Public Health Watchdog issued a press release yesterday informing consumers that the U.K.’s Department of Health, National Health Service (NHS) Commissioning Board, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have promised that British surgeons will be given better information on how to reduce the risk of transvaginal mesh injuries.

The Department of Health says that 15 percent of women who receive the mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) report adverse events, including mesh erosion, pain, infection, bleeding, pain during intercourse, organ perforation, and urinary problems. According to the Department, health officials are in the process of implementing new measures to combat the problem, such as developing proposals for a registry that would track implanted vaginal tapes and meshes, which would allow surgeons to compare the outcomes of their treatment. More Public Health Watchdog Says UK Health Officials To Take More Proactive Approach In Preventing Transvaginal Mesh Injuries

A former New Hampshire hospital worker has been indicted on fraud and product-tampering charges in connection with an outbreak of hepatitis C that has sickened more than 30 people.

David Kwiatkowski, 33, allegedly injected himself with syringes of the powerful painkiller fentanyl, which he stole from patients scheduled for surgery. He was hired by New Hampshire’s Exeter Hospital in April 2011, less than a year after being diagnosed with hepatitis C. After he injected himself, Kwiatkowski reportedly refilled the syringes with saline, which were later injected into the patients, according to CNN. More Ex-Hospital Worker Indicted In Hepatitis C Infections

The national law firm, Parker Waichman LLP, filed a lawsuit on behalf of a woman who charges that the Mirena® IUD caused physical and emotional damages. The lawsuit names device-maker, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, as the defendant.

The complaint was filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division, Morris County and states that the plaintiff received the Mirena® IUD birth control in 2008 and began experiencing pelvic pain in July 2010. According to the lawsuit, the strings attached to the birth-control device were unable to be located, and the IUD could not be seen though an ultrasound. More Woman Implanted with Mirena® IUD Sues Bayer Over Perforated Uterus

Tobacco companies were just ordered by a federal judge to take out advertisements acknowledging the health risks of smoking.

The decision was made after federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit in 1999 which accused the tobacco companies of violating racketeering statutes and deceiving the public about the consequences of smoking. The judge’s decision was a ruling against a prior 2006 decision that laid out the advertising requirements finalized Tuesday. The case followed a landmark $206 billion settlement by the tobacco industry in 1998, CNN Money reported. More Tobacco Companies Ordered To Advertise Smoking Risk

A Superior Court in Somerville, New Jersey just acquitted former “Melrose Place” actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer’s of aggravated manslaughter.

A split verdict reflected the jury’s belief that a Montgomery Township crash, which killed 60-year-old Helene Seeman and critically injured her husband, Fred, may not have been completely Locane-Bovenizer’s fault, NJ.com said. The jury agreed with prosecutors on Locane-Bovenizer’s lesser charges, but failed to see how the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she showed “an extreme indifference to the value of human life,” juror Chris Yen told NJ.com More “Melrose Place” Manslaughter Trial Jury Calls Ruling “A sad end to a tragic story”

A former nursing home aide pleaded guilty on Wednesday to caretaker abuse and was sentenced to two years in prison after she was caught on video stuffing latex gloves into the mouth of a 96-year-old dementia patient.

Lucy Waithira Gakunga, 23, of Oklahoma City, admitted to prosecutors that she abused Eryetha Mayberry in April at the Quail Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center as part of a plea agreement. She was sentenced to seven years in prison with all but the first two years suspended. Gakunga will be deported to her home country of Nigeria upon release from prison. A co-defendant, Caroline Kaseke, 28, is still at large, according to NewsOK. More Former Nursing Home Aide Faces Prison After Abusing Dementia Patient

National law firm Parker Waichman LLP has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a North Carolina man who alleges the diabetes drug, Actos, caused him to develop bladder cancer.

The suit was filed on November 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, where it has become part of the Actos multidistrict litigation (MDL). The complaint names Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc., Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. f/k/a Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Eli Lilly and Company as defendants. More Man Says Bladder Cancer Caused By Actos

“Melrose Place” actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer has been convicted by a Superior Court jury of assault by auto and vehicular homicide after an alcohol-fueled car wreck that killed a woman and critically injured the woman’s husband. She was found not guilty of aggravated manslaughter, which would have carried a stiffer penalty than vehicular homicide.

Locane-Bovenizer, 40, was driving drunk in June 2010 when she crashed her Chevrolet Tahoe into a Mercury Milan in Montgomery Township, New Jersey, killing 60-year-old Helene Seeman and critically injuring the driver’s husband, Fred Seeman. Prosecutors argued that Locane-Bovenizer was traveling at 53 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone. Attorneys for the defendant did not contest that she was drunk and argued that Locane-Bovenizer was speeding to get away from a woman she had rear-ended who was chasing her. The defense also argued that Fred Seeman was turning his vehicle too slowly. Locane-Bovenizer’s blood alcohol was nearly three times the legal limit at the time of the crash. More “Melrose Place” Star Convicted In Drunken New Jersey Car Crash

It was revealed last week that St. Jude Medical executives blacked out the name of its heart defibrillator wire, the Durata, in a critical federal report involving the product.

Not only has the company taken a $1 billion financial hit since the revelation, the company’s integrity is also being questioned. St. Jude’s report was released in October as a part of a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives the reports to device makers in an unaltered form, which sometimes contain criticisms of the company’s procedures. In the SEC report, St. Jude had blocked out all 20 of the references to the Durata, a New York Times story revealed. More Company’s Integrity Questioned After Releasing Altered SEC Report

Medtronic Inc. suffered a 26 percent decline in fiscal second-quarter profits this week, most likely caused by stale sales and massive looming legal fees over the company’s heart defibrillator products and its Infuse® bone graft product.

Medtronic’s growth has been hampered by poor sales of its heart defibrillators and its Infuse® spinal implant product, which is a genetically engineered protein bone graft. In October, a Senate investigation concluded that Medtronic wrote and edited medical journal articles about Infuse® and downplayed its risks. Infuse® was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2002 for use in limited spinal, oral, and dental graft procedures; however, for the most part, Infuse® is used for off-label purposes, which can lead to numerous serious side effects, including swallowing, breathing, and speaking problems, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. More Medtronic Takes Financial Hit In Wake Of Controversy