Darvon and Darvocet lawsuits continue to be filed around the country.   The latest was filed by the family of a Tennessee man who died from sudden heart problems just days before the Darvocet and Darvon recall was issued. According to his family’s Darvocet lawsuit, Cornelius Kellehar began taking the painkillers in July 2010 for pain management. [...]

Pennsylvania’s Tioga County was the site of a natural gas well blowout last week.  The well was operated by Talisman Energy, which is engaged in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale. Talisman is among the most active natural gas drilling firms in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale, and its producing wells rose from 53 wells [...]

It’s been a rough fourth quarter for Johnson & Johnson, thanks to recalls issued by its DePuy Orthopaedics and McNeil Consumer Healthcare units.  The DePuy hip replacement recall, along with McNeil’s seemingly-constant recalls of Tylenol and other drugs caused fourth quarter earnings at Johnson & Johnson to slump by 12 percent, according to a statement from [...]

Nine energy companies that utilize hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, got a message from some of their shareholders last week.  The investor groups, which were coordinated by Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN), filed resolutions with the firms demanding that they work to reduce risks posed by fracking. A statement from the investor groups points out that [...]

A company that sells Life Settlements is caught up in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation.  According to a report in The New York Times, the SEC probe of Life Partners Holdings Inc. is focused on the way the firm estimated life expectancies of individuals insured by the policies it sold investors.  Life Partners [...]

Liver injuries – even liver failure – are a real danger with Tylenol or any drug that contains acetaminophen.  Now, a new case study in the journal “Pediatrics” reminds us just how dangerous acetaminophen can be for very small children. According to the “Pediatrics” case study, an infant developed acute liver failure after administration of [...]

It looks like more than one defective hip replacement is causing legal headaches for Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedic’s unit.  In addition to litigation surrrounding the ASR hip implants it recalled last summer, DePuy is also facing lawsuits involving its Pinnacle hip replacement device. Such lawsuits allege the Pinnacle hip implant is prone [...]

U.S. regulators have finally moved to protect the public from the risk of overdose associate with prescription painkillers that contain acetaminophen.  The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) will limit the amount of acetaminophen in drugs like Vicodin, Percocet, Tylenol with Codeine, and Oxycodone, down from the 750 mg currently allowed. Acetaminophen is widely used in [...]

The DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuits keep coming.  The latest was filed by a Canadian woman in Nova Scotia.  She wants to bring a DePuy class action lawsuit on behalf of all Nova Scotians who got DePuy hip implants from July 2003 onward. Jo-Anne Scharf received her implant in April 2005 and was informed of [...]

Potentially spoiled ground beef products are being recalled by a New Jersey Firm.  Unbelievably, the USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) says the company, One Great Burger, of Elizabeth, NJ, appears to have repackaged and recoded returned ground beef products and sent them out for further distribution to institutional customers. The problem was first [...]