injuries

A 49-year-old Scottish man with an injured arm grew angry at the crew on his US Airways flight to London last night, so he demanded they turn the plane around and take him back to Philadelphia. Instead, the pilot, who has had it up to here with you kids, landed the plane at Logan International Airport in Boston and had him removed.  More »

In 2006, DeVilbiss recalled nearly 700,000 pressure washers and air compressors to replace the pneumatic tires, which were sometimes bursting on models that used plastic rims. Apparently not enough consumers responded then, because the complaints keep rolling in, so they've announced a do-over.  More »

As summer winds down, Michael from Maryland shared with us a delightful story about an ice cream chain going above and beyond. It shows the lengths to which people will go in order to get something for free, and the thoughfulness of a company after the pursuit of free stuff went wrong.  More »

If you own a Honda and don't like getting shot in the face with jagged metal fragments, you may want to keep an eye out for a recall notice. The automaker announced yesterday that it would recall 440,000 Civics, Accords, and Acura TL sedans sold between 2001 and 2003.  More »

Because we took a lot of seasonal jobs/were easily bored, we had quite a few jobs as a teenager. But although our workplaces exposed us to hazards like deli slicers and Christmas Eve mall shoppers, we're relieved to learn we never had one of the National Consumer League's Five Worst Teen Jobs.  More »

AIG needs its money for its own problems, people, and doesn't want to have to share with insurance claimants! That's why they've fought every request from John Woodson, a man who lost a leg, an eye, and 70% of the vision in the remaining eye while working as a contractor in Iraq. He told ABC News, "You constantly are worried about who is going to pay these bills, who is going to take care of me? Because you can't rely on AIG to come through for you. I don't understand how a company of their size and their magnitude, with government bailouts and money and support, I don't understand their not taking care of the individuals that were injured."  More »

It looks like a certain Des Moines magician/hand model will be able to afford a fancy new gold fingertip soon, or at least a gold-plated one, because he's settled his lawsuit against Kmart and Martha Stewart Omnimedia for an undisclosed amount.  More »

Holy $#!@, this lounge chair will eat your fingers! Fox5 New York has a video report on dangerously unsafe lounge chairs sold at Kmart under the Martha Stewart brand. Naturally (we're not making this up), the chairs are designed to complement the Martha Stewart Spontaneously Shattering Glass Patio Tables also sold at Kmart.  More »

Dog owners who value their fingers might want to give up their retractable leashes in favor of the more traditional, less amputation-prone fixed-length leash. [Consumer Reports] (Photo: me and the sysop)  More »

In 2006, Jennifer—the co-founder of popular parenting/consumer advocacy site Z Recommends—took her two-and-a-half-year-old to the bathroom at the local Toys R Us store. What she didn't know was that this particular store featured the awesome striking power of the Action Toilet Stall with Collapsible Mom Trap! As she closed the door, the entire partition fell over on top of her and her daughter. Jennifer managed to protect her daughter from harm, but in the two years since the event, she's developed chronic pain from the accident—and the response from Toys R Us has been "don't call us, we'll call you."  More »

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of Diana Levine in Wyeth v. Levine. Levine, a musician, had her arm amputated when an anti-nausea drug was improperly administered in her artery, and sued the manufacturer for failing to warn of the risks on the drug's label. Wyeth claimed that her case was pre-empted by federal law.  More »

When Adam got stuck on one of Blizzard Beach's tube rides, he injured his leg and had trouble getting out of the ride. He had to wait over 15 minutes for a wheelchair, and then the medical staff at the water park treated him more or less the way a school nurse would treat someone—with a brochure, some water, and some ibuprofen.  More »

Here's a heartbreaking story: A dog owner is asking the public to demand the recall of a chew toy after it caused an injury to their dog that required amputation of its tongue.  More »

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Back in September we wrote about the hazards of wearing the popular "Croc" clogs on escalators, a combination that may have produced more than a few injuries all around the world. We heard about at least one case where the child's toes were ripped off when the shoe was sucked down into the escalator.  More »

HSN has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $875,000, according to a CPSC press release, settling allegations that HSN "failed to report in a timely manner, as required by federal law, serious injuries and hazards with the Welbilt Electronic Pressure Cookers." The CPSC alleged that from 2001 to 2004, HSN received "at least 25 reports" from consumers that the cooking appliance was potentially unsafe. (In 2005 the cookers were recalled.)   More »

Toy injuries were responsible for 22 deaths and 220,500 emergency room visits in 2006, according to a report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The report looked at injuries affecting children under 15 and found that most deaths were caused by asphyxiation or collisions associated with riding toys, scooters, toy pegs, and rubber balls.  More »

If you own this Huffy bike, you should be aware that at any moment "the bicycle crank can unexpectedly come off, causing the rider to lose control, fall and suffer serious injuries."  More »