When I first received the news blurb I thought it was a joke; but this is no laughing matter!
Apparently, in addition to trying to avoid sunburn, at least one brand of spray-on sunscreen can cause you second and third degree burns.
The maker of Banana Boat UltraMist Sunscreen has ordered a removal of the product from store shelves after reports of at least five people who have been burned as a result of the sunscreen. Included in the recall are products like:
UltraMist Sport
UltraMist Ultra Defense
UltraMist Kids
One man, Brett Sigworth of Stow, Mass., related to CBS News, “I sprayed on the spray-on sunscreen, and then rubbed it on for a few seconds. I walked over to my grill, took one of the holders to move some of the charcoal briquettes around and all of a sudden it just went up my arm”.
I confess that I have never read the ingredients in sunscreens before and dermatologists report that is pretty common for most users. Apparently, the spray applicator is allowing too much of the liquid to be applied and the alcohol and petroleum ingredients in the sunscreen are not drying fast enough. Too much of these flammable ingredients, too close to a flame and there is a significant risk of flammability.
Interestingly, the product label includes the recommendation to “apply liberally” and to “reapply as needed”. The label ingredients set forth glycerin as one of the ingredients; a compound that has been promoted as a substitute to diesel fuels.
On Wednesday, October 10, 2012, Toyota recalled over 7 million vehicles worldwide to fix faulty window switches that can cause fires. This is not the first major recall involving Toyota.
It seems the more Toyota tries to improve its image after several safety issues involving their product, the more problems they have. Toyota used to have a reputation for manufacturing safe, as well as economical vehicles, and over the past few years that reputation has dramatically changed.
In 2009 and 2010 Toyota recalled many of their vehicles due to safety issues involving sudden acceleration that led to many crashes.
Toyota seemed to be on the road to recovery until this recent recall involving cars, trucks and SUV’s produced from 2005 through 2010. If you, the consumer, receive a recall notice, do not hesitate to bring your vehicle in for service. For other links to Toyota recalls:
The Supervisor of Elections allowed over 60,000 absentee ballots to be mailed out to Palm Beach County residents that were flawed. The supervisor caught the problem and submitted a revision to the printer, but allegedly the printer still sent the incorrect ballots.
What is flawed? Each section of the ballot has headings separating the various offices for which voters are casting their ballots. So, for example, the race for President & Vice President has a very clear heading that identifies the office and lists candidate choices. Immediately following that section is a new heading identifying the office of senator and then lists the senatorial choices.
The ballot proceeds like this, in a reasonably orderly fashion, until it gets to the merit retention vote for Supreme Court Justices Lewis, Pariente, and Quince. At that section, the ballot seems to merge from Tax Collector to the Supreme Court Justices, with no real differentiation.
The ballot is long, the type is small and the candidates are many; so any wrinkle can create problems. I mean little did I know that we would have not two or three choices for president, but 12 choices for the office of president (including comedienne Roseann Barr).
So, if you are voting by absentee ballot in Palm Beach County, let’s try to avoid press pictures of balding heads bent over tables trying to discern voters’ intentions. If you have questions, call the Supervisor of Elections office and ask questions until you receive sufficient answers. Their telephone number is 561-656-6200 and the website for the supervisor is: http://www.pbcelections.org
Many people are voting by absentee ballot and we all want each voters’ ballot to count so in addition to carefully reviewing your ballot and read the instructions included with the absentee ballot.
Here are the instructions on the Supervisor’s website:
It is imperative that when you vote by absentee ballot, you follow the instructions included with your absentee ballot very carefully! Detailed instructions are provided on the actual absentee ballots, as well as special instructions on the secrecy sleeve enclosed in the absentee ballot kit mailed to you. A voter must personally vote the ballot, unless assistance is required due to disability or inability to read/write.
Justices Barbara Pariente, Fred Lewis, and Peggy Quince were all appointed to the Florida Supreme Court in the late 1990s. According to timeframes established in the Florida Constitution, each of them has stood for merit retention in 2000 and 2006, and each of them will do so again in 2012.
In 2000, Justice Pariente received a “YES” vote for her retention from 71.8% of the electorate, Justice Lewis received a “YES” vote from 71.5%, and Justice Quince received a “YES” vote from 71.7%. In 2006, their “YES” votes were 67.6%, 67.1%, and 68.2%, respectively. In short, the people of Florida have overwhelmingly approved Justices Pariente, Lewis, and Quince – twice. Yet, in 2012, a number of groups, now including the Republican Party of Florida, have publicly advocated removing these three justices from the Florida Supreme Court.
So what has changed since 2006? Have these justices lost all of the legal skills that got them to the Florida Supreme Court in the first place? Have they stopped working hard, deciding to coast through their final years on the court? Have they been implicated in some sort of unprofessional or unethical conduct? The answer is NO, NO, and NO. The intelligence, work ethic, and fine moral character of each of these justices remain fully intact. In fact, they seem to have gotten better over time.
