Science Takes Role in Product Liability

AP ^ | 2/10/5 | DAVID B. CARUSO

[SmithL]

PHILADELPHIA -- When word spread that people injured by the fen-phen diet drug cocktail could share in a multibillion dollar legal settlement, law firms began sponsoring health screenings so large that a judge quipped that one doctor's work "would have been the envy of Henry Ford."

Tens of thousands of people took echocardiograms _ sometimes on machines set up in hotel rooms _ to see if they had heart valve damage caused by the drugs. Doctors earned hefty fees evaluating tests for lawyers, with some handling as many as 10,000 diagnoses apiece.

Years later, people are still arguing whether the scramble to identify victims was hopelessly corrupted by fraud.

Wyeth filed court paperwork last month seeking to have two law firms barred from representing people involved in the settlement based on what it alleged were attempts to "scam the system."

Last year, a team of cardiologists that reviewed nearly 1,000 claims slated to be paid under the settlement concluded that 71 percent involved medical tests that had been manipulated to misrepresent how much damage had been done to the patient's heart.

"Our data suggest that medical professionals may have subordinated their clinical judgment to create the appearance of payable claims," wrote Dr. Joseph Kisslo, a Duke University cardiologist who led the study. "In at least one case, the result was apparently unnecessary heart valve replacement surgery."

The team was hired by the trust overseeing the settlement.

Law firms whose claims have been challenged have vigorously disputed the validity of their study.

[SmithL]

Yeah, what Shakespeare said.

[Enterprise]

People on fen-phen lookin' for some bling-bling.