.The first diet drug wrongful death trial involving primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) ended Jan. 27 with a reported $10 million settlement by American Home Products Corp. (AHP) (Thomas F. Linnen, et al. v. A.H. Robins Co. Inc., et al., No. 97-2307, Mass. Super., Middlesex Co.).
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pwwi/is_20050229/ai_mark13005453/?tag=content;col1
Besides being the first wrongful death PPH case to go to trial, the case of Mary J. Linnen is noteworthy because she used fen-phen for only 24 days, because jurors were allowed to asked written questions of witnesses, because it was disclosed that AHP indemnified the prescribing doctor and because AHP's general counsel personally intervened six days into the plaintiff's case and negotiated a settlement.
Linen's parents, Thomas F. and Mary J., sued AHP subsidiaries A.H. Robins and Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories Inc., phentermine manufacturer Fisons Corp., prescribing physician Dr. Abby Landzberg, Walgreens pharmacy and pharmacist Robert Blake. They say that Linnen, 30, wanted to lose 30 pounds for her upcoming wedding and Landzberg prescribed fen-phen in April 1996. Linnen stood 5-foot-5-inches tall and weighed 185 pounds and was reported to be in excellent health when she began taking the drugs.
Eleven days after starting the regimen, Linnen began experiencing heart palpitations and shortness of breath and the drugs were discontinued on Landzberg's orders.
Linnen was later diagnosed with PPH and died in February 1997 of the disease.
Fisons was dismissed last month after Judge Raymond Brassard of the Massachusetts Superior Court for Middlesex County disqualified plaintiff phentermine experts Drs. Paul Wellman and Alan Woolf. Walgreen settled before trial.
The AHP subsidiaries and Landzberg remained the only defendants when testimony began Jan. 18.
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