Prempro: What Damages Are Available To Victims?

Prempro, a drug therapy combination of estrogen and progesterone, has been linked to thousands of cases of breast cancer – and an increasing number of lawsuits are being filed against the manufacturer. In a recent interview with Bryan Aylstock, a Florida attorney whose firm protects the rights of consumers who are seriously injured due to defective drugs such as Prempro, he explained the types of damages that may be available to those who were injured by the drug and how many of these lawsuits are resolved.

Available damages

According to Aylstock, the types of damages available depend upon whether victims survived their breast cancer. He explained the differences between those who survived and those who did not:

• Wrongful death. Unfortunately, many women who developed breast cancer after using these hormone replacement drugs have died because their cancer was malignant and/or not caught in time. In these cases, it's called a wrongful death action and you're entitled to damages for the loss of their life and the effect that that loss of life had on children, siblings and so forth.
• Survivors. In today's medical community, most people do get good treatment and it's caught before it gets to that point. That's the good news. The bad news is that you still have cancer and it's something where mastectomies or lumpectomies have to be performed to remove the cancer, as well as chemotherapy and all sorts of other therapies that are very invasive and toxic to the body.
  
  So, general speaking, damages may be available for the pain and suffering from having to undergo those various procedures and therapies. Other damages would be lost wages in the case where an individual was not able to continue their job because of that and also loss of consortium for the spouses of these women who've had to suffer the devastating injuries of breast cancer along with their spouses. Any damage that is reasonably foreseeable from the diagnosis of breast cancer, which would also include reconstructive surgery, is something that can be claimed in most states in these lawsuits.

Common forms of resolution

There have been a number of trials concerning these cases, according to Aylstock, who believes that if every single lawsuit were tried involving these hormone replacement therapy drugs, it would clog up the courts for many years to come. He explained:

The unfortunate reality is that most people's cases wouldn't be tried for many years, and, therefore, there wouldn't be any speedy justice for those individuals. The company, at this point, has resisted any attempts to resolve the cases, and so the only alternative in that event is to take them to trial and to seek justice from a jury of our peers.

It's our hope that, at some point, the company will understand that the most just way to resolve these claims is to reach a fair and reasonable settlement on both sides and to compensate these women who have had to undergo this treatment for their breast cancer. However, it's nothing that we can force them to do. They have to make the decision, and usually it's a business decision, that it's more costly for them to go forward than to resolve the cases.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to the use of Prempro, contact an attorney to discuss your situation. The consultation is free, without obligation and strictly confidential. To contact a qualified attorney whose practice focuses in this area of the law, please click here.