The new campaign, “Asbestos: The Hidden Killer” is aimed at educating electricians, plumbers, joiners and others who may work around older structures in the United Kingdom, warning that they could unknowingly be exposed to asbestos fibers. Government officials hope to educate people about steps they can take to protect themselves.

The British government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) expects to spend about £1.2million on the campaign, which is the equivalent $2 million U.S. dollars. The HSE also released a report to accompany the campaign which quantified the spread of asbestos-related illnesses and deaths throughout the country.

According to the HSE report, about 4,000 people in Britain die each year from asbestos-related illnesses, which equates to about 20 people every week. The U.K. government officials says the annual asbestos death rate is higher than the number of British people who die in car accidents each year.

Asbestos was widely used in a variety of manufacturing and construction applications throughout the last century, with use peaking in the 1970s. Stringent regulations were placed on the use of asbestos in the U.K. in 1983, however it is estimated that about 500,000 non-domestic buildings in the U.K. still contain asbestos.

Exposure to asbestos is known to cause a number of ailments, including mesothelioma cancer and asbestosis, as well as other diseases. Second-hand asbestos exposure is also a known danger, as employees who work around asbestos can bring fibers home on their clothes and in their hair, which family members unknowingly inhale or consume.

According to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this year, the number of malignant mesothelioma deaths from asbestos exposure in the United States continues to increase each year. As a result of the long latency period of between 20 and 40 years between exposure to asbestos and diagnosis, the number of asbestos deaths is expected to peak next year and to hopefully return to background levels by 2055.

The British government’s campaign gave out 100,000 information packets last year, and recorded a sizable spike in the sales of protective gear among tradesmen as a result. In the U.K., the number of expected deaths from asbestos exposure is expected to continue to rise, peaking by 2020.

The lawsuit, filed last month in Yellowstone County District Court, alleges that city police officers and county deputies violated their own pursuit policies while chasing a drunken teenager in April 2008. The police chase ended with the death of Lillian Stahl, a nurse who was struck and killed by the drunk driver on her way to work. Stahl’s brother, Arnie Stahl, filed the wrongful death lawsuit, naming the Billings Police Department and the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office as defendants.

The complaint alleges that officers violated policies that were established to protect the public from potentially deadly accidents. According to a report by the Billings Gazette, the pursuit policies of both county and city departments state that police should not chase subjects over minor misdemeanors, police should not chase subjects while driving unmarked cars, and that there should be no more than two patrol cars involved in any chase.

Stahl’s brother claims that the chase was started when a police officer in an unmarked car spotted a teenager driving erratically. Although the officer was able to obtain a license plate number and partial identification, a police chase ensued involving seven cars from the city and county police departments.

Following the fatal crash, the police departments allegedly attempted to cover up the chase, realizing that pursuit policies had been violated. However, recorded police radio conversation, testimony and other information allegedly contradict police accounts of the events leading to Stahl’s death.

Since the mid-1990s, police departments nationwide have struggled with policies on when police should pursue fleeing suspects, due to the potential risk to the public. According to a recent report by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), there is an extremely wide variety of police chase policies in place nationwide to avoid automobile accidents, but many of those policies include stipulations that police officers should not pursue drivers for misdemeanor offenses, or should avoid any pursuits unless it’s clear that lives are at risk if officers do not pursue.

The IACP began recommending such policies after it released a report in 1998 on police pursuit crashes, finding that most crashes during such pursuits occurred in the first two minutes of the crash, and that many accidents and fatalities were at the hands of minor offenders who did not need to be aggressively pursued.

The misdiagnosis lawsuit was filed by the family of Andrew Morrow, who died on January 31, 2008 from a blood infection caused by a gangrenous appendicitis. According to a report by the Duluth News Tribune, a St. Louis County jury determined last Monday that Morrow’s pediatrician, Dr. Kevin G. Krause was negligent for failing to diagnose the boy’s condition, which could have saved his life.

Krause was accused of misdiagnosing Morrow twice in four days. At first, the child was diagnosed with influenza after a phone conversation, and later incorrectly diagnosed with gastroenteritis. The lawsuit alleged that Krause discouraged the parents from bringing the boy to see him, did not have an ultrasound or CT scan done to determine the source of the child’s abdominal pain, and told the parents that his appendix was fine.

During the trial, the family presented evidence revealing that Krause, a pediatrics specialist at the Mesaba Clinic in Hibbing, Minnesota, was seeing up to 45 children per day and was scheduling appointments for them in 10-minute increments.

