Jury Awards Widow $253.4M in Vioxx Trial
AP - 28 minutes ago
ANGLETON, Texas - A Texas jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable for the death of a man who took the once-popular painkiller Vioxx in the first of thousands of lawsuits pending across the country. The case drew national attention from pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, consumers, stock analysts and arbitragers as a signal of what lies ahead for Merck, which has vowed to fight the more than 4,200 state and federal Vioxx-related lawsuits pending across the country. Merck said it plans to appeal

This crap makes me sick. People wonder why healthcare and drugs are so expensive!

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The lawyer will bank $40 million AFTER taxes. Show me a doctor that makes that in his entire career. G

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The thing is now we have over 4200 other cases that have people lining up to get there pockets filled. People don’t understand the economic impact such a verdict has. Keep in mind that Merck employs 63,000 employees. The judgment will be reduced in appellate court; the plaintiff’s lawyer asked for 1/10th the amount. Let’s not forget that the FDA signed off on this drug. There need to be legislation protecting drug companies that have drugs approved by the FDA. I understand that the company may have known about the adverse effects of the drug, but that does not justify the economics of awarding this significant of a judgment. If anyone desires an easy six figure income they should become a tort lawyer and sue all our pants off.

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I am sure this will be slashed on appeal. Good thing Pistol Pete and Jim Fixx were't on Vioxx too, when they were young fit atheletic men that dropped dead suddenly and had nobody to blame

Lawyers will be the only folks that benefit from these cases..............both plaintiff and defense attys. Remember Dow-Corn.ing and silicone breast implants.

DOH, a decade later and gee whizz I guess the science was junk after all. Sorry your company went broke

Thank God Michigan has sensible caps in place

I'm with FLK on this one. This will be tied up in appeals for ages. If this person lives to see the end of this I'll be surprised. Frankly I hope (for the better of the rest of the world) that he/she doesn't see a dime.

This garbage makes me sick as well. This person will be the first to wine and cry when they have to pay mucho cash for a 30 tablet script. They'd be smart to settle for what they can get and go on with life.

skidoc42

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They can thank GM and Ford Motor for all the lobbying for that tid bit of candy

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The cap in Florida is 30% of the first $250K and 10% of anything over that. The Florida Bar is preparing to argue that it is unconstitutional and I swear I am not making this up, the argument they are using is that a client should be able to pay an attorney more if they want to.

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This is just plain sick and wrong. I have meds that I have to take everyday. I have some that I can go a few days without but that I pretty much have to take every day. I (even though I'm veterinary oriented not med oreinted) understand that anything that I put into my body has effects. For me, living pain free is worth it. However, I don't go around eating at McDonalds everyday, and I do get plenty of exercise. I do other things to minimize my risks of certain side effects since I can't really go without the meds. And who the hell do those other 4200 people think they are? I mean really. Do you think Merck honestly has 4200 X $250 million dollars to hand out and still be able to conduct business as usuall? I for one don't. I mean, it's not as if Merck & Co or Dow ******* had secret meetings about "how to kill lots of people but make tons of money" when they were first into product development and beginning research.

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I want 250 million dollars =(

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I want to punch you in the face

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