In an interview with a Knoxville television station, Lieff Cabraser attorney Todd Walburg stated the Yaris “had not been recalled by Toyota, even though it had the same kind of electronic throttle system as the other vehicles that had been recalled.” The complaint alleges:

“The subject 2008 Toyota Yaris was not equipped with a brake override system, also known as smart-throttle technology. Ironically, earlier models of the Toyota Yaris that were sold in Europe were equipped with the Bosch brake override system. Toyota elected not to use the Bosch brake override system in the vehicles that it sold in the United States. ”

Learn why Toyota is legally responsible for the damage and injuries cause by its cars suddenly accelerating.

Under the Act, if a medical device was approved under the expedited 510(k) process, “which now requires companies only to show their devices are smilar to those already on the market,” the FDA could require post-market studies to determine safety. The FDA could also grant partial device approval for devices approved under the 510(k) process, pending futher saftey studies.

In addition to introducing post-market safety legislation, the Senators have also sent investigative letters to five medical device manufacturers, requesting information on their post-market surveillance of products.

Senator Grassley’s press release states, “Letters were sent to Johnson & Johnson, for its DePuy metal-on-metal hip implant…Medtronic for its Infuse product; Boston Scientific for Guidant’s defibrillators; CR Bard for vaginal and hernia mesh products; and, Zimmer Holdings for its knee replacements.”

Patton and her entire family have suffered from the Fosamax and Boniva prescriptions she has taken since 2001. Patton took Fosamax from 2001 to 2006, and took Boniva from 2006 to 2010. Doctors prescribed Fosamax and Boniva, both bisphosphonate drugs, to slow bone loss and combat Patton’s osteoporosis.

However, long term use of these drugs has actually been found to cause brittle bones and to increase the risk of atypical bone fractures. On December 10, 2010, Patton suffered a subtrochanteric femoral fracture while walking up steps. This aptypical femur fracture has been devasting for Patton and her family. Patton noted, “My husband now does a lot of the work I used to do. The accident changed a good part of my life; it put a lot of extra burden on my family.”

Lieff Cabraser attorney Kent Klaudt announced that Reba Patton and her husband Patrick Patton have filed a lawsuit against Fosamax manufacturer Merck&Co., and against Boniva manufacturer GlaxoSmithKine, LLC. Klaudt said, “Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, as alleged in the complaint, concealed and continue to conceal their knowledge of bisphosphonates’ lack of long-term benefits and dangers to Mrs. Patton and other patients.”

To learn more about Fosamax, Boniva and other bisphosphonate drugs, as well as victims’ rights, visit our Bone Drugs and Femur Fractures information page.

The CPSC is aware of “at least 33 cases where children swallowed loose magnets and required emergency surgery.” It is recommended that if a child has swallowed magnets, they seek immediate medical attention. Symptoms of magnets in the intestines include abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.

Some toys containing small, powerful magnets, such as Magtastik and Magnetix Pre-School Magnetic Toys, have already been recalled because of the dangers they pose to children. The CPSC urges parents to keep all small magnetic toys away from children and to regularly check their childrens’ toys for missing or dislodged magnets. Learn more about Lieff Cabraser’s representation of parents whose children have been injured by dangerous and defective children’s toys.

After using Simply Thick to feed their premature baby daughter, the Umphress’ infant developed life-threatening necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), an intestinal condition with a 25% mortality rate and which imposes lifelong injuries on survivors. The Umphress’ daughter, after being airlifted to Children’s Hopsital in Albuquerque and receiving two blood transfusions over a period of twenty days, is now stable but continues to suffer from NEC.

The FDA issued a warning in May 2010 that Simply Thick may cause NEC and that it should not be fed to premature infants. In June 2011, Simply Thick, LLC issued a voluntary recall of Simply Thick thickening gel manufactured at a particular processing plant. By July 2011, the product was released back to the market but is now accompanied by a warning not to feed Simply Thick to premature infants.

Read the full article at Las Cruces Sun-News. Learn more about the Simply Thick recall and victim’s rights.

Photo: Yaz Birth Control

Click here to watch the TV report: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7368159n

The symptoms of blood clots include persistent leg pain, severe chest pain, or sudden shortness of breath. The FDA advises that patients contact their healthcare professional immediately if they develop any of these symptoms. Furthermore, if you smoke and are over 35 years of age, the FDA advises that not take combination oral contraceptives because they increase the risk that you could experience serious cardiovascular events, including blood clots.

Contact Lieff Cabraser

If you or a family member have suffered a serious injury or a loved one died after taking Yaz, or similar drugs Yasmin and Ocella, please read Lieff Cabraser’s Yaz birth control side effects FAQ webpage to learn more about your legal rights and submit a complaint.

Trademark Notice

Yaz and Yasmin are registered trademarks of Bayer Schering Pharma Aktiengesellschaft. Ocella is a registered trademark of Barr Laboratories, Inc. The use of these trademarks is solely for informational and product identification purposes.

