Author Archives: Site Administrator
Selfies to Blame in Fatal Plane Crash
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its Probable Cause determination in a plane crash that took the lives of the pilot and passenger in Colorado last May. Based on its investigation, the NTSB believes that the cause of the crash was due to the pilot and passenger taking selfies in flight. The… Read More »
60 Medical Devices Recalled by FDA in 2014
From January 6th all the way to December 31st, medical devices were recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2014 at the average rate of five per month. Below is a brief overview of some common problems found among medical products of various manufacturers: Improperly sterilized equipment creating the possibility of… Read More »
Aircraft Crash Kills Pilot, Two Passengers, and Family of Three on the Ground
On Monday, December 8th, a small corporate jet (an Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100) crashed into a home in Gaithersburg, Maryland, killing the pilot and the two passengers on-board. A mother and her two young sons who were in the home were also killed in the impact and fire which ensured. According to a preliminary… Read More »
FDA Updates Requirements for Pregnancy-Related Drug Warnings
This December, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is changing how drug companies must explain the risks of taking certain medications during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. The new guidelines are meant to replace a system that officials describe as “confusing and outdated.” How the old system worked… With the current system for labeling dangerous… Read More »
Chrysler Asks for “Death Wobble” Dismissal
2014 may go down as the year of vehicle recalls, with what seems like nearly every automaker—from Ford and GM to Honda and Toyota to BMW—acknowledging defects in various aspects of their automobiles. One recall involving airbags produced by the Japanese supplier Takata involves 7.8 million cars and trucks—and counting. In the U.S. District… Read More »
Isolated California Town Loses Itinerant Doctor to Plane Crash
On the morning of Friday, November 21st, a single-engine Piper PA24 went down near the South Fork of the Eel River in northern California, in southern Humboldt County. The pilot, who was the airplane’s sole occupant, died in the crash. The pilot, Dr. Douglas Pleatman, had taken off from Cameron Park and was en… Read More »
California Welcomes Self-Driving Cars, But Not Self-Driving Car Crashes
As part of an omnibus insurance bill, the California legislature recently passed a law regulating what it calls “autonomous vehicles” but that are also variously called self-driving cars or robo-cars by the general public. Although the technology is here today, any self-driving cars so far on the road have been strictly used for testing… Read More »
Pilot Dies in Homemade Plane Crash at Big Bear
A plane crash last week at Big Bear Lake resulted in the death of the aircraft’s pilot, who was also the sole person aboard. According to the Preliminary Report filed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the aircraft was about ten minutes into a planned flight from Big Bear to Mesa, Arizona when… Read More »
First Bellwether Trial in Risperdal Breast Enlargement Cases Scheduled for November Third
The first bellwether case in a group of lawsuits filed against Risperdal maker Johnson & Johnson is set to begin November 3 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Complex Litigation Center. The lawsuits allege that Risperdal was a defective product for its failure to warn of side effects, particularly gynecomastia, or the enlargement… Read More »
Truck Accident Prevention Program Pulls Nearly 14,000 Tractor-Trailers Off the Road
This summer, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), in conjunction with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), conducted their 27th annual truck safety enforcement event, a 72-hour blitz that inspected 73,475 trucks and buses across the country and in Canada and Mexico as well, stopping semi-trucks at approximately 2,500 locations across North America… Read More »
