Legal suits against Doctors

[Homerbcool]

I know GSK has been sued but have any doctors been sued for malpractice over the perscribing of thes poisons?

and if so..how did they turn out..

[altostrata]

A great place to start. I'm thinking about this myself.

[Buxy`s Back]

i am in the process of suing my doctor,well 2 of them as i feel it was gross negligence on thier parts,its been ongoing now for about 8 mths,lost my complaints by so called "independant doctors" so then took it further with a solicitor

[scotty]

I don't think we've seen alot of lawsuits against docs because prior to 2004 they could claim deception by Pharma. I think we're going to see this change very quickly!!

[altostrata]

fyi:

http://www.icspp.org/index.php?optio...d=152&Itemid=0

"...Farber, Donald J., J.D. is a personal injury attorney who has handled antidepressant cases since 1999. He is co-counsel and on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee of the nation wide lawsuit "In re Paxil Products Liability Litigation" a consolidated lawsuit being centrally litigated in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, in which Paxil's addictive qualities were alleged by over 3000 plaintiffs. Don has represented numerous families of SSRI suicide victims, has been interviewed on various local and national media outlets, and has been a public speaker at the two FDA forum's in which antidepressant pediatric suicide was addressed. His law firm is located in Marin County, California, 12 miles north of San Francisco...."

[scotty]

Originally Posted by altostrata

fyi:

http://www.icspp.org/index.php?optio...d=152&Itemid=0

"...Farber, Donald J., J.D. is a personal injury attorney who has handled antidepressant cases since 1999. He is co-counsel and on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee of the nation wide lawsuit "In re Paxil Products Liability Litigation" a consolidated lawsuit being centrally litigated in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, in which Paxil's addictive qualities were alleged by over 3000 plaintiffs. Don has represented numerous families of SSRI suicide victims, has been interviewed on various local and national media outlets, and has been a public speaker at the two FDA forum's in which antidepressant pediatric suicide was addressed. His law firm is located in Marin County, California, 12 miles north of San Francisco...."

All of these individual lawsuits were combined onto one class action suit.

[altostrata]

What happened to it?

[scotty]

The majority settled out of court. The attorneys for most didn't want to take their case to court. This is the biggest problem. While many would have loved to go to court, finding an attorney willing to take on the expense of a court battle is almost impossible.

[Katesmom]

When this does start to happen, everything will change. Docs will start looking at drug reps in a completely different way. It is just a matter of time. And when it happens, malpractice insurance will be as expensive for GPs as it is for OBs. When this happens, they will start having riders on malpractice insurance that makes them promise not to treat psychiatric disorders. (This is my guess and hope.)

[scotty]

Kim, I think you're absolutely right. We are going to start seeing doctors sued for NOT providing the information that is now available.

[Katesmom]

Originally Posted by scotty

Kim, I think you're absolutely right. We are going to start seeing doctors sued for NOT providing the information that is now available.

Yep, exactly. Now that memos are going out from the FDA or under order from the FDA, some of the risks are now in the doctors hands to provide to patients, and that is where the buck will stop. At first, BigPharma may think they have passed the buck to docs, but they will lose the trust of doctors quickly and a new paradigm will have to be created.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by Katesmom

When this happens, they will start having riders on malpractice insurance that makes them promise not to treat psychiatric disorders. (This is my guess and hope.)

In many cases I'm not so sure a person isn't at least as well off with a GP as they are with a psychiatrist. With a GP there is at least a remote chance they will order diagnostic testing since all of their income doesn't come from treating "mental illness"

Drug reps will try to minimize the dangers the doc will listen and something huge and horrible will happen. I think the Doc will roll over on the drug company and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a case where the insurance industry is forced to take on pharma because the potential size of a malpractice payout is so large.

[Katesmom]

Originally Posted by Charlie

In many cases I'm not so sure a person isn't at least as well off with a GP as they are with a psychiatrist. With a GP there is at least a remote chance they will order diagnostic testing since all of their income doesn't come from treating "mental illness"

The problem is, from what I've seen here and in my own life, I do not believe this.

