Saundersblog.com - March 2006 Archives

March 2006

Friday 31 March

Archdiocese of Chicago in Full Compliance with Sex Abuse Review Board in Spite of Failure (09:43) - According to the National Review Board set up by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Archdiocese of Chicago was in full compliance with its sexual abuse charter. The charter, designed to protect young children, was implemented in 2002 after... | 0 Comments
Episcopal Diocese in Florida Hit with Sex Abuse Lawsuit (09:36) - The Episcopal Church in Florida is now facing a $5 million lawsuit stemming from the sexual abuse of a young girl by deceased Episcopal priest Fr. Joseph Noll. The abuse occurred at St. Stephen's Church in Jacksonville in 1969. The... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Kansas School Consultant Urges Prudence and Public Notification of Taser Use (09:30) - A consultant for Wichita Kansas public schools is urging school officials to use prudence when deploying taser stun guns on students. It's just as important to inform the parents of tased students as well as the local community of such... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 29 March

The NIMBY Approach to Justice and Compassion (09:37) - NIMBY stands for Not in My Backyard. William Cardinal Keeler was in town to speak at Sunday night's Eternal Light Awards dinner in St. Petersburg. The Cardinal had just been presented with the award for his work on behalf of... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 28 March

Legislators Need to Do More than Pay Lip Service to Abuse Victims (10:00) - Many state legislators including those from Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland are considering opening up the civil statute of limitations regarding sexual abuse. However, they are all too often doing so in a very restrictive manner. In Colorado, for instance,... | 0 Comments
Elimination of Joint and Several Liability is not Good for the Consumer (09:46) - The Florida Legislature seems bent on acquiescing to Governor Bush's agenda to protect large corporations at the expense of the family and the average consumer. An unfortunate example of this is the current legislation seeking to ban Joint and Several... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Amnesty International Renews Its Taser Warnings (09:36) - As the death toll from Taser use continues to mount across the country, Amnesty International has renewed its call to halt the use of the controversial stun gun. According to the watchdog group, 61 people died after being tasered in... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 27 March

Colorado Sex Abuse Crime Bill Heads to Governor (06:54) - HB 1088 passed the Colorado Senate on Friday and is now headed to Colorado Governor Bill Owens for his signature. If the Governor signs the bill into law, it would eliminate the statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes that... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 21 March

Guidant's Own Commission Critical of Flaws (06:20) - An expert panel commissioned by Guidant Corporation to assess its handling of problems with cardiac medical devices cited the company for failure to properly assess patient safety. The commission noted that Guidant's decisions were guided by statistical projections provided by... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 20 March

Suppressed Society of St. John Resurfaces in South America (09:17) - The controversial Society of St. John which had been functioning in the Diocese of Scranton until its suppression in 2004, has resurfaced in Paraguay with two priests who've been accused of sexual abuse of minors. The Society which had been... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Company Draws Fire for Using Blood Substitute Without Patients' Consent (09:04) - Northfield Laboratories has come under heavy criticism for the unorthodox manner in which it is testing its new blood substitute PolyHeme. However, it's not the substitute itself that has caused the uproar. It's the fact that the 31 hospitals around... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Saturday 18 March

Mandatory Taser Training for Cops Passes Florida House Committee (11:26) - Florida police officers would be required to take four hours of training before using the Taser stun gun under HB 303 which was unanimously approved by the Florida House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee. Presently, no training is required. The training... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Thursday 16 March

Jackson Mississippi Diocese Settles Abuse Claims (21:22) - In spite of claiming protection under the First Amendment, the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, MI has settled 19 claims of sexual abuse brought against it. The Diocese had strenuously argued for the separation of church and state during the lengthy... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 15 March

Tampa VA Doc Uses Unsterilized Implant (06:45) - In a hastily called briefing for Congressional staffers, authorities at the James A. Haley VA Center in Tampa announced that an unsterilized cranial implant was placed into a patient last month. The mistake was nearly duplicated a few weeks later... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 14 March

Vioxx Docs Lobbied by Merck Now Its Foes (10:40) - Doctors who had been heavily courted by Merck, the manufacturer of Vioxx, are now some of the drug's most outspoken foes. In the ongoing Vioxx trial, doctors have come forward and testified that if they had been told of the... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Sex Abuse Claims Mount Against Louisiana Orphanage (10:19) - Madonna Manor, a Catholic run home for poor and troubled children, has been rocked by 8 more lawsuits filed against the institution as a result of physical and sexual abuse of the children dating back to the 1950's and 1960's.... | 0 Comments
Study Finds Implanted Defibrillators May Help More Men than Women (10:10) - Implanted devices designed to shock the heart into a normal rhythm may not be as effective in women as they are in men, researchers said on Monday. Researchers at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and the University of Connecticut evaluated five... | 0 Comments
Guidant Issues New Implant Warning (10:04) - According to a report published in the NY Times, Guidant Corporation has issued a warning to doctors about possible battery defects in two of its implantable defibrillator devices. The devices in question, the Contak Renewal 3 RF and Renewal 4... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
University Study Targets Taser Safety (09:58) - Armed with a $650,000 grant from the Department of Justice, two University of South Carolina research professors will undertake a study of the controversial Taser stun gun. The study will focus on the weapon's safety as well as its ability... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 13 March

