Wrong Migraine Treatment Leads to One of the Biggest Consumer-Rights Cases to Hit the Supreme Court in Years!
WASHINGTON, DC—September 9th, 2008: Migraine care is in the middle of a major U.S. Supreme Court case currently on the docket. A talented musician Migraineur Diana Levine is at the heart of high court drama. Ms. Levine is getting things together before her case against the drug company Wyeth begins in the high court.
The U.S. Supreme Court is about to hear a case that to those watching see it in many lights. Regardless Migraineur Diana Levine is getting ready for her case against the drug company Wyeth.
Diana Levine lost her right arm to complications from an unadvisable Migraine treatment when a Vermont ER used a nausea drug known as Phenergan to abort her Migraine rather than an FDA approved anti-Migraine abortive medication to mitigate the severe Migraine she was suffering from. This ill-advised treatment lead to the severe complication known as gangrene after she received the drug administer incorrectly. To that fact, the popular Migraine website MyMigraine Connection does not even list Phenergan as a Migraine drug of choice on their Migraine drug page. Yes Migraines.org does have the drug information on Phenergan® (promenthazine), but not as an FDA approved Migraine medication, but rather as an antiemetic for treating MIgraine disease symptoms.
The Migraineur is accusing Wyeth of failing to actually warn about the dangers posed by Wyeth’s FDA approved nausea drug known as Phenergan.
The defense for Wyeth is stating that since they followed all of the FDA approval requirements, as well as federal laws, any state laws should have no impact on them. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on November 3rd.
Oddly she did not sue the ER that failed to use basic Migraine disease protocols but rather used an archaic treatment instead with disasters results. It appears she was advised to take on the drug company, and her trail already took place in the state of Vermont in which she received $6.8 million in damages. Of course the drug company did not market Phenergan as a Migraine treatment, having said that Wyeth failed to aggressively place large warnings on the drug information material cautioning about the dangers of using this product in an IV push, knowing full well it could lead to what happen to Diana Levine.
Having said that, her award was appealed but it was later upheld in her favor in a Vermont Supreme Court.
This is a major case in regards to product liability for drugs, and is already gaining quite a bit of attention. The New York Times reports it is one of the biggest consumer-rights cases in years to hit the Supreme Court.
In fact the media in more focused on the legal principle in question is called pre-emption, rather than inappropriate treatments chosen by ER & hospitals so well highlight by this horrible outcome of an aborted Migraine, leaving the sufferer with yet another disability to face life with.
We will continue to follow this case as November will be here faster than you know it, even faster in an election year.
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