Infuse has been widely used in spinal fusion procedures since 2002. While Medtronic lists sterility as a possible side effect, Medtronic-paid research attributed it to a particular surgical technique, rather than the product itself.

The type of spinal fusion at issue is known as an anterior lumbar fusion, a procedure performed on about 80,000 patients a year in this country. Infuse is used in about half of those procedures, and men make up about half of the patients who undergo spinal fusions.

The Spine Journal study, authored by Stanford University surgeon Dr. Eugene J. Carragee, found that men treated with Infuse developed a condition that causes temporary or permanent sterility at a far higher rate than men who received a bone graft, another material that is used to fuse spinal vertebrae.

On June 22, 2011, U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley requested that Medtronic produce records related to Infuse, citing concerns:

“Side effects of Infuse or similar bone growth products developed by Medtronic may have been unreported or underreported in the clinical literature.”

Click here to learn more about the Infuse spine product and its side effects.

Drospirenone is a type of female sex hormone called a progestin. Most birth control pills contain two types of hormones–estrogen and progestin.

While all birth control pills pose a risk of blood clots, the new studies found that the risk of blood clots for women who use birth control pills containing drospirenone is higher than that for women who use birth control pills containing the progestin levonorgestrel found in earlier generation oral contraceptives. This risk is reported to be up to 2 to 3 times greater than the risk of VTE associated with using levonorgestrel-containing pills.

Video: Attorney Wendy Fleishman Discusses Birth Control Side Effects & Litigation

The symptoms of blood clots include persistent leg pain, severe chest pain, or sudden shortness of breath. The FDA advises that patients contact their healthcare professional immediately if they develop any of these symptoms. Furthermore, if you smoke and are over 35 years of age, the FDA advises that not take combination oral contraceptives because they increase the risk that you could experience serious cardiovascular events, including blood clots.

Contact Lieff Cabraser

If you or a family member have suffered a serious injury or a loved one died after taking Yaz, or similar drugs Yasmin and Ocella, please read Lieff Cabraser’s Yaz birth control side effects FAQ webpage to learn more about your legal rights and submit a complaint.

Trademark Notice

Yaz and Yasmin are registered trademarks of Bayer Schering Pharma Aktiengesellschaft. Ocella is a registered trademark of Barr Laboratories, Inc. The use of these trademarks is solely for informational and product identification purposes.

• NASA identified numerous failures in Toyota electronics that could lead to unwanted acceleration.
• The report was heavily influenced by Toyota and its experts, including Exponent.
• The reports were narrowly construed examinations of limited vehicles and components.
• Much of the reports remain shrouded in secrecy.

SRS’s analysis of the NESC report showed:

“there are several scenarios in which engine speed can be increased, RPMs can surge, and the throttle can be opened to various degrees in contradiction to the driver’s command, and not set a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC). Among those causes of electronic malfunction in some Toyota vehicles the investigators found were tin whiskers in the Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor (APPS) of potentiometer-type pedals. Tin whiskers are hair-like structures that can cause electrical shorts. The team found the presence of this well-known electronics phenomenon in virtually every potentiometer accelerator pedal assembly inspected – including a vehicle whose pedal was replaced by Toyota following acceleration problems.”

Daughter of Toyota Victim Speaks Out

In addition, according to SRS, the NESC and NHTSA teams did not engage independent engineers with expertise in vehicle engine management design, validation and testing to assist them in evaluating Toyota’s system. Rather, they allowed Toyota to guide its research.

Learn more about Toyota unintended acceleration lawsuits and your legal rights.

“One day she was a freshman at college so full of hope and promise and the next she was gone,” said Michelle’s mother, Joan Cummins on the date she filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Bayer, the manufacturer of Yaz. “I can only hope that by publicizing what happened to Michelle, I can keep another family from having to go through this.”

Photo: Michelle Pfleger

The lawsuit follows the publication in the British Medical Journal in April 2011 of two studies finding that women taking oral contraceptives with the hormone drospirenone, which includes Bayer’s Yaz and Yasmin, have a three-fold or two-fold increased risk of developing serious blood clots than women taking earlier-generation oral contraceptives that do not contain drospirenone. In one study, the risk of blood clots in the veins and the lungs was more than three times greater for women prescribed contraceptives containing drospirenone.

Contact Lieff Cabraser

If you or a family member have suffered a serious injury or a loved one died after taking Yaz, or similar drugs Yasmin and Ocella, please read Lieff Cabraser’s Yaz side effects FAQ webpage to learn more about your legal rights and submit a complaint.

Photo: Yaz Birth Control

Update June 2, 2011

The CBS Early Show interviewed Joan Cummins and profiled the risks of Yaz.

Trademark Notice

Yaz and Yasmin are registered trademarks of Bayer Schering Pharma Aktiengesellschaft. Ocella is a registered trademark of Barr Laboratories, Inc. The use of these trademarks is solely for informational and product identification purposes.