How much for that doggy (or life) in the window?

[jhetley]

How much is a human life worth? According to a jury, at least $253 million, for a death that is questionably Vioxx-related.

Hey, folks, my sister nearly died from asprin. Oxygen in sufficient concentration can kill you. LIFE is fatal.

Comments

[wolfette]

he was taking it for arthritis...... I wonder what he'd (the deceased) would personally have considered "an appropriate risk" to improve his quality of life? They don't usually prescribe things like Vioxx for "mild to moderate" arthritis. (although they no longer prescribe Vioxx at all).

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

My sister's asprin episode was an attempt to deal with arthritis.

[wolfette]

My arthritis is currently at the "take ibuprofen three times a day to be able to move and paracetemol (acetomenophrine) when the pain gets too bad".

A few years ago my mother-in-law developed "polymyalgia rheumatica" in her late 70s. The steroids usually prescribed for this gave her a form of diabetes, so they put her back on NSAI - which gave her a massive stomach ulcer that nearly killed her. Although the PR has 'burned out' she now suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. The pain levels that even making her way from her bedroom to the living room brings on, she'd probably be quite happy to shorten her lifespan in exchange for less pain *now*. (she's already hinted that she's been stockpiling her pain medication "in case it gets too bad")

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Mother-in-law is, what, *counts on fingers and toes, switches base-system* 87, and takes Bextra. Loosely translated from the Hungarian, she says "So maybe I'm going to worry about an added risk of stroke?"

I know a person using Vioxx who stocked up after the news riot started, so she'd have a reserve when the drug went off the market. The stuff _worked_.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet read the details of the decision, but I'm guessing that most of the award is punitive damages. There aren't too many people who're worth that much in terms of actual lifetime earning potential.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Following up, it's $24M for mental anguish and loss of companionship, and $229M in punitive damages. Texas law will reduce the punitive damages sharply, but it seems that the jury was more concerned with punishing Merck than it was with anything else. They didn't award her anything at all for the loss of his earning power, though she may not have asked.

So it seems that the jury wasn't trying to assign a price to the value of the dead man's life. It was trying to hurt Merck for marketing a dangerous drug.

Can't say I'd have agreed. But I wasn't on the jury and I didn't see the evidence that was presented.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

And we have a national hissy-fit on the cost of prescription medications....

[nathelmi.livejournal.com]

And on the cost of insurance, because everyone and their dog is trying to scam insurance any which way they can, it seems.

...Where can I sign up to become Amish?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I can put you in touch with some Mennonite cousins in Ontario. Don't know of any relatives in the Halifax area.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, if Merck *knew* the drug increased risks of X, Y, and Z and *hid those facts*, then they deserve, in my opinion, to get their knuckles rapped.

Hard.

People should be allowed -- nay, encouraged! -- to make their own risk/benefit calculations, but they shouldn't be asked to do so based on deliberate mis-, dis-, and non-information.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Problem (as I see it) comes in defining "knew" and "risks." A lot of people assume that drugs _can_ be safe. I don't. If it affects your physiology or psychology at all, there's enough variation in human bodies that it can affect _somebody_ badly. Those bad effects may only show in statistical analysis once you have a million people using the drug....

This is even true of common foods. We have a school administration in Maine trying to enforce a peanut-free school building because of one student's violent allergy....