We blogged a while back about the Food and Drug Administration investigating the safety of a number of over-the-counter pediatric medicines, namely Children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec. The drugs are manufactured by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of Johnson & Johnson. The company issued a voluntary recall of some 43 over-the-counter children’s medicines.

Since the April accident in which a TriMet bus driver struck and killed two and injured three, the transit agency has undergone a safety review. Conducted by K&J Safety and Security Consulting Services, an initial report was recently issued. The report pinpoints some areas for improvement, though it does commend TriMet for having better than average safety programs. The report recommends TriMet limit cell phone usage by bus drivers as well as implement a twice yearly review of each bus driver on “observation rides.”

TriMet continues its overview of safety procedures in the wake of the tragic bus accident that killed two and injured three others. So far the bus driver has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing, and TriMet has implemented some changes to several bus routes.

You’ll remember the story about the TriMet bus driver who ran over five pedestrians in a crosswalk, resulting in the deaths of two of them. It happened in late April in downtown Portland, OR. The driver was making a left turn. A grand jury today found the driver not guilty of criminal wrongdoing, but she may face misdemeanor charges, including charges for careless driving and making an illegal left turn.

Some consumers aren’t too happy about the Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers diapers featuring the new Dry Max technology. In fact, a class action complaint was just filed against Procter & Gamble, the manufacturer of Pampers-brand diapers, by firm Keller Rohrback LLP. The complaint alleges that the diapers cause rashes, burns, and other skin ailments.

Procter & Gamble has denied any wrongdoing or flaws with the Dry Max technology. The company says Dry Max was thoroughly researched and tested and does not cause rashes or skin conditions. It further claims Dry Max technology is a breakthrough technology and its most significant diaper innovation in the last 25 years.

The other day I read about a new system some local hospitals have been using in order to cut back on the number of hospital infections. It includes a lot of checks and balances and colleagues checking on one another. Sounds like a good idea, right? Well today I saw this article about how some VA hospitals are going to limit the types of surgeries that can be performed to hopefully decrease surgical deaths. Apparently some surgeries are too complicated to be performed at some VA hospitals. Patients requiring those surgeries will need to go elsewhere.

A wrongful death suit was filed against the State of Illinois in the Court of Claims that seeks damages of $46 million for the death of two sisters. The Uhl sisters, one 18 and one 13, were driving in a car when it was hit by an Illinois State Trooper who was traveling more than 100 miles per hour. In addition, the trooper was talking on his cell phone AND using the patrol car’s computer to send e-mail when the accident occurred. The trooper, Matt Mitchell, has since pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and aggravated reckless driving.

Do you think maybe manufacturers just have something against infants and toddlers? It sure seems as if there has been an increase in recalls of children’s products lately, or maybe I am just more aware of them, or perhaps the oversight of such products has improved. Anyway, the latest recall by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is for full-size cribs with the Simplicity brand name as well as drop-side cribs by Graco.

A tragic accident involving a TriMet bus and five pedestrians resulted in two deaths and three injured. The accident occurred late Saturday night on April 24, 2010. Investigators are still piecing together what happened. What we know is an empty but in service TriMet bus was turning left from a one-way street onto a two-way street when it struck a group of five pedestrians who were crossing the street with a walk signal. Several of the pedestrians became trapped underneath the bus. Though it was late at night, the streets were crowded with pedestrians, as a show at Harvey’s Comedy Club had just gotten out (the five pedestrians had attended the show together).

Here’s another case for the practically unbelievable files. A young Arizona man is suing University Physicians Healthcare because he claims his right testicle was unnecessarily removed. The story is Kenneth Irby went in for what he believed was going to be a routine biopsy on his right testicle. He asserts that the agreement with his doctor was that his right testicle would only be removed IF cancer were positively discovered. Because his testicle was indeed removed, Irby believed it had been cancerous. At a follow-up appointment, however, he learned that the biopsy was negative and that he did not have cancer.