Daytime drowsiness and suicidal thinking are among the agency’s top concerns about the drug. According to the FDA, company trials showed that patients who take higher doses of the sleep aid experienced an eightfold increase in daytime drowsiness, which sometimes impacted their ability to drive the next morning. Patients taking 20 to 40 milligrams of suvorexant had difficulty staying in their driving lanes when tested by Merck researchers. According to the FDA, four female test subjects had to stop the test due to excessive drowsiness, WIBW.com reported.

The agency also noted in its review of suvorexant that eight cases of suicidal thinking or behavior were reported among patients taking the drug over the course of a 12-month time period. Suicidal ideation was not reported among patients taking placebos. Prescription sleep aids have been under scrutiny lately due to questions over their next-day safety. Earlier this year, the FDA cut the recommended daily dose of Ambien in half for women, who inexplicably process the drug more slowly than men, according to WIBW.com.

Robert Harshbarger Jr. of Kingsport, Tenn., pleaded guilty to one count of distributing a misbranded drug and one count of health care fraud, KansasFirstNews.com reported. Harshbarger Jr., 53, was doing business as American Inhalation Medication Specialists Inc. He admitted in his plea that, due to the fraud, kidney dialysis patients treated by Kansas Dialysis Services, L.C., had been given iron sucrose that was not approved by the FDA to meet certain safety and quality standards, KansasFirstNews.com reported.

Harshbarger also admitted that health care benefit programs had paid him more than $848,000 for the misbranded iron sucrose he dispersed from 2004 to 2009, according to KansasFirstNews.com. Harshbarger led patients to believe that the iron sucrose drug was Venofer, which is the only iron sucrose drug currently approved by the FDA for pre-dialysis and post-dialysis patients.

There have been no reports of patient illnesses, but the pharmacist’s actions still left patients at risk because the FDA had no way of assuring the safety and effectiveness of the imported drugs, KansasFirstNews.com reported.

Jury deliberations are slated to begin today in the first of at least 26 lawsuits against Intuitive alleging injuries connected to its da Vinci robotic system, Bloomberg.com reported. Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Jay Roof handed the case to the jury Tuesday after a trial that lasted five weeks. The family of Fred Taylor seeks $8.45 million in damages against Intuitive based on claims that the company is responsible for the injuries suffered during and after a 2008 robot-assisted removal of his prostate gland. The family claims that Taylor suffered injuries as a result of Intuitive’s inadequate training, which was rushed and compromised by the company’s push to sell robots, Bloomberg.com reported.

Taylor suffered multiple medical complications following the surgery and died four years later. In his closing arguments, the plaintiff’s lawyer named 10 ways in which Intuitive was negligent.The most serious of the bunch, he said, was recommending that surgeons needed only a one-day training session at company headquarters followed by two supervised robot-assisted surgeries before they were ready to perform an unsupervised procedure on their own, Bloomberg.com reported.

The doctor who performed Taylor’s surgery had done more than 100 successful prostatectomies using traditional methods, but Taylor was his first patient using the da Vinci unassisted. After struggling for seven hours, the doctor turned to traditional surgery and then emergency care to patch-up a rectal laceration, Bloomberg.com reported.

Retailers like the big box giant Wal-Mart and trade associations have been displeased with the settlement, arguing that it gives credit card companies too much freedom to hike future rates. Hundreds of objections have been filed since U.S. District Judge John Gleeson gave his preliminary approval to the settlement last November.

Court documents show that the objections were filed because the settlement proposes to bind absent class members and release any future claims related to the swipe fees, while providing immunity to Visa/MasterCard and member banks for future anti-competitive behavior; it also releases Visa/MasterCard from liability for conduct unrelated to matters litigated in this case; and it provides illusory, non-uniform and class-wide relief via a surcharge, which many absent class members won’t impose on customers. Also according to court documents, class members’ due process rights are violated by the settlement because it prohibits them from the right to opt out.

“This lawsuit is comprised of the objection of the small retailers that make up the backbone of the American mercantile system. It’s the store on the corner, the local car dealer, and the place where you buy the everyday items that make charge card use so easy and valuable,” said Jerrold S. Parker, Founding Partner of Parker Waichman LLP. “Even farmers and factory workers carry charge cards, just like the big-city company executives. The difference is that the farmer and the factory worker pay those balances themselves, so any extra charges imposed on them directly impact their lives.”

According to the lawsuit, the man started taking Actos in January 2009, and developed bladder cancer in May 2011, allegedly due to the side effects of Actos. The lawsuit alleges that the makers of Actos were aware that taking the diabetes drug could lead to an increased risk of bladder cancer, but failed to disclose this information to the man, his doctor and other consumers. The man is suing for extensive pain and suffering, and severe emotional distress.

The suit was filed by the national law firm Parker Waichman LLP in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, where it is one of thousands of cases pending in the Actos multidistrict litigation (MDL). Jerrold S. Parker, founding partner of Parker Waichman LLP, serves on the plaintiffs’ steering committee in the litigation. Takeda Pharmaceuticals, America; Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. f/k/a Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc.; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; and Eli Lilly and Company have been named as defendants.

