DETROIT, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Detroit Attorney J. Douglas Peters filed a national class action lawsuit against Merck & Co., Inc., under the Jersey Corporation on Thursday, November 18, 2004. The class representatives are Mrs. Maxine Bates from Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan; Mr. Harry Brooks and Mrs. Sandra Brooks from East Jordan, Charlevoix County, Michigan; and Mr. Gerald Norback and Mrs. Jean Norback from Watton, Baraga County, Michigan. Both Harry Brooks and Gerald Norback were prescribed Vioxx for pain relief never suspecting that the prescription medication would cause them to suffer heart attacks.
"This lawsuit will toll the statute of limitations for all United States citizens as of the date of filing. This lawsuit is being filed to protect the rights of people injured by Vioxx so that their time limit, the statute of limitations, does not expire before they have an opportunity to see an attorney," says attorney Peters, a senior shareholder with Charfoos & Christensen, P.C. in Detroit, Michigan.
Charfoos & Christensen, P.C. has been litigating drug product liability lawsuits in Michigan for over thirty years and is very selective in the cases that it accepts because many thousands of Vioxx users have, fortunately, not been injured by their use of Vioxx.
Although a government study suggests that as many as 27,000 deaths have been caused by Vioxx worldwide, thousands of other patients have experienced strokes, heart attacks and have developed hypertension when it previously did not exist because of their use of Vioxx. Individuals who should consult a lawyer include those who were using Vioxx at the time of the heart attack or stroke and sustained physical impairment (paralysis), death or loss of heart tissue to a myocardial-infarction. At this time, it also appears that Vioxx is probably implicated in clot-based strokes and not bleed based strokes.
The Vioxx lawsuits that are being filed nationally are being brought at a very politically sensitive period of time. It is incumbent on attorneys to carefully screen and bring meritorious cases only. With the re-election of President George Bush, there is a national trend to grant immunity to manufacturers of products (prescription drugs) that are approved by the FDA. "The Vioxx cases and the negligence surrounding Merck's development, marketing and obfuscation of the problems associated with this drug perfectly illustrate the dangers to the public in granting immunity to manufacturers whose products are approved by the FDA," said Peters. "Without individual lawsuits and the discovery of documents that are allowed in such lawsuits, tomorrow's Vioxx case will go undiscovered and the public's health will be threatened."
Charfoos & Christensen, P.C.CONTACT: Attorney J. Douglas Peters of Charfoos & Christensen,+1-313-875-8080, or Fax: +1-313-875-8522
