Vioxx Maker is Liable for Mom's Death
Posted by
Christina ColeDecember 10, 2006 10:23 PMThe son of a Port Orange woman that died of a heart attack in 2004 has began a national courtroom fight to get damages from the maker of the once-popular painkiller Vioxx.
Mark Golin, 51, spoke about his loss on the two-year anniversary of his Mother's death, who was 80 when she died. "My Mom was a fighter and her heart really failed," Golin said Wednesday, just two days after filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Merck & Co. Sadly, she never had a problem with her heart prior to taking Vioxx.
Estelle Golin was an active baker and seamstress when she was prescribed Vioxx for arthritis pain. Her son used to take her on frequent outings but after she starting taking the drug, and after the doctor increased her dosage, her son said he started to notice "a big change." She began having pains and breathing trouble, Marc Golin said. Concerned he took her to the doctor, one of whom told Golin she might have a heart problem. "She degenerated quickly," he said.
On November 29, 2004, his mother was feeling uncomfortable and started complaining about her chest, Golin said. She died later that day of a heart attack.
In one of the first cases to be filed over Vioxx in Volusia County, a lawyer for Estelle Golin's son is pressing the court for wrongful death damages, in part because he says Merck & Co. did not alert the medical community of health risks from Vioxx that the company knew of as early as 1997. "Despite the risks, Merck continued to conceal or minimize the cardiovascular risks associated with Vioxx," said Bill Ogle, an attorney in Daytona Beach for the Golin family.
The company and the Food and Drug Administration have defended their actions in numerous lawsuits brought since the drug introduced in 1999 was withdrawn from the market in late 2004. Merck has won four of the seven cases to reach verdicts, including one for $50 million this summer, but still faces more than 21,000 Vioxx lawsuits like Golin's, up sharply from the 14,200 lawsuits reported in June. Millions took Vioxx and more lawsuits could be coming, although statutes of limitations in many states have run out. At least four such suits have been filed in Volusia but none in Flagler, according to court records.
