In 2005, professional guitarist and pianist Diana Levine won a lawsuit against the drug company Wyeth, resulting in $6.7 million of compensatory and punitive damages. Levine claimed that the drug company had given insufficient warning of the possible side effects of their products. The U.S. Supreme Court is ruling this week on an appeal made by Wyeth.
Levine’s right arm was amputated in 2000 following a botched injection of the Wyeth-manufactured drug Phenergan. Phenergan is an anti-nausea drug that has been in use for 50 years.
In 2000 Levine went to a Vermont clinic with a painful migraine headache. She was given an “IV push” (instead of an “IV drip”) of Phenergan to counteract her nausea. Phenergan causes gangrene if it comes in contact with arterial blood, which can happen when given as an “IV push.” The drugs FDA-approved labeling warned against, but did not prohibit, IV push administration. For more background, see ScotusBlog.
The main legal dispute in the case is not whether the drug was adequately labeled, but whether the liability for labeled products lies with the pharmaceutical company who created the label or with the FDA who approved the label.
In recent years the Bush administration has supported legislation to place liability on the FDA and grant pharmaceutical companies immunity in cases such as Levine’s. The lower-court ruling in favor of Levine struck a hard blow against this doctrine, and the Supreme Court ruling this week will be an important precedent for future injured patient cases.
David J. Hahn
David J. Hahn is a Broadway conductor and keyboard player. He co-founded MusicianWages.com with Cameron Mizell in 2008. Visit his new project, Songwriter.fm and sign up for his songwriting newsletter.
We were all taught to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions, and if corporations are legally and financially viewed as people, then I don’t see why they shouldn’t be held responsible to provide sufficient data and warnings about their products. Of course, I may be biased, because my wife used to work for big pharma and I know how unethical these companies truly are. Unfortunately the patient suffers, and doctors’, who are small business owners just like musicians, have to pay higher malpractice insurance rates and struggle for reimbursement from insurance companies.