Lawsuits and Big Pharma

Lawsuits and Big Pharma

03.04.05 - by: Matt Mernagh

The ambulance chaser lawyer is demonized as a bottom feeding scum fuck. A fiend who will sink their called to the bar fangs into the fresh corpse of a victim who has already been traumatized by The Man.

As someone who socializes with those on the lower echelons of the social ladder, the ambulance chaser can be seen mingling about with porn directors, high priced call girls and organ traders.

Lately though, having an ambulance chaser in the Rolodex is as important as Frankie the Finger Taker's card.

When a pusher cuts their product poorly, the repercussion is a visit from The Finger Taker. The same should hold true to Big Pharma executives who knowingly poisoned millions with their wonder pills.

Unfortunately, an opportunity at street justice in the poisoned pill fiasco isn't going to happen. Big Pharma probably employ their own goons to protect their executives' fingers, which means the ambulance chaser has to be called upon.

The ambulance chaser has entered the fray of holding corporations accountable with an onslaught of feel goodie tort suits, ever since big pay-outs with asbestos, breast implants and cigarettes started rolling in.
It's nothing altruistic, purely professional.

This gang of hitman, with their sizeable war chest from previous class action product liability suits turned their scopes on the murky profitable world of Big Pharma. A quick Google turns up 1.8 million pages for the term Vioxx lawyer, Celebrex lawyer 1.6 million pages, Prozac lawyer 303,000, Zoloft lawyer 291,000, Zyprexa lawyer 167,000, Paxil lawyer 295,000, and Adderall XR lawyer 36,600.

Noticing the trend that The People were turning to ambulance chasers for their sense of justice, Dubya and his cronies dispatched tort reform legislation aimed at eliminating what he referred to as "the class action meat-grinder" or "junk lawsuits." Kicking up the slander to pay-per-view levels, Dubya considered, insiders say, referring to this sect of lawyers as "legal terrorists."

Stalled a few times, senators and congressmen managed to rubber stamp the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, which The Emperor signed as his first piece of legislation (Feb. 18) for the new year. At the bill signing, Dubya brought forward some commoners who supposedly were part of suits regarding their television and roof shingles respectively. Apparently, people involved in Big Pharma class actions, such as vaccines causing autism in children, Vioxx/Celebrex stroke victims, and Zyprexa Type 2 diabetes cases were booked up that day.

Considered a golden gimmie to the corporations who installed the puppet dictator, Democrats not on the same big business payroll, declared the legislation a sham. House minority leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "When Americans are injured or even killed by Vioxx or Celebrex or discriminated against by Wal-Mart, they may never get their day in court." Stepping up to the mic, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) frothed, "This bill is the Vioxx protection bill, it is the Wal-Mart protection bill, it is the Tyco protection bill, and it is the Enron protection bill." Taking one last kick at the corporate lap dog, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) foamed. "The final payback to the tobacco industry, to the asbestos industry, to the oil industry, to the chemical industry at the expense of ordinary families who need to be able go to court to protect their loved ones when their health has been compromised."

The Class Action Fairness Act is a blatant end run, mudhole stomping, and kick to the nuts to the citizenry seeking justice through the ambulance chaser. It demonstrates that the second term administration has no qualms about openly supporting their shadowy, devious, contemptuous cronies.
Back in the first term, Dubya had to bury in the 475 page Homeland Security Act protection for Big Pharma, specifically Eli Lilly. The Bush Klan has invested heavily in Eli Lilly, with former CIA director Papa Bush and Enron's Ken Lay both at one time sitting on the board of directors.

The maker of the CIA's LSD, Prozac, Zyprexa and a flu vaccine received homeland security protection from parents suing Eli Lilly for a vaccine which caused autism in their children. These families day in court, to present evidence that the mercury additive Thimerosal caused their child's autism, was scuttled by a passage that had everything to do with protecting corporate terrorists.

Naturally, Eli Lilly is the dirtiest player in the game.
The Indianapolis Star, sub-headed their investigative report into the local company, "Secret deals, hardball tactics limited drugmaker's liability for top-selling antidepressant."

Ambulance chasers alleged that Prozac and soon all Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors caused suicidal tendencies in some patients. Though they might have failed at breaking the financial backs of Big Pharma on this litigation, the legal hitman can take part credit in pressing the FDA to force Big Pharma to issue Dear Healthcare Professional Letters.

Last May ten Big Pharmas wrote DHPL notices to doctors informing them that patients "may experience worsening of their depression and/or the emergence of suicidal ideation and behavior." The drugs with the label changes; Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Lovux, Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Serzone and Remron.

