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        New Message Board Archives >> Jan-Mar 2004 >> Phenergan, amputated arm, lawsuit
        
(Message started by: Samantha_Smith on Mar 16^th, 2004, 8:51pm)

Title: Phenergan, amputated arm, lawsuit
Post by Samantha_Smith on Mar 16^th, 2004, 8:51pm

Hello! I live up here in Vermont and in today's Burlington Free Press was a medically interesting, but very, very sad article that I thought some of you who have had IV Phenergan before in the ER may be interested in.

DISCLAIMER: The woman in the story went to the ER with a m...m...mi....migrai (ya know what I mean) in Plainfield, Vermont, but I'm sure there are many of us here who have had Phenergan IV therefore the info is relevent. Flamers to the left please.

( Just in case you didn't know Phenergan is usually used as an anti nausea med or to sedate people. Many times it is given in conjunction with a narcotic to control pain which is what happened to this poor woman.)

VERMONT WOMAN WINS $7.4 MILLION LAWSUIT
(this is a condensed version of the story)

A Marshfield musician who lost an arm to a medical error has won one of largest lawsuits awarded in Vermont history.

Diana Winn Levine, owner and creative director of Rebop Records, had sued the multinational health products companys Wyeth for having improper guidelines for the drug that damaged her hand and forearm and led to amputation.

A Montpelier jury on Friday awarded Levine $7.4 million.
..............

In what she called a "medical blunder" the drug (Phenergan) entered her artery rather than her vein. Resulting circulatory problems led to 2 amputation surgeries on her right arm.

The case against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals pertained to the company's instructions for using the drug (Phenergan.)

(Levine) learned that "Phenergan can be given in 3 ways. The other 2 are fine. What happened to me can happen, it is foreseeable."
..............

Levine's turn on the witness stand arrived. The baliff came to swear her in, asking her to raise her right hand.

"We looked at each other and it hit me first," Levine said. "Then we cracked up. There's my prosthesis, so I said, "You mean THIS?"

She laughed.
..................

Rubin (the lawyer) said "This case is really about Diana's loss of her ability to play and write music."

"Music is my way of healing and processing eveything that happens to me,"Levine said. "The right hand is the core of your playing........"

...........

"We asked the jury to award her $25 per hour for her pain and suffering , 16 hours per day, for the next 20 years."

The jury deliberated for about 4 hours before awarding her the entire $7.4 million. ($2.4 million for Levine's past and foreseeable medical expenses plus $5 million "for the daily pain she does suffer and for the lost enjoyment of her life."
...............
"Wyeth did make one strategic error," Rubin said.
"There was nobody there from Wyeth who knew about the drug and was prepared to defend it from the corporate perspective," he said. "The jury never saw anyone from Wyeth but their lawyers."
...............
Levine said phanton pain, in which her mind thinks she still has an arm, remains a problem.

Sad, sad, sad, sad. Samantha

Title: Re: Phenergan, amputated arm, lawsuit
Post by Jimmy_B on Mar 17^th, 2004, 9:04am

Found the Link

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/news/tuesday/1000h.htm

Definitely a Medical Blunder...the three ways stated are:
1) Suppository
2) Orally
3) Intravenously---It is not to be given intra-arterially. Whoever gave the med missed the vein & hit an artery.

IMHO...I think I would stay away from the Hospital that gave her the injection & Not stay away from the Med.

I really feel sorry for this woman, but again the lawyers went after the $$ (Pharm. Co.)and not the real villian (whoever screwed up giving the injection) but even as the newspaper reported:

" The company, with 2003 revenues of $15.8 billion, makes Robitussin, Advil, Centrum and many other health products. The company also has a $1.3 billion reserve fund for ongoing litigation over its diet drugs. "

The villian doesn't have this kind of cash. And to think we wonder why are medications cost so much...HMMMM

Jimmy

Title: Re: Phenergan, amputated arm, lawsuit
Post by BarbaraD on Mar 17^th, 2004, 10:18am

I agree Jim - Practioner error - not the drug. What idiot put phenergan in an artery?

Had it put in a vein too fast one time and it burned the vien - hurt like hell for a couple of days, but never thought of suing - it was just a mistake, but nothing to get that upset about.

Geezz! we've gotten to be a sue-happy society.

Hugs BD