New safety standards set by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) affecting “play yards,” portable playpens for infants and toddlers, will begin in December. Play yards are currently subject to voluntary safety standards, but the new standards will be mandatory for all manufacturers. During the four-year period ending in…
A professional baseball player, Kouichi Taniguchi, brought an unusual claim to the U.S. Supreme Court. Taniguchi sued a hotel over an injury he sustained falling through a deck. The hotel won the case, and obtained a judgment against Taniguchi for “interpretation costs,” per a provision in federal law. Taniguchi fought…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a series of warnings about dog treats imported from China. Complaints of illnesses began coming in to the FDA in November 2011. It has now received more than one thousand reports relating to imported “chicken jerky” products. The situation presents a…
A study of injury-related deaths conducted by a national healthcare advocacy group, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), ranks the fifty states and the District of Columbia based on ten “key indicators.” These key indicators relate to laws, regulations, and initiatives undertaken by state governments. According to TFAH, they represent…
A San Diego student who spent five days locked in a holding cell after agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) apparently forgot about him has sent a claim for $20 million in damages to the DEA’s general counsel in early May. The letter, a copy of which is not…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnoqiV2ysnkAn inflatable pool slide designed for use with in-ground pools is subject to a nationwide recall, according to a recent announcement by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The pool slide, described as a “Banzai in-ground pool water slide,” poses a risk of injury to users because of sudden…
As cell phones become more of a necessity in everyday life, they also pose a threat to road and highway safety. Distracted driving, meaning driving with only partial attention to the road because of a cell phone or other communications device, rivals drunk driving as a threat to public safety.…
A former high school football player, Scott Eveland of San Marcos, California, has settled his lawsuit with the school district over a head injury he sustained in a 2007 game. The injury has left him confined to a wheelchair, able to speak only through the use of an iPad or…
The tragic death of a 12 year-old Chicago-area boy in a baseball-related accident has brought attention to a lack of data tracking regarding sports injuries in children. Although researchers have extensively catalogued injuries in athletes at the high school level and up, no one is collecting information on injuries to…
NASCAR races around the country have gone a remarkably long time without a serious crash. Some races have recently gone hundreds of laps without even a yellow caution flag, which requires drivers to exercise caution or slow down due to a hazardous condition on the track. Some observers have credited…