Question by grandma zaza: Why should the FDA get a free pass?
My daughter had pneumonia almost 3 years ago and was prescribed Levaquin. About 5 days into her treatment, while brushing her hair, she experienced a spontaneous rotator cuff tear so bad that it required surgery as soon as she was better. She has since had two additional surgeries and has lost nearly 30% use of her shoulder which she will likely never regain.
She is thinking of suing the makers of Levaquin, Ortho-McNeil, in a class action lawsuit. However, the FDA has know of this problem for years and thousands of people have suffered like injuries. That toxic mess of a drug is STILL on the market, has NOT been recalled and is STILL being prescribed.
Why has this drug not been recalled by the FDA? Does anyone know what it takes to get a drug recalled? Why should the FDA not share the responsibility? Isn’t it their job to keep the public safe?
WARNING TO THE PEOPLE OF Y/A……PLEASE remember these names… LEVAQUIN and the generic name, LEVOFLOXICIN. PLEASE, NEVER, EVER TAKE THIS DRUG!!!
She had the flu, which developed into pneumonia. Her entire body was achy prior to use. She would never have known the aches were due to the drug.
My daughter does not live with me. She is in her 30′s.
You are right Joe. She never would have understood the terms. She “just” an attorney, not a doctor. Too bad she is “just” a Patent attorney and not a malpractice attorney, uh.
Sorry Joe, you lose. “Not very bright” and “Patent Attorney” do not belong in the same sentence. It’s one of the more difficult areas of law. She has not filed her “frivolous” lawsuit yet. At this point it is just a thought. She’s pretty busy and money is not a motivating factor. True, she was healed, but she was permanently damaged in the process. You’ve got me thinking now. Maybe I should suggest to her that she sue the doctor, who was obviously delinquent. Hmmm……..
Joe, You were the one who said “doctors screw up”, not me. Look, all I am trying to do is warn people about the dangers of this drug and question the FDA. This drug is a toxic mess and thousands of people have been needlessly and permanently damaged. Are there other drugs that would have cured her that don’t have this horrible side effect? I would assume there are dozens of others that are tried and tested, without this side effect. She is not a “frivilous” kind of person. She used to be very active, but since her dominant shoulder has been permanently, and needlessly damaged, her life has changed.
The “you lose” was to your nasty comment that she is not very bright. I would give you her shining credentials, but it would not matter. You obviously believe you are much brighter, and I’ll allow you the opportunity to pad your (obviously) already overinflated ego. Bye.
I was not going to respond, but please help me understand. First you accuse me of being a neglectful mother, then you call my daughter “not very bright”. You go on to call her profession “equal to a garbage collector” and then refer to her as an idiot for not reading the side effects of the drug she was taking. What ever gave you the impression that she did not read the side effects? I said she never could have distinguished between the flu symptons and the side effects.
So, when one resorts to name calling and assumptions, what would you call it besides an overinflated ego?
I think you misspelled common sense. In the dictionary of Joe it is more likely to read….O-B-N-O-X-I-O-U-S.
I’m saying that this drug is toxic and has caused personal injury to thousands of people and it SHOULD have been recalled and pulled YEARS ago! This injury happened in 2006, long before the “black box warning” that was recently mandated.
http://www.usrecallnews.com/2009/04/serious-side-effects-associated-with-levaquin.html
“The Levaquin side effects resulting in this black box warning include tendonitis and tendon ruptures, both of which can be very painful and debilitating. Patients may not realize they are experiencing such side effects until it is too late.”
The final sentence is an important one. I seriously hope you (or any of your loved ones) never experience personal injury related to a drug that SHOULD have been recalled. Of course you are smarter than the “average” person and will certainly be able identify joint or muscle pain, and distinguish it from the muscle aches and pains related to flu symptoms. My, my, my, it must be wonderful to have such abilities. I’m certainly impressed.
When Levaquin entered the market, warnings about tendon side effects were required on all fluoroquinolone labels, but were buried in a long list of potential adverse reactions. In addition, the warnings did not advise that tendon injury was TRIPLED in this particular drug. Also, European countries began putting “black box labels” on this drug in 2001. Where was the FDA? Where was the drug maker?
