Blyth Lawsuit Against Paxil Not Over Yet
The birth defects lawsuit filed against GlaxoSmithKline by Anna Blyth and her family took an unexpected detour recently when their lawyer Rosemary Pinto decided to try and get their case's summary judgment reversed by the Superior Court in Philadelphia.
Anna Blyth, now 14, was born with heart defects and has had at least one surgery because of it. Her parents believe that the Paxil was the direct cause of her heart defects. The case originally was ruled in favor of a dismissal for the defense because of a lack of evidence by the plaintiffs, which some thought was due to the death of the prescribing doctor. While the case originally was expected to go to a jury, Glaxo lawyers later changed their minds and argued that since the doctor that prescribed the Paxil to Anna's mother while she was pregnant was long since dead, there was no one to testify in the case for the plaintiff which left them no evidence in their birth defects case. The presiding judge apparently agreed and the case was thrown out.
"With all due respect, I think the judge was mistaken,” Pinto stated. “I think what a doctor would say can be proven through the evidence of other like-minded physicians that know what the standard of care is. In most cases, the prescriber is alive and this decision is not going to have far-reaching effects because this is limited."
Right now Pinto is convinced that the Blyths have a good birth defects case and she says that "the standard of liability isn't whether or not the doctors knew about the risks, but whether or not they should have known about it." While the case likely will be delayed for a little while longer, Pinto is certain that the case will go to a full trial and that they can win.
