Firm News

Mass quantities of data relating to side effects caused by drugs and other medication errors were publicly released by the FDA with the hope that the information will lead to enhanced research in the area of medication, according to a recent article published by The Hill (“Open FDA Project Releases Millions of Reports,” June 2, 2014). The agency has reportedly released over 3 million reports, which were previously only available through tedious Freedom of Information…

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) apparently have backtracked on its earlier decision to stop publicly reporting incidents of life-threatening mistakes made by hospitals in their course of treating patients, according to a story that appeared in USA Today (“Feds reverse course, will release hospital mistake data,” Sept. 7, 2014). Federal regulators will resume releasing such data, including mishaps such as leaving foreign objects in patients’ bodies following surgical procedures and misreading of…

Clifford Law Offices welcomes the Hon. Henry R. Simmons (Ret.), former judge of the Cook County Circuit Court. He served for nearly two decades on the bench, including the Law Division. Prior to that time, he was an Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney for 13 years. Just prior to his joining the firm, he worked as a Certified Mediator with ADR Systems of America, one of the most highly respected mediation firms in the country….

Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, one of the nation’s most renowned personal injury and wrongful death law firms, has named the Honorable Henry R. Simmons (Ret.) as the new Managing Partner of the firm. 312.899.9090.

A recent assessment performed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that 96 percent of all children aged 2-5 years are exposed to food dyes, including Red 40, Yellow 5 and Blue 1, according to Food Safety News. Although there has been no formal, causal link established between the intake of synthetic food dyes and adverse health effects, researchers have suspected for more than 40 years that the over-consumption of synthetic food dyes is…

As part of an effort to force healthcare providers into providing a higher quality of care to their patients, the Affordable Care Act allows the federal government to penalize hospitals for having to readmit too many patients within thirty days of their initial release, according to an article in the August 18, 2014 edition of Crain’s Chicago Business. In the article, entitled “Medicare to Ding 120 Illinois Hospitals Over Readmission,” author Andrew Wang revealed that in 2015…

Chicago and two California counties have filed two separate lawsuits against five drug makers for their “aggressive marketing” techniques that they alleged have fueled an epidemic of addiction and cost taxpayers millions of dollars in insurance claims and other health care costs, according to a story in The New York Times (“Chicago and 2 California Counties Sue Over Marketing of Painkillers,” Aug. 24, 2014). “The lawsuits assert that drug makers urged doctors to prescribe the…

Every year the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issues a “Most Wanted List” highlighting safety issues that it identifies from accident investigations. The purpose is to increase awareness about the issues and recommend safety solutions. For 2014, the NTSB has identified unique characteristics of helicopter operations, eliminating distractions and substance-impaired driving, pipeline safety, rail mass transit operational safety and other important issues that it sees that need improvement. For example, the NTSB wrote, “Over the…

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday that GM’s vehicle identification number system which allows owners to look up whether their vehicle has been effected by the millions of recalls issued this year is not listing all cars that are in need of repairs, according to The Detroit News (“Government says GM site faulty, doesn’t correctly list recalled vehicles”; 8/1/2014). Owners are able to enter their personal vehicle identification numbers with the site then…