So you want to know why drug costs are so high?
Some obese woman takes a prescription diet pill. She stops taking the pill, and four years later dies. A Texas jury, probably not a scientist among them, makes a link between the diet pill and the death, and awards the woman’s family $1 billion in punitive damages. Yes, that’s right, $1 billion. To be crass, regardless of what the plaintiff’s lawyer will say, this case is about the value of one woman’s life. A woman died and a lawyer, working for his 1/3 fee, is trying to maximize how much the woman was worth. While I could be sentimental and say the loss was tragic, I will be realist and tell you, she could be Thomas Jefferson, MLK, Gandhi, Ronald Reagan, and Steve Yzerman all wrapped into one and she still wouldn’t be worth $1 billion dollars. The kicker is that the award exceeds the Texas statutory limit on punitive damage awards. So why did the jury ignore the statute? Beats me. But now the drug company, who is appealing the decision, has to absorb the cost of the trial and the appeal. The cost will of course be passed onto you and me, the consumer. Which isn’t so bad I suppose, it will be less than $1 billion. But if people are going to bitch about the high price of drugs in the country (and I’m not talking about the fun green leafy kind), they best be also bitching about absurd jury awards trying to dig into the pockets of the pharmaceuticals.
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