professional about the circumstances of the case. Medical negligence is also called medical malpractice.

In the recent case, one of the plaintiff’s claims was for medical battery in addition to medical malpractice. In a medical battery action, a plaintiff claims that the treating doctor touched or operated on a part of his or her body without the plaintiff’s consent during a medical procedure. In the first medical battery case that the court addressed, a surgeon cut the patient’s tendons during surgery, even though the surgery did not require that the tendons be severed, and the patient had not authorized that the tendons be cut.

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