The lawsuit alleges that Krause was an hour behind on his schedule when he saw Morrow and gave the wrong diagnosis in an examination that lasted less than 10 minutes.

The case was brought on behalf of Dontae Wallace, 20, and Searra Wallace, 17, by their mother Tiffini Wallace. According to a report in the Baltimore Sun, the children were raised in a West Baltimore row house, which was sold to the family as being safe from lead paint by the nonprofit organization City Homes, Inc.

At trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court, experts testified that the row house was not “lead safe” and that exposure to the lead paint in the home caused the children to suffer lead poisoning and developmental problems. Neither child is likely to get a high school diploma or GED, experts testified, and both have below average IQs as a result of lead paint poisoning.

While there were some effort to reduce the possibility of lead paint exposure in the Baltimore row house, experts said that paint was chipping and flaking on surfaces, rats had chewed at the walls and had tracked lead dust through the house and a wall became wet in storms.

Attorneys for City Homes argued that the home passed city lead inspections before and after the Wallace’s lived there and the organization had been responsive to all of Tiffini Wallace’s concerns.

On Tuesday, a Baltimore City jury found City Homes and its president, Barry Mankowitz, guilty of negligence and negligent misrepresentation. The jury awarded $1.2 million to Dontae and $1.3 million to Searra for lost earnings and other damages.

Baltimore lead paint lawsuits are particularly common in Maryland, with roughly 70% of all elevated lead level blood tests for the entire state found in the City.

Lead paint was banned in 1978 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, due to the risk that it can cause severe and permanent brain damage and developmental problems, particularly in children. However, a number of older homes still contain the toxic paint on the walls, and if it flakes or peals off, young children could ingest the paint chips or breath dust that comes from the paint.

Lead paint poisoning can result in nervous system injury, brain damage, seizures or convulsions, growth or mental retardation, coma and even death.

The Tennessee mesothelioma lawsuit claims that Roger Neely’s mother, Ruby Neely, died this year from the asbestos-related cancer because DuPont and other companies failed to warn his father and other workers about the danger of second hand asbestos exposure.

According to a report in The Tennesean, Neely’s father, Lively Neely, worked at the DuPont Plant in Old Hickory, Tennessee for 20 years, and during that time he unknowingly exposed his wife to asbestos fibers that were carried home on his work clothes.

Asbestos was widely used in a variety of manufacturing and construction applications throughout the last century, with use peaking in 1973. Most uses of asbestos were banned in the mid-1980s.

The lawsuit alleges that DuPont and contractors with the plant knew about the dangers of asbestos since at least the 1930s, but gave no warning to plant workers in the 1970s that asbestos fibers could be carried home to family on their clothing and in their hair to be potentially inhaled and ingested. Exposure to asbestos has been linked to a number of asbestos-specific ailments, including asbestosis and mesothelioma cancer, the disease that killed Ruby Neely this year.

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer found in the lining of the chest and lung. The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos exposure, and it is often not diagnosed for 20 to 40 years after exposure. As a result of the long latency period, the cancer is very advanced when it is diagnosed and life expectancy with the disease is limited.

Lively Neely worked with asbestos insulation and products at the DuPont Plant, and died of asbestos-related illness after reaching a settlement in the 1980s with DuPont over his exposure, according to The Tennessean.

The FDA announced the expanded pediatric tracheal tube recall on Tuesday, indicating that the Centurion Medical Products kits have been found to contain Portex uncuffed pediatric-sized tracheal tubes that were recalled on September 10. The recall is a Class I recall, meaning that use of the product carries a reasonable probability of serious injury or death. The recalled kits are used to treat infants and newborns. No reports involving death or serious injury have been associated with the defective tracheal tubes or the recalled kits.

The Portex pediatric tubes were recalled due to a potential defect that could cause some of the tubes to have internal diameters that are smaller than they are supposed to be. This could result in difficulty clearing secretions from the device or the airway, potentially leading to an airway obstruction.

Eight lots of Centurion Medical Products Premie Packs, kit code LM 110, and nine lots of Full Term Meconium Packs, kit code LM 115, have been found to contain the defective tracheal tubes and have been recalled. The lot numbers for the recalled Premie Packs are 901087, 903267, 907307, 910297, 901218, 908258, 2009020990, and 2009022390. The lot numbers for the recalled Meconium Packs are 01297, 07097, 09107, 12037, 06028, 2008091501, 2008120801, 2009033001, and 2009062201. The packs were made and distributed from January through September 2009.

