The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has recalled two children’s products, both for lead-related violations.  In cooperation with Riverside Publishing Company of Rolling Meadows, Illinois, the CPSC announced a voluntary recall of 5,300 Memory Testing Cards which were sold as part of Riverside’s educational testing kits and were made in China.  While no injuries have been reported, the surface paint on the cards contains excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

This recall involves the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test—Symbolic Memory Cards. The memory testing cards are part of a kit used to test children’s physical and mental abilities, are white with green figures, measure 1 ½” x 1 ½”, and were sold as part of a kit (model number 922782), or in packages of 10 cards (model number 922775).  The model numbers are located on the packaging.  The kits were sold by Riverside Publishing to testing facilities and administrators nationwide from January 2003 through November 2007 and retailed for about $550. More More Lead Toy Recalls Issued by CPSC

Health Net Inc. has been ordered to pay $9 million to a California woman for illegally canceling her health insurance coverage after it learned she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.   The Health Net fine, levied by an arbitration judge, came one day after the Los Angeles city attorney’s office announced it would be suing Health Net for illegally canceling health insurance coverage for 1,600 other customers

Patsy Bates, 52, a hairdresser from Lakewood, California, had been left with more than $129,000 in unpaid medical bills when Health Net Inc. canceled her policy in 2004. Bates had been insured with another company but was persuaded to switch over to a Health Net policy after an agent suggested she could save money. She said she had undergone surgery to remove a tumor and had received her first two chemotherapy treatments when doctors stopped treating her because her bills were going unpaid. Bates was able  complete her cancer treatment through a state-funded program. More Health Net Ordered to Pay $9 Million for Illegally Canceling Breast Cancer Patient’s Policy

Nursing home negligence by Connecticut’s largest nursing home chain was the result of fraud committed by a Haven Healthcare official.  Those claims are made in a wrong death lawsuit filed by the family of Robert Wininger, a resident of one of Haven Healthcare’s nursing homes who the lawsuit claims died as a result of the nursing home negligence.  The suit claims  misappropriation of Haven funds by Chief Executive Officer Raymond Termini contributed to “deplorable conditions” at Connecticut’s largest nursing home chain.

The family is also seeking permission to sue the state departments of public health and social services and Nancy Shaffer, the state’s long-term care ombudsman, for failing to investigate and act on complaints lodged by Wininger’s family.

Wininger was a patient at Haven homes for nearly 2 1/2 years when he was rushed from Haven Health Center of Norwich to Backus Hospital on June 5, 2007 after his wife found him in excruciating pain and his legs gangrenous and in early rigor mortis, allegedly due to an untreated and infected pressure sore on his hip and physical restraints that immobilized him. Wininger died two days later. The lawsuit names Termini; Dr. Cornelio Hong, former medical director at several Haven nursing homes; and Dr. Joselito Endaya, Wininger’s treating physician and a partner in Hong’s private medical practice as defendants. Endaya does not appear to have been on Haven’s payroll. More Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit Says Misappropriation of Funds for “Deplorable Conditions” at Haven Healthcare Facility

The U.S. Consumer Produces Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued two recalls for defective heating devices.  Consumers should stop using the recalled products immediately.  The CPSC, in cooperation with the manufacturer—Greenheck Fan Corporation of Schofield, Wisconsin—announced a voluntary recall of the Indirect Gas-Fired Furnaces.  The recall affects 1,500 products and is due to the ignition control module which can fail, preventing the unit from shutting down in high temperature conditions.  This malfunction poses a risk of fire, as well as hazardous fumes being released from burning or melting insulation.  To date, no incidents or injuries have been reported.

The recall involves Greenheck Indirect Gas-Fired Furnaces models PVF, PVFH, IGX, IG, ERH, and ERCH.  The model name can be found on either the control center door or the furnace door.  The furnace is either natural gas or LP gas—propane—fueled.  Only units with ignition control module model number 35-615922-125 are included in the recall.  The Greenheck Fan Indirect Gas-Fired Furnaces were made in the United States and sold by sales representatives to mechanical contractors nationwide from November 2006 through October 2007 and retailed for between $2,000 and $100,000. More Furnaces Recalled for Carbon Monoxide, Fire Dangers

Vioxx plaintiffs have some more time to apply for a settlement over the defective drug.  Lawyers now have an extra month to submit paperwork for their client seeking early payment from a $4.85 billion federal court settlement involving the painkiller Vioxx.  The deadline for enrolling plaintiffs to receive the early payments from Merck & Co. is February 29th.    Some lawyers are having trouble obtaining and compiling all the necessary medical and other supporting paperwork, so the deadline for that submission has been moved to March 30th, lawyers told U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon on Thursday.  Those whose lawyers submitted their names and Social Security numbers by February 29th and their medical and other supporting paperwork by March 30th could receive partial payments by late summer, Kent Jarrell, a Merck spokesman, said.