There could also come a time that drug reps would become personally liable for any misinformation that they give to doctors.

[scotty]

I don't feel that either group, GP or psychiatrist, has any clue what they are prescribing.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by scotty

I don't feel that either group, GP or psychiatrist, has any clue what they are prescribing.

I'd agree with that. We have to remember that people who go to a GP with depressive symptoms and find out their thyroid is out of whack and receive treatment for the thyroid rather than an AD aren't likely to show up here.

My reality is that I have very little that's good to say about either group as a whole.

[seahorse18]

By the time I realized I should have sued a number of my doctors, it is too late now. Quite a few were negligent in that they knew nothing whatsoever about potential dangers of these drugs - and these were the shrinks, no less! Some of my doctors were downright abusive and should have been out on their can long ago. A few were what I can only describe as absolute law-breaking, dangerous criminals who should now be sitting in jail.

Very few people want to believe that those who take these drugs are credible plaintiffs, especially if they have been hospitalized. However, the people who should be considered "insane" are those who are sitting in the doctor's chair.

[ladyofthelake]

Great Topic Homer

I hope Anna Nichole Smith will sue the doctor that prescribed the lethal combo (if it is possible). I think that would help to wake others up to the issue.

Also, my little reminder on this topic is for some who want to sue or see a doctor consequence, if having a difficult time due to the AMA doctor protection and other heavy armor docs have - know that patients applying for a sanction against a medical licence is another consequence that can occur to an MD for their bad actions (i.e. there is a lot of off label prescribing happening with SSRIs that is not hard to prove, aside from the Non attention given to potential adverse reactions, the withdrawal syndrome, etc., etc. ) and accumulated sanctions do threaten a doctors ability to continue to practice medicine. Even one sanction application should serve to wake a doctor up to using more caution on an issue. I do remember reading a post some months ago here where a doctor actually did get a legal sentence for off label prescribing of an antidepressant.

Lisa

[widow]

As of Nov. 2005 didn't doctors have at least 3 warnings from Big Pharma to start telling their patients about side effects of these drugs ? That is what another doc told me after this happened to my husband. When I asked him to read the chicken scratch medical records of my husbands last dr. visit he did and then said he didn't want to be pitted against this doc in court. One question our doc did ask Harry was about suicide. His answer was NO. Panic /anxiety attacks don't usually lead to suicide do they . I met one of the nurses from the old dr.s office she told me how upset he was Yea no freaking wonder.
Sue

[scotty]

Yes, by that time all of the warnings that we now have were made public. It's been very easy, until now, to "blame the disease", or the patient. Today that is NOT the case. The evidence is there and doctors are now accountable for not warning their patients of the risks.

[widow]

I had 1 lawyer from my town tell me that although he believes me, in court it is going to be a he said she said thing meaning the doc is going to lie and say he did warn us. Now when I say he didn't warn us I mean he didn't say 1 thing besides it might take a month to work. he didn't say anything when he prescribed it to my 17 yr. old daughter either. She liked that happy ball commercial. She was in 12th grade and having anxiety too. It wasn't just 1 slip up from him it was twice. Plus, he knew of another lady who went nuts on paxil. She is my brothers girlfriends twin. Small world isn't it

[widow]

I knew this doc. since my daughter was 6 months old. Harry for 14 yrs. and he doesn't even send a condolence card ? Guilt Guilt Guilt

[scotty]

And this is why we now have in N.J. two bills(bipartisan) that docs have to provide this information IN WRITING, WITH the patients signature that they received this information. Not that this helps you, but it will prevent any future dilemmas. It's hard going to court, but it's worth trying.

[widow]

Well I apparently was niave as hell about these pills.And now too because as I see it I don't know how it can be denied. He was supposed to warn us.
If I can't get him into court I will get him personally to admit this to me . He knows my husband wasn't suicidal.
This other doc I mentioned earlier does that now, goes over the pro's and con's and has people sign that they were informed.

[scotty]

Doctors better start doing this voluntarily. Pharma is now off the hook with the warnings.

[rdjanis]

It's going to take a few big cases against docs being suit before any change takes place. I have no doubt that the change is ahead, and not so far away.