Author: KJ McElrath

Another Defective Hip Recall From Stryker Medical Is Injuring Patients

Another Defective Hip Recall From Stryker Medical Is Injuring Patients

Posted by | Oct 8, 2016 | , , |

It’s a shame that the “three strikes, you’re out” laws don’t apply to “corporate people” who continue to injure and even kill people with impunity, because Stryker Medical is certainly one of many corporate repeat offenders. First, it was the Accolade TMZF Plus Hip Stem, which was recalled in 2011 because of a problem due to employee error. This was followed in 2012 by the Rejuvenate and ABG II femoral stems, which were prone to failure and were responsible for a condition known as metallosis (metal poisoning of the bloodstream and tissues). Stryker settled lawsuits over those products this...

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Why Do We Allow BP To Continue Dumping GALLONS Into Our Oceans? Devastated Ecosystem

Why Do We Allow BP To Continue Dumping GALLONS Into Our Oceans? Devastated Ecosystem

Posted by | Oct 7, 2016 | , |

The same company that brought you the disastrous Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico more than six years ago have done it again – and their plans to mitigate the damage are to do absolutely nothing. Over the past weekend, BP announced that it had shut down one of its North Sea platforms off the coast of northern Scotland. According to a company statement, the leak was the “result of a technical issue with the system which separates the mixed production fluids of water, oil and gas.” The incident occurred around ten in the morning local time...

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NRA Cripples Federal Bureau Who Should Be Regulating & Overseeing America’s Guns

NRA Cripples Federal Bureau Who Should Be Regulating & Overseeing America’s Guns

Posted by | Oct 6, 2016 | |

How many times have you heard some right-wing gun nut go on a rant about he “don’t want that Big Gummint comin’ ta take mah guns!”? Corey Ray, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), hears it quite frequently and finds it hilarious. He says, “Even if we were like, ‘Yeah, we’re coming to take your guns,’ 30 years from now you might get a knock on your door.” The sorry fact is that the ATF lacks the infrastructure and human resources to do its job. In these days of digital record keeping and instant...

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Abilify Lawsuits to Be Consolidated in Federal Court

Abilify Lawsuits to Be Consolidated in Federal Court

Posted by | Oct 6, 2016 | , , , |

This week it was announced that lawsuits pending across the country involving Abilify makers Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb will be centralized in Florida. This move has been agreed to by both plaintiffs and defendants. Often, there are a number of lawsuits against a single company or institution by multiple plaintiffs in different parts of the country sharing similar causes of action and questions of fact. In this case, the questions are over the effects of Abilify that cause compulsive behaviors in patients (such as gambling) – and whether or not the manufacturers were fully aware of the seriousness...

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So-Called “Free Trade Deals”: Lowering Quality of Products & Value of Workers’ Labor

So-Called “Free Trade Deals”: Lowering Quality of Products & Value of Workers’ Labor

Posted by | Oct 5, 2016 | , |

It seems like almost nobody in the U.S. (or abroad, for that matter) cares for the so-called free trad” deals that have been rammed down our collective throats for the past generation. Even political candidates like Hillary Clinton – formerly a champion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership – are backing away from their support of such deals – at least until the election is over. But have those deals really done that much damage to the nation’s economy? According to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the answer is no – but they haven’t helped a lot...

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