Friday, November 04, 2005

Legal Lottery

Merck won a big victory today in court. They were being sued over their arthritis drug, Vioxx. A guy taking the drug had a heart attack. Merck's defense was that they thought the drug was safe, based on a lot of testing. They convinced a jury.

Can they keep convincing juries? I have no idea.

There's a theory that a lot of lawsuits are like lotteries. Most of the people who've been hurt get little or nothing. A few of the people get huge punitive awards.

Most of the people get squat,
But the lucky ones win a lot;
They - or their heirs -
Become millionaires.

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