We are not “litigious” people, but I’ll be damned if I, or my daughter, are the type of people who are willing to sit back and take it just because people like you think we are a$$holes. She did not spill hot coffee on herself! She is a vibrant young woman who was damaged by a drug, and it has changed her life forever.
Until now, I have remained silent on this subject and have done what most parents do….listened and been supportive. However, I will encourage her with all my might to file that lawsuit and I hope she is awarded millions just to piss people like you off.
Best answer:
Answer by No religion in this pub
Real health care reform
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
you could try submitting a claim form to http://www.badproducts.com . They helped me get a class action started a year ago and did a pretty good job with it. mine was for bextra, i dont know how similar your case would be. good luck
because the fda, is bought and paid for by big pharma. the bigger problem is that the prescribing physician, being highly educated should have known about the side effects of this drug. but, like politicians, too many doctors are on the dole with the druggists. how about we stop the lobbying in DC, like Oblahblah promised!!!!
All drugs have side effects, and they can often have rare, and very serious side effects. But I find it hard to believe that you bothered reading the insert that came with the drug, where it said that any join, tendon, or muscle pain was a sign of a serious side effect, in which you should immediately stop taking the drug and go to a hospital. I can guarantee that your daughter had signs prior to the event, but ignored them. You’ll likely win some money, but hopefully you learn something. Read the damn insert.
Edit:
Then the doctor should have prescribed a different drug. In any event, you should have taken a more active role in your daughter’s care. Again, had you read the insert, you could have prevented this. Doctors screw up, and patients need to understand that it’s their health and their responsibility too.
I have to wonder what your response to her death without the drug would have been.
Then your daughter should have read the damn insert. Holy crap, how hard is it to put her in place of where I said you? Forget it. Neither one of you would apparently understand all of the big words on the insert.
Apparently she’s not a very bright attorney if she doesn’t even bother reading about the drug she is taking. Don’t worry, her frivolous lawsuit is likely to bring her plenty of money for the side effects of a drug that SAVED HER LIFE. Maybe in the future she should just wait and see how the illness turns out. I’ll give you a hint. Untreated pneumonia starts with chest pains and difficulty breathing, it ends with a ventilator, then an embalming.
Obviously delinquent? Think again. The doctor prescribed a tested and proven drug in a case where the use of such a drug was a medical necessity. ALL DRUGS HAVE SIDE EFFECTS. Doctors cannot predict which side effects any particular patient will have. It’s up to the patient to take an active role in their own health. Where has personal responsibility gone? Exactly when does the patient take an active role in their own health?
You want a difficult job, look at physicians. The difficulty of their job makes patent law look like garbage pick up.
BTW, what exactly did I lose. I don’t recall being in a debate.
It doesn’t take a genius to read the insert of a prescription drug. In fact, it takes an idiot not to. No ego, just common sense.
My message was never that you were a neglectful mother, nor did I ever equate being a patent lawyer to a garbage collector. If these are the reading and logic skills your daughter inherited, then no wonder reading the insert did not lead her to say “Gee, this medicine has severe side effects that have symptoms that I’m experiencing without the medication. Maybe I should call my doctor and ask for a different antibiotic”. That is what common sense means. Basic logic skills.
I have been calling you and your daughter an idiot since the beginning. The reason is that litigious as$holes like you two piss me off. You say how the company knew of these serious side effects, and how that they’re somehow responsible for your daughter’s injuries. Beyond that, you say the FDA is responsible as well. But here’s the thing, THEY WARN YOU ABOUT THESE SIDE EFFECTS. THEY TELL YOU WHAT CAN HAPPEN. THEY EXPECT YOU TO BE SMARTER THAN YOU APPARENTLY ARE. So if I come off as obnoxious, so be it. If I come off as an as$hole, that’s fine with me. As long as you get the idea that I think you’re an idiot, and I’m sick of idiots suing because they can’t form a coherent fcking thought.
You get angry, then you get dumber. I never said I could distinguish flu aches from side effect aches. THAT’S WHY I WOULDN’T HAVE TAKEN THE DRUG. Other than that, your response is more of the same BS. Have fun in court suing the people who saved your daughter’s life.