Anytime a family loses a loved one, it is always a tragedy no matter the situation. But when a fatality occurs due to preventable negligence, the family experiences an even deeper level of grief and anxiety over a loss that could have been avoided. This feeling is no doubt exactly what the family of Mal Moore, a former University of Alabama athletic director, has experienced.
Mal Moore’s daughter recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the death of her father. The suit claims that two pharmaceutical companies known as Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (owned by Pfizer) and Par Pharmaceuticals improperly marketed the drug amiodarone as suitable for patients with non-life threatening irregular heartbeats.
In the lawsuit, it is noted that the FDA said the drug was only to be used as a “last resort” option and that patients could experience serious side effects.
According to what the family’s attorney told Tuscaloosa News, the pharmaceutical companies:
“…deceived physicians, pharmacists, and consumers into believing that prescribing and taking amiodarone for the off-label atrial fibrillation uses that defendants promoted was appropriate, even though defendants knew FDA approval had not been granted for those uses and, moreover, there was significant medical-scientific evidence suggesting amiodarone was very dangerous in those situations, and in fact, resulted in serious pulmonary illness and toxicity, and death, when so used.”
Mal Moore died at Duke University Medical Center on March 30, 2013 while waiting on a lung transplant. His daughter believes her father would still be alive if not for the deception of these two pharmaceutical companies.
The Tennessee personal injury attorneys at Gilreath & Associates would like to offer our condolences to the Moore family, and offer our professional legal services for anyone who has experienced a tragic death that you believe could have been prevented if not for negligence. If you have, please contact our offices in Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville immediately to discuss your case.
