No wonder drugs are so expensive...

[DrDan]

I was looking at USA Today while eating dinner at noticed the following advertisement that blew me away.

Recently, the FDA banned any drug that contained PPA or phenylpropanolamine in it. This included all kinds of common cold medicines since PPA is a decongestant. The ban came about becuse they "thought" that PPA may have lead to some strokes in humans.

Well this law firm in Arizona is running a block advertisement nationwide in USA Today asking anyone who has had a stroke and had taken any drug that they think may have contained PPA to contact them so they can initiate law suits against the manufacturers.

Guess who benefits? Not the lowly person who initiates the suit, but the lawyer who can advertise nationwide! And so if many, many suits are awarded against the drug manufacturers what happens to drug prices? Of course they have to cover costs or stop manufacturing the drugs.

Gheesh - lawyers gonna be the downfall of this country!

Dr Dan

 

[jyoutz]

An old Shakespeare line kind of sums things up nicely: "first we must kill all the lawyers..."

 

[DrDan]

I know that drugs are much less expensive in Canada than the US. Do they have different laws on product liability and less law suits as a result. Just curious if this could be a reason for the difference in prices.

Currently my health insurance premium for a $1500 Deductable Policy is $4800 a year and rising every six months when the premiums are due. I know at some point in time I will have to let it go and never get another policy since I am a paraplegic and noone will write a new policy on me.

I know that I'm paying for the other members of the group because I haven't had a claim in years. I also know that the reason for the increase is the rising costs of medical care. Of course that is no doubt due to the rising costs of malpractice insurance to the physicians due to the number of law suits.

This law suit insanity is trickling down and blasting us all right in the pocket book. I don't know what the answer is, but at some point it has to be stopped or only the very wealthy will be able to afford medical care.

Dr Dan

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by DrDan on 05/30/01 02:58 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[cowboydoc]

You're absolutely right Dan. Lawsuits in this country raise the cost of doing business by at least 30% and that's not an exaggeration. My one friend who is in ob-gyn has malpractice insurance that is about $7000 a month. He has had two bogus cases against him which he was found innocent of in 26 years of practice. The problem is that people can come back and sue at any time and believe me they do! With your auto accident cases they base cases where there is not permanent damage on 3x the medical bills. The lawyers actually tell their clients this and tell them to keep going to different doctors to rack up more money. It's ridiculous and I despise the lawyers that do this. Lawyers are a significant cost of doing business in the US and account for a significant amount of the cost of goods sold. A perfect example of hysteria and huge lawsuits was the breast implants. There was absolutely not one conclusive study that showed that silicone did any damage whatsoever. The damage that was "believed" to have been done was disclosed at the time of surgery. Didn't matter to the lawyers. Women wanted them done, knew the risks, and did it anyway. Yet who pays the bill, the doctors and drug companies. Who really pays the bill, Joe Consumer!!! BTW less than 1% of women with the surgery had ANY of the problems reported.

 

[DrDan]

That's exactly what I'm saying... One person thinks they are going to get a "bundle" and sue. In the end the lawyer gets most of the money and the rest of the consumers pay the bill. I have a friend who is an ophthalmologist and taught at Iowa University for years. He was very advanced and perfected some techniques for dealing with detached retina's. He took on a patient who was blind in both eyes. He did some kind of surgery and restored her vision in both eyes. Three or four weeks after the surgery, one eye had a relapse and she lost vision in that eye. Well to make a long story short, she sued the man who restored her vision and won. Hantz retired shortly after and has never practiced since that time. These talented minds that are willing to chance a risky surgery to help the patient soon get sick of it and just quit! It's a real shame. I don't know how some of these people and their lawyers can sleep at night!

Dr Dan

 

[hess]

Dr. Dan,

What was the basis for the woman's suit?

From what I understand, it is to the advantage of both lawyers to select an uneducated, impressionable jury (after all, we don't want jurors to actually think on their own) - but this sounds ridiculous!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

NO wonder drugs are so expensive??

Get real! Nearly ALL wonder drugs are so expensive. And some cost even more than that!!

This title is so blatantly false that I'm not even gonna read the thread.

You guys are too much!

Huh?

 

[cowboydoc]

Believe me Hess doctors are sued for a poorer basis than that!

 

[BobT]

Doc,

I do not doubt that many frivilous lawsuits are filed against physicians. However, that fact has no relationship to the price of drugs whatsoever.

BobT.
A Indiana Boy

 

[DrDan]

My original statement was pertaining to the advertisement by the Arizona lawyer asking for people who had taken PPA and had a stroke to contact his law firm so they could initiate law suits against the drug companies that made the products containing PPA. Law suits against the drug companies raise the rates that are charged for the future drugs. I mean lets get real... If the drug companies are to continue producing a product, there has to be a profit so not only do they have to charge for the research, testing, manufacture and marketing of the drug... They also have to pay for the law suits after the FDA removes the drug from the market. To begin with the FDA approved the drug - then they do an about face and leave the drug company liable for their decisions. Crazy!

The same holds true for physicians. If so many frivolous law suits are granted it increases the physicians cost of doing business and that is handed down to insurance companies in fees for services - that in turn is handed down to us in icreased premiums. Of course those of you who are lucky enough to have an employer providing your insurance will never know what is going on in this country... Same as payroll withholding - if it is deducted you never know it was paid. Maybe that is why we tolerate it.
Dr Dan