A Chicago mother has filed a lawsuit against an elementary school security guard for allegedly handcuffing a first-grader and detaining him for more than an hour. The suit accuses the guard of “acting in conscious disregard” of the boy’s safety, and says the actions were “reckless.” The boy suffered “permanent” and “personal” injuries, the suit says.

The Food and Drug Administration has announced that the ShoulderFlex Massager poses serious health risks to consumers, and has caused one death due to strangulation. The agency said necklaces, hair or parts of clothing can become caught in part of the machine that rotates, posing a severe strangulation hazard. The device, distributed by King International, is a personal massage device designed for home use.

A Utah woman has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs over the death of her husband from an overdose of medications prescribed by VA doctors. The man, who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury he sustained in Iraq, was taking a myriad of drugs. The lawsuit claims his doctors should have monitored his prescriptions more closely and that they failed in their duty to “provide reasonable, necessary, appropriate and timely medical care and treatment.”

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of candleholder with French vanilla candles sold at Dollar Tree,Dollar Bill$, Deal$ and Dollar Tree Deal$ stores.  The agency said the candleholders can unexpectedly shatter while in use, posing laceration and fire hazards. The products were sold from December 2010 through April 2011.

The Austin City Council has agreed to a $750,000 settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed over a fatal police shooting in 2009. Nathaniel Sanders, 18, was shot and killed by a police officer during a struggle in the early morning in an East Austin apartment parking lot. The incident prompted concerns over Austin police officers’ use of force against minorities, and the officer responsible for the shooting was later fired.

A federal appeals court has reinstated a wrongful death lawsuit filed against a Madera, Calif., police officer who shot a man in the chest with her pistol, believing it to be her Taser. The man was handcuffed in the back seat of the officer’s patrol car when the incident occurred. The appeals court said the officer had acknowledged the man posed no danger to anyone but himself, and that a jury might even question the use of a Taser in the situation, let alone a gun. 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of 2,200 Fiskars® SmartPower™ String Trimmers due to fire and laceration hazards. The agency said that the engine vibrations can wear on the fuel line and cause a propane fuel leak. In addition, high temperatures near the cutting guard can cause it to deform and fall off, posing laceration risks. Purchasers are asked to immediately stop using the product and contact Fiskars for a full refund.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of almost 341,000 step stools with storage areas sold at Target. This recall follows an earlier recall this month in which 206,000 stools were recalled. The agency said the stools can break apart and collapse under the weight of users. Target has received 27 reports of stools breaking while being used. The stools were produced in a variety of colors and were sold at Target stores across the country from January 2007 through October 2010.

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.