US Supreme Court: FDA-Approved Labels No Longer A Protect Shield

After a United States Supreme Court verdict ruled in favor of a guitarist, it has shown that FDA-approved labels can no longer be used as a veil of immunity. It is a crippling blow to the pharmaceutical industry.

If you are working in the pharmaceutical industry, today is not your day. Perhaps you could get laid off in the near future and may have to find another job. One could ask: What is going on and why the possible fears? The Vermont court gave a verdict in favor of 63-year-old Diana Levine of Marshfield, Vermont. Levine is a guitarist. However, it may be difficult for Levine to play the guitar. This is due to Levine missing her right arm. One could ask: What happened to Levine’s right arm? The answer is: Levine lost it because it was taken off. One could also ask: What was the reason? That answer is: It was because of a botched injection of Phenergan. This is used to treat allergy symptoms and to prevent motion sickness. It can also be used to treat nausea and vomiting. However, the injection was messed up. Levine ended up paying for it with her right arm. This happened back in 2000. Phenergan was given to Levine via an IV. An artery got accidentally punctured when given the injection. As a result of the artery getting punctured, Levine suffered gangrene. The rest should be self-explanatory. As a person that loves and plays music, something valuable was taken away from Levine. She could no longer play the guitar. “It basically took away my whole musical identity. I’d been playing music for 30 years, working with kids, writing songs. I played guitar, piano, bass in a rock band. I couldn’t do any of those things anymore,” she explains. To make matters worse, music has been Levine’s livelihood. Wyeth, the makers of Phenergan, was held liable by the US Supreme Court by 6-3. In this respect, the ruling issues that FDA-approved labels are no a safeguard for anything that goes wrong with drugs. In Levine’s case, a Vermont jury rewarded a hefty seven-figure sum for the troubles. However, Levine wishes that she could get her right arm back instead of the money. However, this looks to be far from over. There could be unforeseen consequences in the near future as a result of the verdict by the US Supreme Court. Overall, there could be many repercussions from the court verdict against Wyeth. One could ask: What will the repercussions be? Another could ask: What will be the political fallout? There is another question that needs to be asked: What about the clinic that Levine went to? Shouldn't the clinic also be held liable? While the botched injection of Phenergan caused Levine to lose her arm, the pharmaceutical company only made the stuff. It was the clinic that accidentally punctured the artery.