The Florida Bar conducts surveys of its membership for their positions on merit retention. Lawyers ought to have the best sense of whether a judge or justice is qualified for his or her position. The poll includes lawyers from all parts of the state, from all types of legal practice, and from all political and ideological persuasions. In the Florida Bar survey conducted in 2000, 84 percent of Florida lawyers supported retention of Justice Pariente, 88 percent supported retention of Justice Lewis, and 83 percent supported retention of Justice Quince. By 2012, the levels of support from Florida’s lawyers had increased to 89, 92, and 90 percent.
What has changed is not the justices but the political landscape. In 2010, Republican state legislators sponsored proposed Amendment 9 to the Florida Constitution, which would have barred any law requiring people to obtain health insurance, such as Obamacare. But the legislators failed to write a clear and concise ballot summary for Amendment 9. By a 5-2 vote, the Florida Supreme Court, affirming the ruling of a trial court, held that the ballot summary did not comply with Florida law. The legislators did not correct their error before November, so Amendment 9 was not on the ballot in 2010 (although a revised version will be on the ballot this November as Amendment 1).
Tea Party activist Jesse Phillips launched a campaign of retaliation against the five justices who held the ballot summary invalid. His organization, “Restore Justice 2012,” has been raising money throughout the state for two years.
Mr. Phillips’ effort has been aided by out-of-state political action committee (PAC) money. The Super PAC “Americans for Prosperity,” founded by ultraconservative billionaire oil barons David and Charles Koch, has paid for television commercials attacking Justices Pariente, Lewis, and Quince. Groups like “Americans for Prosperity” are emboldened by the results of the 2010 Iowa merit retention elections. There, five out-of-state PACs spent nearly $1 million to unseat three Iowa Supreme Court justices as payback for a decision permitting same-sex marriage. It was the first time that so much money had been spent on a merit retention election – and the first time that an Iowa Supreme Court justice had not been retained by the voters. In the post-Citizens United world, these out-of-state groups can spend unlimited funds trying to influence the outcome of our Florida elections.
The Republican Party of Florida recently announced its opposition to the retention of Justices Pariente, Lewis, and Quince, thus removing any doubt that this unprecedented attack is all about politics.
If the justices are removed from office, Republican Governor Rick Scott will get to choose their replacements. In one fell swoop, Governor Scott would select nearly half of the Florida Supreme Court’s seven justices. That is a fact that you will never hear in the slick TV ads paid for by “American for Prosperity,” or the internet videos produced by “Restore Justice 2012.” And it explains why three qualified Florida Supreme Court justices, who have been approved by Florida voters twice before, and who are supported by 90% of Florida lawyers, are facing a multi-million dollar campaign to remove them from office.
According to the Associated Press (7) people have died from tainted steroids produced by The New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts.
So far 60 cases have been discovered in 9 states; including right here in Florida. There are (8) facilities in Florida confirmed to have received the tainted lots:
Lot No. 05212012@68,
Lot No. 06292012@26
Lot No. 08102012@51)
These include health care centers Florida Pain Clinic, Marion Pain Management Center (Ocala) and Surgery Center of Ocala and the Orlando Center for Outpatient Surgery. And, potentially affects patients who received the injection from July 30 through September 28, 2012.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Florida Department of Health (DOH) are actively working on quarantining the distributed medication. It is believed that due to ineffective quality controls a dangerous fungus has been grown out in these lots of medicines. Experts advise consumers to watch for symptoms like fever, headache, and nausea. Some of these symptoms can take weeks to develop, but should not be casually dismissed.
As someone who represents and speaks with injured victims of negligence and tragic accidents every day, I can understand the terror these folks are experiencing as all this unfolds. The ominous fear of not knowing and having to wait to see whether you develop symptoms is terrifying.
The threat of viral meningitis is real and has potentially life threatening results. Meningitis is an inflammation of membranes, called meninges, protecting the brain and the spinal cord. In these cases the infective agent seems limited to a virus, but meningitis can also be caused by bacterial and other microorganisms. Viral meningitis requires a lumbar puncture to obtain cerebrospinal fluid and determination of whether the virus is present. Most often, it is treated with antiviral and corticosteroid medications.
Our firm is working to help those exposed to this tainted medication. Through our investigation and research we intend to better understand how these contaminated lots occurred and were then released to unsuspecting consumers.
Once the cause of this tragedy is better understood, we will be in a position to craft the best advice and the most effective course of action for our clients.
In Palm Beach County, FL, in order to be able to vote in the November 6, 2012 election, you must be registered with the Supervisor of Elections by no later than October 9, 2012. That is five days from now.
Where can you register to vote? You can register at any of these locations, but I encourage you to go to them, since time is short:
You can pre-print your form, but I would still recommend hand delivering to one of these locations. Take picture identification with you; driver’s license, passport, student ID, etc. Also, take some verification of your current address; driver’s license, utility bill, paycheck, etc.
