patient safety

Children’s Medical Devices May Pose Safety Issues

When it comes to medical devices, one size does not fit all. Parents and other caregivers who experience problems with pediatric medical devices are being encouraged to report any issues with the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA wants this information to help them assess any safety issues and conduct any needed follow-up investigations....

read more

Decongestants May Cause Birth Defects

A new study reveals that using over-the-counter decongestants during pregnancy may increase the risk of a child being born with birth defects. Scientists at the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University interviewed nearly 20,000 mothers to find out what drugs they had taken while they were pregnant. What they found was a link between...

read more

22 Infected in Deadly Ohio Legionnaires’ Outbreak

UPDATE: Total count of infected persons is now 27. A retirement community in Reynoldsburg, Ohio is the center of the state’s worst Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in decades, infecting 22 27 people and leaving two dead. Officials from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working with the Ohio Department of Health and local...

read more

China Charges Drug Company with Bribery

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has been accused of bribing government officials and doctors to boost its drug sales in China. According to Chinese officials, the British drugmaker was involved in a conspiracy involving hundreds of millions of dollars that has spanned several years. Chinese authorities claim that senior Glaxo executives used travel agencies to launder...

read more

Illegal Online Pharmacies Shut Down

Faced with mounting medical bills, American consumers have flocked to the internet in search of “Canadian Pharmacies” selling bargain-priced prescription drugs. What they may not know is that the drugs may actually come from overseas and many of the websites are illegal, selling dangerous unapproved medications. The FDA released a statement yesterday stating that...

read more

Alternative Medicine Under Fire

We often blog about the dangers of prescription and over-the-counter drugs; citing regulatory concerns as well as skepticism of manufacturer-supplied testing data. Therefore it comes as no great surprise that many people have turned to alternative medicine. Unfortunately, what many people perceive as natural alternatives to big pharma may also put consumers at risk....

read more

Litigation may improve patient safety

  Much of the debate over medical malpractice law suits stems over the perceived increased costs such litigation creates. Businesses in the medical field have collectively spent billions of dollars lobbying for tort reform to limit the number and scope these suits as well as attempting to mitigate awards to plaintiffs. Lost in this...

read more