CONTACTS: Linda Rozett/Eric Wohschlegel
(202) 463-5682 / 888-249-NEWS

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A United States Chamber of Commerce survey of doctors, pharmacists and patients found that drug lawsuits influence some people to stop taking their prescription medication.

  

"Plaintiff lawyers' addiction to lawsuits has changed the way doctors prescribe, pharmacists dispense and patients use medicine," said Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, which commissioned the survey.  "A troublesome pattern is emerging – with even the fear of litigation interfering with the way health care professionals practice medicine."

 

One in four patients surveyed said they would immediately stop taking a drug prescribed for them if they saw an advertisement for a lawsuit over the medication, according to the Harris Interactive "Pharmaceutical Liability Study."

 

Nearly half of the pharmacists surveyed said their patients either stopped taking a properly prescribed medication (44 percent) or refused to take a medication (40 percent), because the patient discovered the drug might be the focus of a liability lawsuit. For doctors, 38 percent reported patients stopped taking and 29 percent said patients refused to take a prescribed drug because the patients found out that the medication was part of a lawsuit.

 

More than 40 percent of the doctors surveyed said they avoided prescribing an appropriate medication because the drug might have been involved in a product liability lawsuit. More than half (57 percent) are concerned they could face patient lawsuits over side effects from a properly prescribed drug.

 

The Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform hosted business leaders and policy experts in a half-day summit to address pharmaceutical liability and its effects on dispensing and using prescription drugs. U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Mark B. McClellan delivered the keynote address.

 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.  The mission of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform is to make America's legal system simpler, fairer and faster for everyone.

 

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 Pharmaceutical Liability Study Results (PDF)