Rickard Op-Ed: Lawsuit Ads May be Harmful to the Health of Americans

In an opinion piece for The Hill, Lisa Rickard, President of the Institute for Legal Reform, highlights numerous concerns regarding the growth of trial lawyer drug ads which can be “so frightening” that a patient “stopped taking medication and subsequently died from a pulmonary embolism.”

This patient’s death is just one of thirty negative health incidents reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in recent years regarding patients who watched lawyer ads for Xarelto lawsuits on television, stopped their medications and then suffered serious medical events, including blood clots, strokes, paralysis and death.

Today, a House Judiciary Committee subcommittee convenes a hearing on these ads and their dangers to public health. “This is an important next step in the effort to ensure that ads for these lawsuits are not misleading the public and in so doing endangering patient health,” writes Rickard.