Attorneys registered over 58,000 people as interested in the settlement and have formally enrolled over 13,200, Jarrell said.  A rush is expected to occur in the final 24 to 48 hours, but numbers are changing by the minute, said Warren Brown of Brown Greer LLC, the company administering the settlement.  “There were more than 29,000 yesterday.  This morning, it was 30,041,” he said.  About 26,000 to 27,000 of those suffered heart attacks or strokes, which they blame on Vioxx, adding that lawyers listed more than 20,000 claims in the 48 hours before the January 15th registration deadline.  Lawyers have at least until July 10th, and even as late as October 30th of this year, to file claims for those not seeking early partial payments. More Vioxx Lawsuit Settlement Deadline Extended

Medtronic Inc.’s profits are off sharply, in part because of problems the company has had with its defective implantable defibrillators. Medtronic’s  third-quarter earnings plunged 89.0% from the prior year on charges from lawsuit settlements stemming from defective defibrillators and acquisition costs.

According to Forbes.com, overall sales at Medtronic  jumped 12.0% to $3.4 billion, up from $3.1 billion in the third quarter of 2006, due to strong international sales. But because of lawsuit settlements and other charges, Medtronic’s net income for the third quarter fell to of $77.0 million, or 7 cents per share, down from $710 million, or 61 cents per share, in the prior year. More Medtronic Defibrillator Lawsuit Settlements Take a Toll on Profits

Baxter International Inc.’s CEO, Robert Parkinson, said Baxter does not monitor its supply chain deeply enough to know much about the Chinese supplier that made an active ingredient in Baxter Heparin. Parkinson also claims Baxter was unaware the Chinese supplier was never inspected by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) before it shipped tainted Heparin to the U.S. Baxter contracted with Wisconsin supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories, and not with that company’s Chinese affiliate. “It’s not unusual for us not to know that the FDA hasn’t inspected a supplier to a supplier,” Parkinson said. Scientific produces the active ingredient for Heparin at a plant in Changzhou and the FDA explained the plant—co-owned by Scientific and a Chinese joint-venture partner—was never inspected because its name was confused in registration materials with a different company that had been inspected.

Heparin is used in surgery, dialysis, and for the bedridden. Other drugs thin blood, but their effects are not as quick, easily reversed, and broadly appropriate. Heparin has been manufactured since 1930 and is administered to millions yearly; Baxter manufactures about half of all multiple-dose heparin vials sold in the U.S. The FDA said it received reports of four deaths and about 350 other health problems associated with Baxter’s heparin since late 2007; 40 percent were deemed serious. Reactions included difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating, and rapidly falling blood pressure that—in some—led to life-threatening shock and, in others, death. More Baxter CEO Concedes Company New Little About Supplier of Tainted Heparin

The Hallmark/Westland beef recall has raised serious questions about federal oversight of the beef industry, and now it is shedding light on the way that industry tries to influence the regulatory process.  According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the beef industry has been putting pressure on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to scale back the massive beef recall announced earlier this week.

The Hallmark/Westland beef recall involved 143 million pounds of potentially tainted meat, making it the largest recall in US history.  The Hallmark/Westland beef recall came just weeks after disturbing undercover video shot by the Humane Society showed workers at the plant using several abusive techniques to make sick animals stand up and pass a pre-slaughter inspection. These included ramming cattle with forklift blades and using a hose to simulate the feeling of drowning. More USDA Pressured by Industry to Scale Back Hallmark/Westland Beef Recall

Late night or weekend heart attacks might be the most dangerous.  New research has found that hospital patients who suffer cardiac arrest at night or on the weekend are less likely to survive than those who have a heart attack during weekdays or weekday evenings.  The study was not conducted to determine why this is occurs; however, it’s likely that staffing patterns, procedure access, and other systemic issues may explain the difference in outcomes.  “Hospitals simply don’t work the same at night as they do during the day,” explained study author Dr. Mary Ann Peberdy, an associate professor of internal medicine and emergency medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.  “There is enough data out there to suggest that this may be a process issue that is at least contributing, and probably contributing substantially.”

According to the Institute of Medicine, up to 98,000 preventable in-hospital deaths occur annually in the US; the rate of medical errors is higher at night.  Earlier studies also reported that heart attacks treated on a Saturday or Sunday are more deadly than those attended to during the week and Canadian researchers found that strokes treated on the weekend are deadlier than those treated on a weekday. More Heart Attacks Late at Night, on Weekends More Likely to be Fatal

Hepatitis A was apparently the unwelcome guest at a star-studded party held at a posh New York City nightclub earlier this month.   New York City health officials have reportedly warned Madonna, Demi Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow and other A-list attendees of star Ashton Kutcher’s 30th birthday bash at Socialista that they may have been exposed to Hepatitis A.  They — and anyone else who made a visit to  Socialista on three nights in early February — have been advised to get a Hepatitis A vaccine as a precaution.

Hepatitis A is a contagious liver infection. The virus is found in the stool of infected people, and can be spread if they do not wash their hands thoroughly after using the bathroom. Symptoms of Hepatitis A include low-grade fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, yellowing of the skin, dark brown urine, loss of appetite and fatigue. Symptoms of Hepatitis A can last from two to nine months. Once someone has been infected with Hepatitis A, there is no real treatment. Usually, bed rest is prescribed, and efforts are made to make the patient’s symptoms more tolerable until the disease runs its course. In some instances, a patient will be hospitalized to treat dehydration or liver problems. Sometimes patients with a severe case of Hepatitis A will require a liver transplant. More Hepatitis A Warning Issued for Madonna, Demi, Ashton and Others Who Frequent Socialista in NYC