The initial recall applies to several variations of Portex Uncuffed Pediatric-Sized Tracheal Tubes made before September 2009, including sizes of 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5mm. manufactured by Smiths Medical.

Smiths Medical is instructing all heath care professionals and other customers to return any unused tracheal tubes affected by the recall. However, the company indicates that there is no evidence that it is necessary to remove tubes currently in use with a patient, and recommends that customers use a company-supplied Guidance Chart for suction catheter sizes if suctioning of one of the affected tracheal tubes is required.

Centurion Medical Products has notified sales representatives and customers of the problem and the devices have been removed from inventory. Any health care professional or patient that experiences an adverse reaction due to the recalled kits should contact the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program.

The program will create partnerships with federal agencies, healthcare professionals, hospitals, pharmacies and consumer organizations to identify specific, preventable medication risks and implement plans to mitigate those risks. Preventable medication risks can include medication errors, accidental exposure, intentional misuse or abuse and drug quality problems.

The details of the program were outlined in a report released on Wednesday, called “FDA’s Safe Use Initiative: Collaborating to Reduce Preventable Harm from Medications.” The agency released the report at the annual Science Writers Symposium in Silver Springs, Maryland.

The federal drug regulatory agency intends to schedule public meetings to get feedback on the report and the “Safe Use Initiative.” A public docket will also be opened to allow the public to submit comments on the report.

New FDA guidance in association with the initiative has already been released, which targets drug makers who manufacture over-the-counter liquid medications. The guidance aims to standardize dosage delivery devices, like cups, droppers, syringes and spoons, so that dosages are easily understood by consumers. The FDA hopes the new guidance will cut down on accidental overdoses with such medications, particularly acetaminophen problems, which the FDA says results in 55,000 emergency room visits each year, primarily due to medication errors that result in liver damage.

According to the Institute of Medicine and FDA, there are 1.5 million preventable medication injuries in the U.S. each year, which add an additional $4 billion to the cost of healthcare. About 60,000 children are seen in emergency rooms nationwide each year due to accidental drug ingestion.

“Only through coordinated interventions across all sectors of the health care system can we substantially reduce preventable injuries from using medications,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a press release announcing the program. “All participants in the health care community have a role to play in reducing the risks and preventing injuries from medication use.”

Following an investigation by the Rhode Island Health Department, it was determined that the hospital failed to adhere to appropriate standards of medical care, and did not follow a state error-prevention program that went into effect this summer, both of which are designed to prevent doctors from performing surgery on the wrong body part.

State regulators said that the hospital should have properly marked the finger that was to be operated on, and should have had a pause before the surgery to verify that the staff was clear on the procedure and the surgical site. The state’s health director, David R. Gifford, said that the hospital had shown a “pattern of surgical errors” which was unacceptable and needed to be corrected to protect patients.

The $150,000 fine is only the second time that the Rhode Island Health Department has fined a hospital in the state, according to the Providence Journal. The other was a $50,000 fine in 2007, which was leveled against the same hospital for problems with wrong-site surgeries.

In addition to the fine, the hospital must install video and audio recording equipment in every operating room, and every surgery performed at the hospital for a year will be done under observation by a licensed clinical professional. The hospital must also perform a day of staff training on wrong site surgery prevention, and adopt statewide surgical safety protocols.

The hospital performed three operations on wrong parts of patients’ brains in 2007, and earlier this year the hospital operated on the wrong side of the mouth of a child with a cleft palate after a surgeon marked the wrong side before surgery.

The hospital had been working with a consulting group to address the problem, and submitted a list of recommendations for wrong site surgery prevention, but hospital officials say that the state rejected those recommendations in favor of its own.

Wrong site surgery is generally considered a “never event,” or a mistake that is inexcusable and should never occur. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says wrong site surgery is caused by “poor preoperative planning, lack of institutional controls, failure of the surgeon to exercise due care, or a simple mistake in communication between the patient and the surgeon.” The academy notes that 84% of wrong site surgery lawsuits result in payments to plaintiffs, as opposed to 30% of other orthopedic surgery claims.

Public Citizen issued the recommendation in the November 2009 issue of their Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter, which was first published days before the FDA indicated that nearly 80 adverse event reports have linked Byetta side effects to altered kidney function.

