Toyota Announces Largest Recall Ever

Toyota said Tuesday that it will recall 3.8 million vehicle floor mats because of a defect that may cause accelerators to become stuck. According to the federal government, at least 102 drivers have reported jammed accelerators in late-model Toyota and Lexus models. Thirteen crashes and five deaths were likely caused by the defect, the government said in a statement.  Chris Woodyard, USA Today  09/30/2009

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Eight locals sue hip replacement manufacturer over alleged defects

BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer sswenson@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Sep 16 2009 04:37 PM

A hip replacement was supposed to cure Mary Shelton's pain. Instead, the Bakersfield woman replaced one pain with another.

Shelton and seven other local folks are suing the manufacturer and distributor of a hip replacement system.

 Instead of being pain free, those suing felt strong pains in their groin areas for months, the lawsuits say. Even when they had replacement surgeries, most still suffer some pain, said their lawyer, Matthew Faulkner of Bakersfield.

All the suits are targeting the Durom Hip Resurfacing System. It's manufactured by Zimmer Inc. of Indiana and distributed in Kern County by an independent contractor, Roger Probasco.

The suits allege that the Durom system is defective because bone and tissues don't grow into them properly. A cup in the system has to be replaced with parts from another manufacturer, Faulkner said. Zimmer stands behind their product. It's not defective, said Irvine attorney Michelle M. Fujimoto.

In paperwork filed with the court, the company says any problems can be blamed on the doctors who implanted the product, or on unusual conditions in the patients themselves. She did not return a call Wednesday.

Faulkner noted that Zimmer stopped sales for a few months in 2008 until the company gave surgeons new instructions on how to implant them. The Durom system was first sold in 2006. Faulkner said he doesn't know how many have been sold in Kern County, but the company has reported that about 15,000 have been implanted across the nation.

Faulkner filed the first of eight lawsuits in December 2008. One patient is in his 30s while the rest are generally in their 60s, he said. The youngest one is Robby George. The others are Shelton, Annie Housden, Randin McDonald, Kathleen Lyles, Judith Hinds, Angela Glinton and Gregory Barnet. George has had the most improvement, Faulkner said. While the others have had some relief, they are still experiencing some levels of pain, he said.

The eight separate lawsuits against Zimmer and Probasco have been consolidated in Kern County Superior Court. A conference is set Oct. 22 before Judge William D. Palmer.

If You Donate a Kidney to Your Father,
You Can't Get Health Insurance
by Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times

So what would you do if your mom or dad, or perhaps your sister or brother, needed a kidney donation and you were the one best positioned to donate?
Most of us would worry a little and then step forward. But not so fast. Because of our dysfunctional health insurance system, a disgrace that nearly half of all members of Congress seem determined to cling to, stepping up to save a loved one can ruin your own chance of ever getting health insurance. That wrenching trade-off is another reminder of the moral bankruptcy of our existing insurance system. It’s one more reason to pass robust reform this year.
Over the last week I’ve been speaking to David Waddington, a 58-year-old wine retailer in Dallas, along with his wife and two sons. I’d love to know what the opponents of health reform think families like this should do.
Mr. Waddington has polycystic kidney disease, or PKD, a genetic disorder that leads to kidney failure. First he lost one kidney, and then the other. A year ago, he was on dialysis and desperately needed a new kidney. Doctors explained that the best match — the one least likely to be rejected — would perhaps come from Travis or Michael, his two sons, then ages 29 and 27.
Travis and Michael each had a 50 percent chance of inheriting PKD. And if pre-donation testing revealed that one of them had the disorder, that brother might never be able to get health insurance. As a result, their doctors had advised not getting tested. After all, new research suggests that lack of insurance increases a working-age person’s risk of dying in any given year by 40 percent.
“At the time David needed a transplant, the people closest to him couldn’t even offer a lifesaving donation — for insurance reasons,” said Mr. Waddington’s wife, Susan.
Travis, who is living in New York and working toward a math doctorate, is anguished at having to weigh insurance obstacles against the chance to save his dad.