From the BBC:

“In court the Garza family’s legal team admitted that the dead man had a history of heart problems, but argued that his veins had been cleared and tests showed less than a 2% risk of heart attack within a year.”

Now by “clearing his veins”, I’m not sure what procedure they mean by, but most likly this would be a cardiac cath with angioplasty +/- stent. NO cardiologist (except a hired gun) would give post-procedure restenosis rate of 2%.

From the NYT:

“A state court jury in South Texas dealt Merck another setback yesterday afternoon, awarding $32 million in damages to the family of Leonel Garza, a 71-year-old retiree who died of a heart attack in 2001 after briefly taking the painkiller Vioxx.”

“In addition to his heart attack in 1981, Mr. Garza underwent a quadruple bypass in 1985, and was a smoker who was also overweight and had high blood pressure.”

“There really isn’t any good science to indicate that Vioxx can cause a heart attack in less than 30 days,” Mr. Josephson said. “It shouldn’t have been submitted to the jury.”

“Mr. Garza’s family claimed that he had taken Vioxx for 25 days before his heart attack, although medical records confirmed only 7 days of use.”

So let’s get this right. A 71 yo hypertensive overweight male with CAD s/p quad bypass who is STILL SMOKING takes vioxx for one week-one month and the medication is blamed for the MI/death. What is wrong with this picture. Will American ever take responsibility for their activities? I guess the jury was sending a “message”. The only message I see is the plantiff’s attorney’s found 10/12 of the biggest MORONS in south texas to sit on a jury. But hey there is nothing wrong with the present system….. right. Just pass the cigerettes if I have an MI I will blame Merck too.