A Louisiana family has filed a lawsuit against a Gretna, La., police officer who allegedly Tasered a 7-year-old boy during a traffic stop. According to the lawsuit, the officer Tased both the driver and his son after the driver declined to step out of the car during the traffic stop. The boy was treated for burns on his leg caused by the shock. The suit is seeking $325,000 in damages from the officer, the department and the city.

A recently released study concludes that the FDA should “abandon” its present system for approving U.S. medical devices such as the because it fails to ensure patient safety.

Currently the FDA employs a streamlined approach to approve medical device applications such as those for the beleaguered DePuy knee and hip parts – a process that takes 10 months as opposed to several years.

However, this quick process is unreliable. As the result of a faulty or inadequate screening process, many patients with medical devices have found themselves harmed by medical devices, implanted with recalled items that require additional, painful and sometimes dangerous surgeries.

One patient who required revision surgery to fix a recalled DePuy Hip part states, “You put your faith in the doctor and the companies that make these products because they’re the experts…It’s just beyond me to think that things can get approved that don’t really work” reports ABC News.

Unfortunately, faulty medical devices are placed in patients at an alarming rate. A study from the National Research Center for Women and families found that more than 437 million devices were recalled in 2010 due to fears that they might kill and permanently harm patients.

A U.S. Army reservist in Iowa has filed a lawsuit against the city of Altoona, Iowa, after he was acquitted of a 2005 hit-and-run murder in a local Lowes parking lot. The lawsuit accused police officers of “unilaterally excluding hundreds of other vehicles that more nearly matched the description of the vehicle that purportedly struck decedent” during their investigation. The plaintiff claims he was arrested without probable cause and that his arrest caused “humiliation, anxiety, loss of sleep, severe mental and emotional distress, legal bills and ‘exposure to public hatred, contempt and ridicule’.”

The city of San Diego has agreed to a $500,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed over an off-duty police shooting of a young boy in 2008. The boy was shot once in the leg during a “road rage” altercation between his mother, who had been driving drunk, and an off-duty officer. The lawsuit was filed by the boy’s father, who was stationed in Iraq at the time of the incident.

A Pennsylvania jury has awarded $500,000 to a Middleton, Penn., woman after a nurse at Lower Bucks Hospital left a sponge in her abdomen during a cesarean-section delivery. The plaintiff experienced abdominal pain after her procedure, which was initially thought to be simply post-procedure discomfort. It was not until two months after the surgery, the suit claims, that the sponge was discovered when the woman was forced back into the hospital with severe stomach pain.

Hotel heir Barron Hilton will pay $4.9 million to a former gas station attendant in California who was hit by Hilton’s car during a drunk driving accident in 2008. When Hilton was arrested, he had a blood-alcohol-content level of 0.14 and was 18 years old. The attorney for the man injured said he suffered permanent disabilities because of the incident.

Medical device manufacturer Miltex Inc. will pay $4.6 million to a California family for its involvement in a botched circumcision in 2003. The lawsuit claimed the clamp made by Miltex used in the procedure was defective and caused the accident. The procedure on the week-old baby was preformed at a Los Angeles clinic by a doctor without malpractice insurance.

A New York woman will receive $125,000 from the city of New York after she accused a New York City police officer of denying her insulin. According to the suit, the woman was arrested and jailed for 19 hours for smoking marijuana. While jailed, the officer refused to give the plaintiff her insulin, causing her blood sugar to reach dangerously high levels and nearly killing her.

The Viking Range Corporation has agreed to pay $450,000 in civil penalties for failing to report defects in one of its refrigerator lines that led to consumer injuries. The company recalled the products in June 2009, but an investigation discovered that injuries had been reported to Viking several years before the recall was issued. Federal law requires manufacturers, distributors and retailers to report information supporting potential injury risks within 24 hours.

Two Austin, Texas, residents have filed a lawsuit against the W Hotel and its operator after panels of glass fell 20 stories into the pool area, injuring the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs claim that weeks later they are “still removing glass from their bodies.” According to the lawsuit, the hotel was aware of potential problems with the glass before the incident, but had done nothing to ensure safety of its guests.