Safety News Article Excerpts

Chicago Tribune, "Heparin taint tied to deaths FDA: 3 fatalities linked to material in Baxter product"

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for the first time, has conclusively linked deaths of patients infused with the blood thinner heparin to a foreign substance found in specific lots of the drug made by Deerfield-based Baxter International Inc. In an interview Tuesday with the Tribune, the FDA said it completed its review of 93 death reports related to heparin that the agency received from Jan. 1 to March 31, a period when there was a dramatic spike in potentially deadly allergic reactions from patients who had been injected with heparin. The popular blood thinner is used widely in large dosages, often before patients have dialysis or heart surgery. More...

New York Times, "Zimmer Hip Sales Suspension; A Call for a Warning System on Artificial Joints"

Dr. Lawrence Dorr, a nationally known orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles, realized last year that something was very wrong with some of his patients. Months after routine hip replacements, patients who had expected to live without pain were in agony. "I saw one of Zimmer's engineers at a meeting, and I told her that you should pull this cup because you are crippling patients," Dr. Dorr said. More...

New York Times, "Complaints Undermine Zimmer Hip Cup Device; Hundreds Expected to Require Revision Surgeries"

Zimmer Holdings, the nation's biggest producer of orthopedic devices, says it will suspend sales of an artificial hip component that some doctors have complained was failing at a high rate. The company lowered its earnings outlook as a result of the suspension, and its shares fell sharply Wednesday. More...

Ortho Supersite, "Zimmer temporarily suspends marketing, distribution of Durom acetabular hip replacement component"

Zimmer Holdings Inc. announced in a press release that it is temporarily suspending marketing and sales of the Durom acetabular component – also known as the Durom Cup – in the United States. The company also lowered its earnings outlook as a result of the suspension, and its shares fell sharply the day after the announcement was made. The company will update labeling for the Durom Cup to provide more detailed surgical technique instructions to surgeons, and the company will implement a surgical training program in the United States. More...

News Inferno, "Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Device Sales Halted Over Questionable Design"

The nation's biggest producer of orthopedic devices says it is suspending sales of an artificial hip component that some say is failing at high rates. Zimmer Holdings, based in Warsaw, is also lowering its earnings outlook due to the suspension; shares fell sharply yesterday. The Durom cup has been implanted in over 12,000 patients since it was first sold in the United States in 2006. More...

Portfolio Media, "New Study Hints At More Fosamax Problems"

While the litigation over Fosamax continues to unfold, another clinical study has been released that suggests the osteoporosis drug may actually hinder bone growth and increase the possibility of fractures. The study, conducted by physicians at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, indicated that extended use of Fosamax and other bisphosphonates may increase the risk of femur fractures, News Inferno reported. The study also revealed that long-term use of Fosamax can suppress bone metabolism, which reportedly restricts the repair of microdamage and increases the chance of breaks. More...

Learn more about Fosamax injuries and your legal rights.

San Francisco Chronicle, "Hospital error blamed for more infant Heparin overdoses"

The case of 14 babies who received accidental overdoses while in intensive care has raised new questions about how a common blood-thinning medication could be given to infants repeatedly in the wrong dosage. Unlike a previous case involving twins of actor Dennis Quaid, the Texas newborns got the overdose because of an error at the hospital pharmacy, not a labeling problem. Quaid sued one of heparin's manufacturers last year after his children's overdose was traced to a hospital pharmacy worker who grabbed vials of the wrong dosage because the labels looked almost identical if turned a certain way. More...

Learn more about Heparin injuries and lawsuits and your legal rights.

CNN, "Up to 17 babies given overdoses of blood thinner, one dies"

A Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital is investigating how up to 17 babies in a neonatal intensive care unit received overdoses of the blood thinner heparin. One of the babies died. The infant was one of 17 who may have received a more concentrated form of heparin than was prescribed, Christus Spohn Hospital South said in a statement. Officials at Christus Spohn Hospital South say corrective action was taken after the discovery of the overdoses. More...