The Orlando Sentinel has provided an early timeline of the 70 car chain reaction crash this morning on I-4 in Lakeland. While the investigation is in its infancy, dense fog and smoke from a wildfire or controlled burn were substantial contributing causes to the car crashes. Five people are now reported dead with many injured as a result of the early morning car crash. Those injured were taken to local hospitals such as Lakeland Regional Hospital.
Polk County Deputy Sheriff Jack “Carlton” Turner was the first on the scene of the car crash and wasn’t able to get out of his patrol car before being hit multiple times. Turner, obviously distraught, described to his colleagues the crash scene: “”I could still hear metal grinding as cars went into each other. I did all that I could but I watched a man burn to death today.”
Tragedies such as this car crash in Lakeland are never easy to understand or come to grips with especially if you have lost a loved one yourself in the crash. They are even more difficult when preventive measures may have spared people this pain and suffering. It appears at this point that I-4 should have been shut down well before this crash.

MSNBC is reporting that at least 3 people have died and 38 were injured in a 50 car pile up near Lakeland, Florida today. The crash on Interstate 4 was caused by a controlled burn by Florida state workers that got out of control and combined with early morning fog. The interstate has been closed for most of the day. The highway was littered with cars and tractor trailers on fire. The State of Florida is protected to some degree by sovereign immunity caps on damages. Therefore, it is likely that many of the injured victims or families of those killed will not receive fair compensation from the State of Florida eventhough it appears that the state workers’ carelessness with the controled burn caused the pile up. Maybe this terrible crash will make the public realize the injustice of sovereign immunity caps on damages in lawsuits against the state of Florida.

It’s difficult to go one day without seeing an ad featuring Dr. Jarvik as Pfizer’s pitchman for the cholesterol drug Lipitor. The strange this is that Dr. Jarvik, the inventor of the artificial heart, is not licensed to practice medicine. It’s curious enough that Congress has sent a letter to Lipitor’s manufacturer, Pfizer, asking about Jarvik’s qualifications to be recommending the cholesterol drug. In his press release, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) wrote, “In the ads, Dr. Jarvik appears to be giving medical advice, but apparently, he has never obtained a license to practice or prescribe medicine.” The Jarvik inquiry is part of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce inquiry into drug companies’ practices of using celebrity endorsements of pharmaceutical products. Dr. Jarvik drew the attention of the Congressional committee because he is so often seen on television and he appears to be giving medical advice. Last year, NBC’s Robert Bazell reported that Jarvik graduated from a medical school in Italy because his academic credentials didn’t qualify him for a US medical school. Furthermore, Jarvik never completed an internship or practiced medicine.

Jan Marini’s Age Intervention Eyelash Conditioner has been taken off the market after the company ran afoul of FDA regulations regarding its ingredients. At issue here is the fact that the Marini eyelash product contains ingredients similar to those found in prescription drugs for an eye disease. The FDA views the eyelash product as a misbranded drug and therefore a potential threat to consumer safety. In November, the FDA seized thousands of tubes of the popular eyelash product in order to inspect the contents of the product.

In spite of sales that top $10 billion a year, a recent study has found that Haldol and Risperdal have no effect in curbing aggressive behavior of intellectually challenged individuals. In fact, placebos actually fared better than the two highly marketed drugs. Treating aggressive behavior with Haldol and Risperdal is considered off-label usage. Doctors are allowed to determine how and when to treat patients, including using medications for off-label use. However, the problem arises when the pharmaceutical companies begin to promote off-label usage in their marketing campaigns. Risperdal and Haldol have been approved for treatment of schizophrenia but have been used off-label to treat aggressive behavior, depression, and attention deficit disorder.

The FDA has issued a warning to consumers not to buy or use Super Shangai, Strong Testis, Shangai Ultra, Shangai Ultra X, Lady Shangai, and Shangai Regular (also known as Shangai Chaojimengnan) products. These products are marketed as dietary supplements to treat erectile dysfunction. The problem with the products, according to the FDA news release, concerns the fact that the products contain undeclared active ingredients of FDA-approved prescription drugs for ED. Additionally, the source of the active ingredients is unknown so the safety, effectiveness, or purity of the ingredients can not be known. This is another instance of the FDA having to step in concerning a dietary supplement because it is improperly marketed, made with unknown or unapproved ingredients, or the product label is inaccurate. All of these issues can pose huge safety issues for the consumer.

Former baseball star and World Series hero Jim Leyritz has been charged with DUI manslaughter after he killed another driver in an auto crash in Ft. Lauderdale. Leyritz refused a blood test but because of the crash fatality he was forced to submit to one anyway. According to eyewitnesses, Leyritz ran a red light and crashed into the other driver’s car causing the auto crash fatality.

A new anlaysis of data claiming that Cymbalta relieves physical pain as well as the symptoms of depression, are overstated, according to Glen Spielmans, an assistant professor of psychology at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. Professor Spielmans claims that Eli Lilly’s “Depression Hurts” campaign is a marketing effort that doesn’t live up to its own hype. Spielmans performed a meta-analysis of five published studies and found that Cymbalta has a minimal effect on physical or emotional pain. This is important since Spielmans does not receive drug industry funding and is arguably more objective in drawing conclusions. Once again, pharmaceutical companies can afford to spend lots of money on slick marketing campaigns that often have a tenuous relationship to the truth or scientific data.

Medtronic has agreed to settle 2,682 lawsuits fro $114 million. The settlement agreement concerns Medtronic’s Marquis line of defibrillators. Medtronic was sued because of problems with the batteries in the Marquis defibrillators. The batteries had shorts that could cause faulty elecrical signals designed to keep the heart in a normal rhythm. This settlement has nothing to do with Medtronic’s Sprint Fidelis leads which can fracture causing electrical impulse malfunctions. The Sprint Fidelis leads were recalled in October 2007. They include model numbers 6930, 6931, 6948, and 6949. Leads comprise cardiac electrodes (thin wires) that connect heart devices directly to the heart. Sprint Fidelis leads were used in conjunction with ICDs and CRT-Ds – not pacemakers.
Defibrillator Information

Merck and Schering-Plough Pharmaceutical companies have not disclosed long term medical studies concerning the risk of liver injury from the cholesteral drug Zetia according to a New York Times article published yesterday. Could this be yet another incidence of a drug company concealing information about the danger of a drug to increase sales? We may not know until March 2008 when these studies will be released.
Zetia is used with statin drugs such as Zocor and Lipitor. It is also included in Vytorin in the same pill with Zocor. Zetia is often used along with statin drugs because it is promoted to reduce cholesteral in a different way than statins. There is no medical study that establishes that Zetia actually results in lower heart attack or stroke rates than use of statins alone.
Most of the studies on Zetia that have been published are only 12 weeks long. There apparently are 5 long term studies that were not published. The Zetia label in the U.S. contains only minimal warnings about the drug’s risk of liver damage. The warnings on the product required in Australia and Canada cautions about risks of hepatitis, pancreatitis, and depression.
In the clinical studies submitted to the FDA for the 2002 approval of the drug 11 times as many people who took Zetia along with a statin had serious health problems, mostly liver related, than those that took a statin alone.
I hope this is not another example of the marketing of a pharmaceutical product where company profit is given a priority over public safety.