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THREE-YEAR-OLD TOSSED FROM CARNIVAL RIDE

by Kogan on April 6, 2012

By Kogan

A three-year-old girl was thrown from the Techno Jump Ride at a traveling carnival in Houston, Texas on March 17, 2012.

The carnival was part of RodeoHouston, a yearly charity event that has taken place since 1932. The event also includes a rodeo, livestock competitions and a variety of demonstrations and programs. (http://rodeohouston.com/)

The three-year-old, whose name has not been released, went on the ride with her 8-year-old brother, but without an adult. According to ABC News, her mother decided not to join them because there wasn’t enough room for the three of them on one seat. As the ride picked up speed, the girl slipped down and was seen flying in the air. A parent who had been recording his own child on a cellphone captured the moving image of the girl whose legs are seen flailing in the air while she tries desperately to hold on. The cellphone video can be seen on the website of KTRK, ABC’s local news affiliate in Houston. (http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=8583004)

The report is that she landed six to eight feet below on the platform. Leroy Shafer, the chief operating officer of RodeoHouston told the media that the girl suffered head, neck and back injuries and was recovering at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. According to the New York Daily News, the injuries included abrasions on her face and a contusion on her head.

Officials shut down the ride for hours, trying to determine what had happened. They believe that she was small enough to be able to slip under the lap restraint, and she came under the bar, too. Because of this accident, ride operators are being told that anyone under 42 or 48 inches must be accompanied by an adult. Although the child fit the height requirements, she was not with an adult.

KTRK reported that the ride had passed a safety inspection just the day before.

Texas Representative Garnet Coleman is now pushing for legislation that would require traveling carnivals to adhere to the same safety standards as permanent carnivals. Coleman made a statement in which he said that there needs to be more scrutiny on traveling amusement rides, and “this is a yearly story with this particular operator that someone is hurt or killed.”

Just last year, a man was killed on the roller coaster ride at the same traveling carnival and, according to KTRK, that legal case will end soon with a large settlement.

Because of this latest accident, officials declared that anyone under the height requirement must be accompanied by a “supervising companion” who must be at least 16 years old.

The little girl has been released from the hospital, and her mother will be seeking legal counsel.

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FDA ADVISORY PANEL ON HIP IMPLANTS

by Kogan on April 6, 2012

By Kogan

In response to continuing concerns relating to metal-on-metal hip implants, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on March 29, 2012 that an advisory panel would be created to consider the issue. The two-day expert review will take place on June 27-28, 2012.

Scientists, researchers, patients and medical practitioners will provide input to help regulators decide whether to impose new testing standards and new requirements before allowing a device to be sold in the United States.

Dr. William Maisel, deputy director of science at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said: “We are asking outside scientific and medical experts to discuss recent information on these devices so that the agency can continue to make reliable safety recommendations.”

In May, 2011, the FDA ordered manufacturers of metal-on-metal implants to collect more safety data on the devices. A recent study from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales showed that about 6 percent of people with the metal-on-metal implants needed additional surgery to replace or repair them after five years, compared with 1.7 to 2.3 percent of people who had ceramic or plastic systems.

Many metal hips have had to be recalled. Johnson & Johnson announced that it would cost them around $3 billion to cover the cost of the recalls of metal hips produced by their DePuy Orthopedics unit. As you might expect, this had an impact on the price of the shares of the companies who manufacture the devices. Stryker Corporation went down 0.7 percent, Zimmer Holdings Inc. down by 1.1 percent and Johnson & Johnson off 0.3 percent.

Hip replacement is common, even though it is costly. The procedure is intended to provide greater mobility and alleviate pain for people with joint problems, including arthritis. According to the British Medical Journal, about 270,000 hip replacements are performed each year in the United States, which accounts for nearly 40 percent of all joint replacements. But there has been mounting evidence in the last few years indicating that all-metal implants fail at a higher rate than systems using other materials. Patients with metal implants also have shown a high concentration of metal ions in their blood.

The FDA said that the upcoming advisory panel would look at failure rates, metal ion testing, imaging methods, patient risk factors, as well as the incidence of follow-up surgery and complications associated with metal-on-metal hip replacement and resurfacing systems.

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HIP REPLACEMENTS MAY CAUSE JOINT DAMAGE

March 1, 2012

It is estimated that more than 500,000 people in the USA have had hip replacements, and many of those with metal-on-metal implants have been showing adverse health effects. According to Mathias Bostrom, an orthopedic surgeon, “some implants have a worse record than others, but almost all the metal-on-metal implants have issues.” When pieces of the [...]

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Litigation Weighs on Johnson & Johnson Profits

January 25, 2012

Members of the DePuy Hip Recall may be looking at some good news. Johnson & Johnson has reported that due to the DePuy Hip Recall and other litigation, along with certain acquisition difficulties, their earnings have dropped a staggering 89% for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. Their fourth quarter earnings only come to [...]

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Centralized Brain Injury Database Proposed

January 23, 2012

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a field that is difficult to study. One of the major limitations to studying TBI is that there is no centralized database of knowledge that exists for physicians to reference. Each state healthcare system, and often, individual doctors and hospitals, take what approaches they believe work best, working through the darkness of a lack [...]

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The Danger Behind Carnival and Amusement Park Rides

January 20, 2012

A trip to a carnival or amusement park is supposed to be a fun experience. Ideally, you would enjoy some cotton candy, win a stuffed animal in a Skeeball game, and go on a few rides before you head home. Unfortunately, not all visits to carnivals or amusement parks end happily. Every year, there are [...]

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Determining the Basis for a Wrongful Death Case

January 19, 2012

The loss of a loved one is never easy, but this situation is especially painful when you suspect that the death could have been prevented. A wrongful death case is a legal action stating that there was negligence or misconduct on the part of the person or entity being sued, and that this improper conduct [...]

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Canadian Patients Throw Their Hats in the Ring for DePuy Hip Recall Case

January 18, 2012

A minimum of four class action lawsuits have been filed in Canada against Johnson and Johnson regarding the DePuy Hip Recall. The four plaintiffs involved have all testified that the implants failed drastically, causing them severe pain and loss of mobility. In addition, they failed far earlier than both the estimated replacement time for metal [...]

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Recognizing the Signs of a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

January 16, 2012

Mild traumatic brain injuries are the most common type of brain injury, but these injuries are often misunderstood by the general public. A brain injury is more than just a harmless “bump on the head” – it is a serious medical condition. A mild traumatic brain injury is defined as an injury to the head [...]

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Minimizing the Risk of School Bus Accidents

January 13, 2012

School buses carry over 24 million students each year and travel over four billion miles transporting kids to and from school buildings across the United States. No parent likes to think they could be putting their child in danger, but school bus accidents present a real risk to children. School buses are designed differently than [...]

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