Leaders of US Conference of Catholic Bishops Feel the Heat (06:45) - Both the President and Vice President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops find themselves embroiled in the church's sex abuse scandal. Vice President Francis Cardinal George has come under heavy fire for not removing an abusing priest when he... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Guidant Corp. Cited by Senate Committee (06:33) - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) has introduced legislation that would toughen penalties for companies and their executives who sold products that cause injury or death. Presently, there are only civil penalties for such behavior. In announcing the legislation,... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Friday 10 March

Sex Abuse-Why in the Church? (14:12) - I received a comment from another blogger about my post on the Irish Catholic Church abuse scandal. The person noted that people weren't asking the right questions in order to find out why this happened and continues to happen. Well,... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Maryland Considers Helping Sex Abuse Victims (12:57) - The Maryland Legislature is hearing public comments concerning two pending bills that would alter the present statute of limitations barring most sexual abuse victims from access to the courts and justice. One of the bills would open a two year... | 1 Comments
Maryland Considering Opening Statute of Limitations on Sex Abuse (12:52) - The Maryland House Judiciary Committee heard public comments on two bills that would alter the present statute of limitations laws concerning sexual abuse. One bill, sponsored by Pauline A. Menes, would allow victims to file a civil claim until they... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Guidant Consultant Advised Company to Release Defect Data (09:40) - A Guidant Corporationconsultant told the medical device company that it had an ethical obligation to inform doctors of defects in its defibrillator device. Dr. Richard N. Fogoros, also told company executives that their decision to withhold such data, while statistically... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
CA Judge Denies Taser's Motion to Dismiss (06:45) - A California judge has dismissed Taser International's Motion to Dismiss in a lawsuit arising from a 2004 death of a Monterey CA man who had been tasered. Taser International, Inc., asked the district court to dismiss the claims of the... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Thursday 9 March

FDA Panel Recommends Tysabri (07:12) - An FDA panel has recommended that the risky and controversial MS drug Tysabri be returned to the market. The panel argued that the decision to use the drug should be made by the doctor and the patient, in spite of... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Taser in Texas (07:03) - There's an excellent feature article published in the Fort Worth weekly concerning the controversial Taser stun gun. The article recounts the instances in which a Taser is used. One of the most compelling aspects of the article is the individual... | 0 Comments

Wednesday 8 March

Irish Priest Abuse Scandal (13:48) - While the priest abuse scandal is nothing new in Ireland-it's been a subject in the news for the last 20 years-the latest news from none other than the Archbishop of Dublin has startled some observers. The Arbishop's report counts 120... | 0 Comments
Dublin Archbishop Releases Priest Abuse Data (13:36) - Catholic Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has released information concerning the extent of priest sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin. According to the Archbishop, 102 Catholic priests have been accused by 350 victims. Obviously, those are numbers of victims who have... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Ambien Sleep Driving (07:17) - You've all seen the ads for the popular sleep aid Ambien. Yet, behind this popularity is a little known fact: the sudden rise in Ambien related impaired driver arrests. Some of those arrested state that they have no recollection of... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Police Use Taser on Elderly Man in Wheelchair (06:57) - Every day I read a new Taser story. Each day the story seems to get more outrageous. Today, the story's about a Harris County (TX) sheriff's deputy using a taser on an elderly man in a wheelchair! The deputy has... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Tuesday 7 March

Truth, Not Marketing, Goal of Scientific Research (08:53) - According to Harold C. Sox, MD, scientific research should be directed at truth and objectivity rather than promoting the marketing initiatives of pharmaceutical companies. In an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the doctor decries the use of... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Tasered Inmate Remains in Coma (08:48) - A Tennessee man remains in a coma after being tasered while in custody for public intoxication. The FBI has begun an investigation into why the man lapsed into a coma after being tasered by a jail deputy. According to police,... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Monday 6 March