Before 2004, and even a few months leading up to the issuing of the DHPLs, Big Pharma denied ambulance chasers and their clients accusation that the companies knew of these risks. All the court documents filed in Big Pharma suits argue that the companies misled the public by hiding negative
findings.

Not an ambulance chaser, but a nut cracking lawyer none the less, New York State Attorney General, Eliot "The People's Lawyer" Spitzer filed court briefings stating GlaxoSmithKline deceived, defrauded and damaged the public with Paxil. "By concealing critically important scientific studies on Paxil, GSK impaired doctors' ability to make the appropriate prescribing decision for their patients and may have jeopardized their health and safety," he wrote in a press release.

The Spitz knocked GSK on their ass with claims that the company suppressed four Paxil studies. In classic ambulance chaser style, the Democratic frontrunner for New York governor sought the profits from Paxil sales.

Not known for tapping out, GSK relented within 12 days of The Spitz putting his hammerlock on them. After the match, The People's Lawyer declared, "This is a positive first step toward changing a dangerous industry practice. We can no longer permit GSK and other pharmaceutical companies to selectively choose what research to make available to physicians and the public. It is unacceptable for companies like GSK to divulge favorable results while hiding negative data when the health of patients is at stake. While today's development by GSK does not resolve all of the issues in our litigation it does represent movement in the right direction."

Keeping corporations accountable was once the domain of grass root activists and idealistic lawyers. Corporations' strategies to out-spend, out-lawyer, out-gun these people made it necessary for those seeking justice to turn to the ambulance chaser.

And they did their job well.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Clearly an adversary of Big Pharma, an unholy alliance between the ambulance chaser and people seeking old-skool justice (because the FDA won't give it to em) with these slew of poison pills is necessary.

reader comments

Too true! One comment however ... the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of owmen harmed by Dow breast implants have not receceived even a pittance ... 10 years after Dow Corning declared bankruptcy. www.BreastImplantAwareness.org

Ilena Rosenthal
03.05.2005

It's really funny that the top of the comment input page says "please do not leave abusive comments" when Matt Mernagh's article was one of the most abusive article’s I have ever read aimed at trial lawyers. After you cut away the childish moniker "ambulance chaser", the article clearly demonstrates that the trial lawyer is on the side of the individuals in this country and the current administration is all bent on protecting big business at any cost. Maybe Mr. Mernagh needs to expand his vision by opening his eyes.

Jerrold Parker
03.05.2005

Ambulance chasers is the right-wing title of choice. Trial lawyers and other lawyers of the progressive bent, whatever their individual motives, are all that stands in the way of fullon fascism

Spike
03.05.2005

My son Andrew is the lead plaintiff versus the vaccine makers in U.S District Court in New York, in Thimerosal litigation. I prefer to think of Parker and Waichmann, the firm that represents us, as our last line of defense in this nation. I simply call them "sir."

Mark Wax
03.05.2005

I grew up with a girl who became a lawyer and has spent the last few years in Afghanistan working for women's rights. I also met a young lawyer at a poetry open mike last month, who dedicates her life to the pursuit of social justice. At times I think of someday going to law school myself in order to have more power to make a difference in this world. Look, I think you're right in the need for heavy weight lawyers, as well as perhaps financial incentive, for them to stand for hte little guy against big business. And it's not that many of htem are not in there for the money, but it is pretty belittling to tag the title "ambulance chaser" to a job that many work their asses off to do out of a sincere commitment to protecting the little guy and bringing justice about where otherwise there will be none.

shlomo
03.05.2005

I understand some people look for excuses to sue. Medications have helped millions of people. Unfortunately, there are a select few who have serious side effects and they deserve compensation for their injuries. The manufacturers of Paxil have put some of their data from clinical trials on their web site. At that time some patients had ocular disturbances due to the Paxil and were taken off the drug. In fact, the FDA has at least 50 different ocular problems that Paxil caused patients which have been reported. Some of the serious ones; blindness, visual field defect, glacoma. But, these are considered rare side effects and many pharmacies don't even list them with the medication. Furthermore, family doctors are usually the ones prescriping these drugs and have no clue about the side effects especially the rarer ones. Therefore, many patients get new symptoms but many doctors claim Paxil can't cause such side effects and continue increasing the dosages. So, now we have patients with damage from the side effects; some of these damages for a life time. These patients should be allowed to sue and they are entitled to collect.

Laura Latt
03.06.2005

Amen. Sue the shit out of the bastards. The attacks on trial lawyers are just another decoy on the right, guaranteed to take peoples minds off the economy, healthcare, the stuff that matters.

Spike
03.06.2005

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