Your absentee ballot MUST BE RECEIVED by the supervisor’s office no later than 7:00 PM on November 6, 2012 and note that the branch offices all close by 5:00 PM on that day.
You can look at a “sample ballot” based upon your address by going to the supervisor’s website here. Sadly, the ballot7 you review on-line is likely to be much easier to read and understand than the one we will probably see on Election Day. Print the on-line ballot and that will allow you to decide for whom you can vote on in your area and to make your selection.
Vote On November 6, 2012
Read and research your choices. There are political action committees (PACs) airing sound bite commercials this year and, often, they are playing fast and loose with truth and accuracy of facts. Don’t be fooled. Do your own research and make a well informed decision.
The ballot will be very long this year. There are a great many offices to fill, a large number of candidates and our legislators have gifted us with 11 constitutional amendments this year.
Take your sample ballot with you, including your choices noted on it, when you go to vote. This will make voting much easier and faster.
In order to fully exercise your rights, please patiently make it to the very end of the ballot and cast your vote for everything.
Come back here and we will provide you with additional voting information as November 6th approached.
Thank you for exercising your constitutional right to vote.
On March 10, 2010, the Stryker Orthopaedics Division announced the release of a new hip replacement, the ADM X3 Mobile Bearing Acetabular System. Calling it the “next-generation of technology” in hip replacements, the company announced that Hall of Famer, Johnny Bench, would become the first patient in the world to receive the device. What is missing from that press release and all associated “speaking tour” videos cut by Mr. Bench is what stem was implanted in Mr. Bench.
Stryker was aggressively trying to distance itself from the complications associated with metal-on-metal hip implants that have been generating news headlines, thousands of injured patients around the globe, and defective product lawsuits.
A deeper look into the company’s website shows this latest generation is made of precisely engineered polyethylene, “designed to help minimize the risk of wear and consequently help prolong the life of the implant.” And the X3 mobile bearing hip system offering a large head, thought to be more stable than a smaller diameter head.
Good luck on the newest generation of hip replacements if the past is any indication. And, perhaps the silence is because Mr. Bench was the unfortunate recipient of either a now recalled Rejuvenate or ABG II modular stem.
Bench became a paid spokesman for Stryker after he received his first hip implant in 2004. The former professional baseball catcher, who played in the Major Leagues for the Cincinnati Reds from 1967 to 1983, blamed the 400,000 squats he did during his 17-year career for his arthritic and deteriorating left hip.
Bench received a Stryker ceramic hip that year. But by 2005, complaints began to surface about the poorly-fitting and squeaking implant which wore unevenly causing pain, bone fractures, and difficulty walking in some patients.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned Stryker about the complaints in a six-page letter. Bench had experienced some squeaking in his left hip but was quoted as saying, “I don’t care if it plays ‘Dixie’”.
The FDA inspected the Stryker manufacturing plants in Cork, Ireland and in Mahwah, New Jersey and found quality control problems at different stages of manufacturing including the discovery of staph bacteria in New Jersey. The FDA then sent a warning letter to Stryker at its Kalamazoo, Michigan headquarters to president and CEO Steven MacMillan dated November 2007, saying it could seize products if the problems were not corrected.
Stryker recalled two products in the Trident line including the two hip replacement cups, the Trident Acetabular PSL Cup, and the Trident Hemispherical Cups made in Cork, Ireland.
On July 6, 2012, the company recalled the Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Modular-Neck Stems due to 60 reports of metal toxicity that led to an early revision or removal of the hip. The surgeon who implanted Mr. Bench with the new ADM bearing surface in 2010 is known to have been a user of the Rejuvenate and ABG II stems.
The Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II had metal neck components of chromium and cobalt and a stem coated with titanium that led to complications including metallic debris in the bloodstream even without a metal-on-metal junction. Since they do not involve a metal ball and socket, they were not considered metal-on-metal hip replacement devices. But a revision of a stem component, which is placed deep inside the patient’s femur, can be a complicated and difficult surgery.
The Rejuvenate was approved by the FDA in June 2008, with the ABG II was approved in November 2009. Both systems received 510(k) notification approval as Stryker said they were similar enough to other devices already on the market.
That meant the company got a pass on providing clinical studies to prove safety and efficacy. That’s the problem.
The newer Stryker devices are modeled on systems that were already found to be defective and resulted in adverse events such as neck fractures, bone fractures and dead tissue response.
So far there has been no press release from Stryker telling us how Johnny Bench is doing with his right hip replaced with the latest and greatest version of a hip device that may or may not have been based on the design of the defective models preceding it. How embarrassing would it be for Stryker if Mr. Bench in fact had been implanted with defective and recalled Stryker products in both hips?
Word of caution – never volunteer to become the first person to receive a newly issued medical device that is permanently implanted – especially if there were no safety inspections required under the fast-track 510(k) FDA approval process.
Don’t hold your breath for an updated press release.
