Another Injury Caused by the Combination of Medical Oxygen and Smoking: Time for the Smokeless Cigarette?

Ray Mattison — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:20:53 GMT

An excellent article by Tribune Reporter Leslie Parrilla highlights the safety risks of using medical oxygen in the home. The victim, a 55 year old resident of San Luis Obsipo County, was badly burned when she was changing an oxygen tank used to treat her asthma while smoking.

According to County/Cal Fire Investigator Andy Andersen. “This is actually common,” Andersen said about people smoking while handling personal oxygen supplies. “This is what can happen.

Just yesterday a 63 year old Tennessee woman was burned to death by a fire caused by the combination of an ignition source and medical oxygen.

According to the FDA "Smoking anywhere near oxygen, even in the same room, can be extremely dangerous," says Duane Sylvia, a consumer safety officer in CDER (The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research). This has caused the FDA to question the recreational use of oxygen, particular in oxygen bars: "It doesn't matter what they label it," says Melvin Szymanski, a consumer safety officer in the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). "At the other end of the hose is oxygen, and the individual that provides you with the nasal cannula and turns on the canister for your 20-minute supply is actually dispensing the prescription drug oxygen to you.

The risk of the industrial use of oxygen is well known - the Apollo 13 crew barely escaped after their craft was damaged by a faulty oxygen tank. However, the risk at home is obviously not conveyed nor appreciated given the number of accidents of this type.

The only practical answer, given the addictive nature of tobacco and the difficulties in quitting, is the use of the smokeless cigarette - a product which is feasible now but not cost effective.

Tobacco control advocates have been promoting this solution for some time - maybe that time has come.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ray Mattison

Nail Gun Injuries on the Rise

Nigel Whitehead — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:08:56 GMT

According to the Sacramento Bee, between 2003 and 2006 there was an estimated 42,000 nail gun injuries nationwide. The problem stems from the use of high-pressure nail guns typically used on construction sites. The majority of injuries come from so called "contact" guns. This type of gun shoots a nail - at nearly 500 feet per second -as soon as the tip of the gun makes contact with a solid surface. Obviously, if the gun accidently makes contact with a part of the operator's body, the gun will fire with devastating results.

There is a safer alternative. The "sequential" gun requires that the trigger be pulled each time a nail is to be fired.

Safer designs have been offered to manufactures, but have been rejected based on slow sales. The dangerous "contact" guns have been the subject of many product liability lawsuits, but they are still being manufactured and sold. Why? Because up until now the cost of the lawsuits is less than the cost of lower sales of the safer guns.

This type of human life "accounting" is is exactly why punitive damages are so critical in many cases. When a jury decides to punish a manufacturer by imposing significant punitive damages the accounting will change.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Nigel Whitehead

San Luis Obispo Personal Injury Lawyer - Defective & Dangerous Products

Another Injury Caused by the Combination of Medical Oxygen and Smoking: Time for the Smokeless Cigarette?

Nail Gun Injuries on the Rise