In 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated the labeling of Actos to include the information that taking Actos for one year may significantly increase your risk of bladder cancer. The warning was based on the results of an ongoing 10-year study by Kaiser Permanente that found elevated cancer risks in patients taking Actos for an extended period of time.

The graphic video captured how nurses at St. Joseph’s at Fleming fought with Hellen MacDonald, 85, who suffers from dementia. Nurses were shown shoving a feces-stained rag in her face and blowing their noses on her sheets, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.

The patient’s son, Camille Parent, placed the hidden video camera in his mother’s room, following a handful of suspicious incidents, including one that left his mother with a black eye for reasons unknown.  In one clip, shown on the Daily Mail’s website at dailymail.co.uk, a nurse wipes her behind and then holds the filthy rag over MacDonald’s face. In another two caregivers change her diaper with the door wide open. Several other the clips show MacDonald seemingly fighting against the nurses as they try to hold her down, the Daily Mail reported.

Four employees at St Joseph’s long-term care home have been suspended pending an investigation over the incidents, which were recorded during a three-week span.

Alan Cavell, CEO of St Joseph’s at Fleming, told the Daily Mail that he was surprised by what he saw on the video, yet he would not call it abuse. The hospital has launched an investigation, and the Ontario Ministry of Health is conducting its own separate investigation.

The Bessemer Kidney Center was closed earlier this month after reports surfaced that two patients had died and others had been hospitalized, according to AL.com, a blog owned by the Alabama Media Group.

Bessemer is just one of a 12 dialysis centers in Alabama owned by Fresenius Medical Care North America that have received citations for wrongdoing during the past two years. Most centers were fined for deficiencies associated with infection control, disinfection, hand washing or glove use, AL.com reported.

The state health department cited the Bessemer Kidney Center in a report nearly a year ago for several infection-control deficiencies, including a case in which a patient was hospitalized, reported AL.com.

State health department inspection reports show that a March 15, 2012, inspection found that the Bessemer Kidney Center failed to reach the minimum standards for infection control, glove use and surface disinfection, AL.com reported. The list of citations against Fresenius-owned companies include deficiencies with glove usage and catheters; errors as regards disinfecting contaminated surfaces and mixing solutions used in dialysis for sanitation; and recordkeeping problems, including failures on the patient confidentiality front.

The CPSC issued a release that reads: “Bean bag chairs without a permanent zipper closure allow young children to unzip, ingest or inhale the small beads inside of the bean bag chair, posing a suffocation and strangulation hazard.”

The recalled bean bag chairs are 100% polyester or 100% cotton and measure about 51 inches in height with a 43-inch-wide base. Recalled colors include purple, chocolate, bayou blue, pink, lime green, denim, black and white, striped black and white, natural, and camo, examiner.com reported. The CPSC stated that the bean bags were sold at furniture stores throughout the U.S., including Value City, W.S. Badcock and Nebraska Furniture Mart, and online at Groupon.com, the Examiner.com reported. The bean bags were sold from June 2012 to February 2013 for around $100. Approximately 6,300 units are the subject of the recall, and no injuries have been reported to date, according to the CPSC.

The commission recommends that anyone in possession of one of the recalled bean bags should take it out of the reach of children and stop using it immediately. Second, inspect the bean bag chair to see if the exterior zipper can be opened; if it can, then contact the Powell Company to receive a free repair kit, the Examiner.com reported.

Recently, the World Health Organization re-classified cellphone radiation as a “possible carcinogen similar to car exhaust,” Cbs58.com reported. ?The organization cited a study that looked at 10 years of research and dozens of people, which concluded that cellphone radiation can lead to brain tumors. Then this spring, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it is reviewing additional outside studies to decide if it should alter the current limits it set regarding how much radiation cellphones are allowed to emit, Cbs58.com reported.

Cbs58.com also talked with a nurse who believes cellphone use is leading to more hospital visits. The nurse, who works in the brain injury unit of a physical rehabilitation hospital, told Cbs58.com that she is suddenly seeing more people coming in with brain tumors and is noticing that the patients are increasingly younger.

Experts on both sides of the argument agree that there are multiple ways to reduce exposure to radiation from cellphones, including: using an ear piece or speakerphone, keeping the phone at least 15 mm away from your body, and avoiding keeping it in your pocket or on a belt loop for long periods of time, Cbs58.com reported.

Norma Black, 70, was an employee at the Arbors at Dayton Subacute and Rehabilitation Center when she abused a patient by smacking him, a fourth-degree felony. Black was issued a summons to appear in court, and she is scheduled to be arraigned on May 28. The abuse allegedly occurred during March 2012. Black was an activity assistant at the facility from 2007 until March 23, 2012, according to whiotv.com.

Wes Ramsey, administrator at Arbors at Dayton, says his company has zero tolerance for employee abuse or neglect, and said in a statement that “if an allegation of misconduct is made, we conduct a thorough internal investigation. This individual’s employment was suspended during our investigation and her employment was terminated. All appropriate licensing agencies were notified as well,” whiotv.com reports.