Byetta (exenatide) is a type 2 diabetes drug that was approved by the FDA in April 2005 to help control blood sugar levels. Public Citizen indicates that people should avoid using the drug for at least seven years after it was approved, indicating that Byetta was not sufficiently tested before being released to the public. The drug was approved after clinical trials on a small group of patients who only used only used the drug for short-term treatments of seven months, while patients are expected to take the drug for years.

“The studies that looked at exanatide were too short and too small to answer any questions about whether or not the drug improves the overall health or quality of life for patients with Type-2 diabetes,” states Public Citizen. “Exenatide has not been shown to reduce any meaningful endpoints, including, but not limited to, the risk of death, neuropathy, vision loss, heart disease or any of the other major complications of Type-2 diabetes.”

Public Citizen also raised concerns over potential side effects of Byetta that may emerge as more individuals use the type-2 diabetes drug. They pointed out two serious health problems that have already emerged since the drug was introduced, including a link to pancreatitis and reports of altered kidney function.

In October 2007 and August 2008, the FDA issued safety alerts about reports of Byetta pancreatitis problems, including severe cases of hemorrhagic pancreatitis and necrotizing pancreatitis, which can be fatal. Symptoms of pancreatitis, which is an inflammation of the pancreas, include nausea, vomiting, severe pain in the upper abdomen and back, a rise or fall in blood pressure, and increased heart or respiratory rates.

Following the FDA warnings, Public Citizen indicates that they conducted an independent analysis of the Byetta pancreatitis reports, finding a total of 181 reports of acute pancreatitis with Byetta between April 2005 and March 2009, including 142 cases that required hospitalization.

Public Citizen also expressed concerns over reports of kidney problems with Byetta, pointing out a warning issued in May 2008 by the European Medicines Agency, which is Europe’s drug regulatory agency, about 86 users of Byetta suffering kidney failure or indicators of kidney malfunction.

On Monday, the FDA issued a new warning indicating that they have received at least 78 post-marketing reports that link Byetta side effects to kidney problems, including 62 cases where the users experienced kidney failure. The U.S. regulatory agency determined that new information needs to be added to the drug’s label and that a patient Medication Guide needs to be developed to ensure patients and the medical community are aware of the risk and watch for signs of kidney problems with Byetta.

Following the FDA announcement, Amylin and Eli Lilly released a statement this week saying they agree with the labeling changes, but called the reported kidney problems rare events where there were usually other factors involved. The statement said that diabetes is a leading cause of kidney failure and that there is no evidence in Byetta’s preclinical and clinical studies that provide any evidence of Byetta having a toxic effect on the kidney.

Public Citizen generally recommends that people wait seven years before taking any new drug the FDA approves, noting that half of all new drug safety withdrawals occur within two year of FDA approval, and half of all “black box” warnings, the strongest label warning under federal law, are applied to drugs within the first seven years.

The ruling, issued on Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis, involves a case brought by Donna Scroggin against Wyeth, which was acquired recently by Pfizer. The Prempro breast cancer lawsuit alleged that the drug maker ignored and downplayed the risk of side effects associated with menopause drugs.

In March 2008, a federal jury awarded Scroggin $2.7 million as compensation for her actual damages, including medical expenses and pain and suffering. After hearing evidence involving Wyeth’s actions during the punitive damages phase of the trial, the jury awarded an additional $27 million as punishment for the reckless disregard for the risk of injury to consumers.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the compensatory damages award and agreed that there was sufficient evidence presented at trial to warrant submitting the question of punitive damages to the jury. However, as a result of procedural problems with some of the evidence presented during the punitive damages phase, the appeals court ordered that the $27 million portion of the award must be tossed, and ordered a new trial on whether the drug maker should be required to pay punitive damages and the amount of any such award.

The decision comes just one week after a different jury awarded punitive damages in another breast cancer lawsuit over Prempro. A Philadelphia jury awarded Connie Barton, 64, $3.7 million in compensation for her breast cancer caused by Prempro, and ordered Wyeth to pay an undisclosed amount in punitive damages. Wyeth was successfully able to convince the court to keep the punitive damages amount sealed until another ongoing Prempro trial in the same courthouse is finished, to avoid influencing the jury.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) involves the use of hormones and progestins to artificially boost hormone levels in women undergoing menopause due to surgery or in postmenopausal women, to provide relief from symptoms such as hot flashes, irregular menstruation or weight gain.

Scroggin and Barton both alleged that Wyeth failed to adequately warn about the risk of invasive breast cancer from hormone replacement therapies, and intentionally hid the cancer risk from women. There are about 9,000 lawsuits pending against Pfizer’s Wyeth unit by other women making similar claims.