Jennifer Walker-Journey

Six lots of generic Ibuprofen Oral Suspension Drops for infants manufactured by Tris Pharma Inc., and sold at CVS Pharmacy, Wal-Mart Stores, and Family Dollar are being recalled because some units may contain a higher levels of ibuprofen concentration. Some bottles of the ibuprofen concentrate were found to contain as much as 10 percent above the limit specified on the packaging. Infants who are already susceptible to ibuprofen side effects may be at a slightly higher risk if they are given a higher concentration of the medication from an affected bottle. For example, these babies may be more vulnerable to ... Read More

A woman who endured nine surgeries and nearly a dozen chemical cauterizations after her transvaginal mesh device eroded inside her body was awarded $41 million by a Philadelphia jury. Jurors found Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc., had negligently designed the mesh implant and never warned that the device could erode though the body’s soft tissue in the pelvis and cause permanent scarring, debilitating pain, and other problems, Law360 reported. Transvaginal mesh was designed to treat conditions such as pelvic organ prolapse (POP) or stress urinary incontinence. The mesh was implanted through the vagina. It was billed as a minimally ... Read More

Phoenix police arrested a licensed nurse on preliminary charges of sexual abuse and abuse of a vulnerable adult following an investigation into the unexpected birth of a baby last month to a woman in a persistent vegetative state. The woman is a patient of Hacienda HealthCare, the nursing home where the man, Nathan Sutherland, worked as her caregiver. He was compelled by court order to provide a DNA sample. Crime lab technicians determined his DNA matched the baby’s. The nursing home issued a statement that it was “troubled beyond words to think that a … nurse could be capable of ... Read More

A potentially deadly birth defect in which a baby’s abdomen doesn’t develop properly and his intestines poke outside the body may be tied to the mother’s opioid use during pregnancy, according to an analysis published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The defect, called gastroschisis, occurs early in pregnancy. Researchers don’t know what it is about opioids that may cause this defect, just that there is “a higher prevalence (of the defect) in areas where opioid prescription rates were high,” the report said. Gastroschisis is more often seen in teen mothers and mothers who drink and smoke. ... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking unprecedented steps to support the development of over-the-counter naloxone to reverse the effects of opioids in an effort to reduce opioid overdose deaths. “With the number of overdose deaths involving prescription and illicit opioids more than doubling over the last seven years to nearly 48,000 in 2017, it’s critical that we continue to address this tragedy from all fronts,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., said in a statement. When someone overdoses on opioids, they can lose consciousness and their breathing may become shallow or stop altogether, which can quickly lead to ... Read More

A key study used to show the safety of Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup to persuade the European Union to approve its use may have been plagiarized in part from Monsanto-funded studies, an alliance of activists alleged. Green members claim that they found “clear evidence” of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR)’s “deliberate pretense of an independent assessment, whereas in reality the authority was only echoing the industry applicants’ assessment.” The German regulator issued reports in 2014 and 2015 concluding that available data didn’t show that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, was carcinogenic. However, in 2015, the ... Read More

It’s been six months since Johnson & Johnson was hit with a staggering $4.69 billion verdict in a case brought by 22 women who alleged the company’s talcum powder products contained cancer-causing asbestos that contributed to their ovarian cancer diagnosis, but the sting has yet to fade. Earlier this month, the consumer health care giant urged the Missouri Supreme Court to force St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Rex Burlison to unbundle a similar trial involving 13 women with ovarian cancer, saying it was unfair not to try the cases one plaintiff at a time. The state’s high court agreed to ... Read More

Twenty-two accidents, including 15 aviation accidents with 21 deaths, railroad accidents with two deaths, two highway accidents with seven deaths, and three marine accidents went uninvestigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) during the 35-day-long partial government shutdown, and there’s a chance not all will get their due diligence, according to the NTSB. The NTSB is an independent U.S. government investigative agency that is charged with investigating aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine accidents, pipeline incidents and railroad accidents to determine probable cause and issue safety recommendations as needed. During the government shutdown, ... Read More

Kristina Kuzmic has developed a platform with her in-your-face, “mom-centric” videos about raising children. Her blogs and videos garner thousands of comments. But sometimes social media can be a platform for sexual harassment. Kristina recently shared a few unwelcome comments she has received from men amid the rising tide of the #MeToo movement: “I want to pin you down and — the — out of you.” “Shut your mouth and open your legs and maybe I could teach you a few things.” “I want to choke you a little but in a fun way, if you know what I mean.” ... Read More

In 1996, Purdue Pharma held a launch party to introduce its new, potent opioid called OxyContin. Then-senior vice president Richard Sackler made a prediction that the party “will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition.” Not only was Sackler right, OxyContin became “one of the deadliest drugs of all time,” according to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in an amended lawsuit filed against the company. Over the next 20 years since the drug’s launch, Richard Sackler became CEO of Purdue. With family members Beverly, David, Ilene, Lefcourt, Jonathan, Kathe, Mortimer, and Theresa sitting on the ... Read More