Judge Enters Not Guilty Plea for South Florida Priest (21:51) - The former Archdiocese of Miami priest, Neil Doherty, 62, stood silently alongside his attorney during his arraignment for drugging and raping a child. The former Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Miami has had numerous credible accusations brought against him... | 0 Comments
Drug Trials Promised but Unseen by FDA (07:15) - The FDA has reported that 2/3 of the drugs approved by the agency remain untested and unproven. When new drugs are approved for public use, they are supposed to report the results of clinical trials to the FDA. One drug... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Taser 12 Gauge (07:04) - Outrageous but true: in the midst of mounting public concern over its dangerous stun gun, Taser International has developed and plans to market a 12 gauge shotgun so that its users can fire from a greater distance! That's just brilliant!... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Sunday 5 March

EPA Requests Reduced Use of Teflon Chemical (09:32) - The chemical manufacturers use to make Teflon, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, have been asked by the EPA to reduce and eventually eliminate its use due to its carcinogenic properties. Teflon is used in a wide range of consumer goods, including... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Obesity Raises Car Crash Death Risk (09:24) - If there weren't enough health risks associated with being overweight, along comes another one-maybe one you wouldn't have thought about. If you're male and obese, you're at a significantly greater risk to die as a result of a car crash... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Drug Patch Latest to be Targeted by FDA Probe (09:20) - In July 2005 it was the fentanyl patch used for chronic pain. The following November it was the Ortho Evra birth control patch after studies had shown women using the patch were exposed to 60% more estrogen than non-users. Now,... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Saturday 4 March

Colorado Bishop Support Limited Access to Courts for Abuse Victims (10:59) - The three Catholic bishops of Colorado have come out publicly and endorsed lifting the criminal statute of limitations involving sexual abuse of minors. However, they still don't want victims to file civil lawsuits for these crimes. The bishops continue to... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Orlando Jury Rules Against Cop in Taser Case (07:03) - In what is thought to be the first Taser lawsuit against a cop, a fedral civil jury found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him $100,000 in punitive damages. The case stemmed from a June 2003 traffic incident during... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Friday 3 March

Lead Poisoning Treatment Linked to Deaths in Children (07:03) - The CDC has linked a drug used to treat lead poisoning with cardiac arrest in children. Hospira, Inc, the maker of the drug Endrate, had no comment after the CDC released its results. Mary Jean Brown, chief of the CDC's... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Tasered 6 year old boy's Family Sues Police (06:52) - In an article published in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel parents of a 6 year old boy will sue the police department that fired a taser at the young boy after a confrontation in the school office. First of all,... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Thursday 2 March

Tequin Study Reveals Blood Sugar Problems (06:21) - According to a Canadian study to be published March 30th in the New England Journal of Medicine, users of the antibiotic Tequin were 17 times more likely to receive emergency room treatment for hyperglycemia or high blood sugar. If untreated,... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Chicago Priest Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Abuse (06:11) - Rev. Daniel McCormack has entered a plea of not guilty to four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of three young boys. The next scheduled hearing in the case is scheduled for April 6 in Cook County. The case gained... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
In Wake of Taser Death, Community Leaders Want Police Chief Fired (05:58) - In the wake of Samuel Hair's death in Fort Pierce, local community leaders are calling for the resignation of police chief Eugene Savage. They're also calling for the firing of the police officer who fired the taser shot that killed... | 0 Comments
Florida Legislature to Debate Taser Use (05:49) - There's a well-balanced, thoughtful editorial in the Palm Beach Post this morning that is worth a read on tasers. The upcoming legislative debate over taser use comes in light of the tragic and unnecessary death of a Ft. Pierce man.... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Wednesday 1 March

Celebrex Twice as Likely to Cause Heart Attack (13:23) - Celebrex, the only remaining Cox-2 inhibitor drug on the market, has been linked to a two-fold increase in the likelihood of causing a heart attack in patients using the drug. Pfizer, the manufacturer of Celebrex, put a black box warning... | 0 Comments
Celebrex Increases Heart Attack Risk Two-Fold, According to Study (13:19) - New Zealand's Medical Research Institute has found that Celebrex users are nearly twice as likely to suffer a heart attack as those taking other arthritis drugs, commonly known as Cox-2 inhibitors. Last August, Pfizer, the manufacturer of Celebrex, put a... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Chicago Cardinal Told Vatican Not to Release Document on Homosexuality in the Priesthood (10:50) - In a January 2006 interview with a Chicago newspaper, Francis Cardinal George admitted urging Vatican officials to delay release of the document concerning homosexuals and the priesthood for fear of backlash from activist groups in the USA. George cited the... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Guidant Officials Worried About Device Defects (10:47) - When Guidant Corp. came under fire last year for not revealing to doctors it's problems with its medical device, it remained positive in its public announcements. But newly released documents show that, inside Indianapolis-based Guidant, executives were struggling to contain... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
3 Police Officers on Leave After Taser Death (10:45) - A second Fort Pierce police officer and an agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the death of Samuel F. Hair Jr. Hair, 48, was given a Taser shock... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments