sylvia kronstadt

Editor's Choice

• HEARTLESS: Lax Oversight of Medical Devices Makes Stock Market Sick

  By sylvia kronstadt - August 21, 2012 | Tickers: BSX, MDT, STJ |

  A report highly anticipated by Wall Street analysts regarding the safety of a new-generation defibrillator component may affect the price of St. Jude stock, according to an Aug. 21 New York Times article. The study raises serious concerns about Optim, a coating for heart-device leads. The material, which was announced with much fanfare by St. Jude, has been used on leads that have already been implanted in 276,000 patients worldwide.

  Recalls of and lawsuits against Class III medical devices drive the stock market crazy. They also cause incalculable harm to patients -- who are injured, permanently disabled or killed by these products. And since device makers are free from liability, it costs Medicare and Medicaid billions of dollars a year to pay for the aftermath of device failures.

• Monster.com Founder Has a Monstrous New Scheme

  By sylvia kronstadt - August 9, 2012 | Tickers: FLWS, MWW, NWSA |

  Tributes.com has devised an ingenious strategy in the battle to dominate the obituary market. It is now using the Social Security Death Index as an "aggregator," to create online obituary pages for everyone who dies, without informing or getting permission from their families, and then trying to turn each one into a lucrative "gathering place" for grievers. It aspires to provide "one centralized national web destination" for all death notices.