Intrauterine Devices: Malpractice and Product Liability

McCombs Szaller , The Intrauterine Device: A Criticism of Governmental Complaisance & Analysis of Liability, Cleveland State Law Review 24: 247 (1975).

Johns Hopkins University, Population Information Program Reports, Series B, no. 3: Intrauterine Devices B-90-91 (May 1979); National Women's Health Network, Washington, D.C.

Prosser W. , Handbook of Law of Torts, 4th ed. (West, St. Paul, 1971), 139 note 2, at §§641 et seq.

Marshall B.R. Hepler J.K. Jinguji M.S. , Fatal Streptococcus Pyogenes Septicemia Associated with an IUD, Obstetrics & Gynecology 41(1): 83 (January 1973).

See In re A.H. Robins Co., Inc., “Dalkon Shield” IUD Products Liability Litigation, 406 F.Supp. 540 (MDL Panel 1975).

Morris C. , Defective Devices—Who's Liable?, Hospital Medical Staff 8(5): 2 (May 1979). E.g., Vergott v. Deseret Pharmaceutical Co., 463 F.2d 12 (5th Cir. 1972) (catheter); Mattair v. St. Joseph's Hospital, 234 S.E.2d 537, aff'd, 238 S.E.2d 366 (Ga. 1977) (hospital bed).

But see Terhune v. A.H. Robins Co., 577 P.2d 975 (Wash. 1978) (upholding physician's discretion not to give manufacturer's brochure to patient).

American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Technical Bulletin No. 40 (June 1976).

21 C.F.R. §310.502 (1985).

In re Robins A.H. , supra note 5, at 540.

E.g., Newberry v. Tarvin, 594 S.W.2d 204 (Tex. App. 1980);Terhune, supra note 7; Godard v. Ridgway, 445 P.2d 757 (Wyo. 1968).

21 C.F.R. §310.502 (1985).

Tresemer v. Barke, 150 Cal. Rptr. 384 (1978);Martinez v. Rosenzweig, 387 N.E.2d 1263 (Ill. 1979);Newberry, supra note 11.

See Martinez , supra note 13.

Killebrew v. Johnson, 404 N.E.2d 1194 (Ind. App. 1980).

See Flitt v. A.H. Robins Co., Case no. 81-734 (E.D. Cal., May 3, 1985) ($14 million structured settlement for birth defects where Dalkon Shield caused premature delivery).

Id.

Sponaugle v. Pre-Term, Inc., 411 A.2d 366, 368 (D.C. 1980).

Gugino v. Harvard Community Health Plan, 403 N.E.2d 1166 (Mass. 1980).

Tresemer, supra note 13.

Gugino, supra note 19.

See In re A.H. Robins Company, Inc., Chapter 11. Case no. 85-01307-R (E.D. Va. 1985).

Harre v. A.H. Robins Co., 750 F.2d 1501 (11th Cir. 1985) (perjured expert testimony);See also Hewitt v. A.H. Robins Co., Case no. 3-83-1291 (3d Div. Minn.) (special masters report finding “a strong prima facie case that defendant, with the knowledge and participation of in-house counsel, has engaged in an ongoing fraud by knowingly misrepresenting the nature, quality, safely, and efficacy of the Dalkon Shield from 1970–1984”).

Hightower v. E. Robins Claiborne et al. Case no. C85-4057A (N.D. Ga. 1985). See Casper v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., et al., Case no. 85-C-327 (E.D. Wis., Aug. 23, 1985) (notwithstanding court's dismissal of Dalkon Shield claims against Aetna, an insurer could be held liable for suppression of evidence or obstruction of justice if in complicity with misconduct such as that of A.H. Robins Company).

Beyette v. Ortho Pharmaceuticals Co., Case no. 82-71670 (E.D. Mich. 1985) (Lippes Loop); CU-7 Litigation Group, Denver, Colorado.

Daling J.R. , Primary Tubal Infertility in Relation to the Use of an Intrauterine Device, New England Journal of Medicine 312(15): 937 (April 11, 1985).

See Physicians' Desk Reference Book, 35th ed. (Litton, Oradell, N.J., 1981).

Contraceptive Technology 1984-1985, 12th rev. ed. (Irvington, New York), at 93–96.

Mattair v. St. Joseph's Hospital, 234 S.E.2d 537, aff'd 238 S.E.2d 366 (Ga. 1977).

Gildiner v. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, 451 F.Supp. 692 (E.D. Pa. 1978).

An unavoidably unsafe product is one whose benefit outweighs its risk of danger. A manufacturer of such a product will not be held liable under strict liability principles unless a proper warning of the dangers is not provided.

Lindsay v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp., 637 F.2d 87 (2d Cir. 1980);Needham v. White Laboratories, Inc., 639 F.2d 394 (7th Cir. 1981), cert. denied 454 U.S. 927 (1981).

See Restatement (Second) of Torts §402A, comment K (West, St. Paul, 1985).

Weaver v. Searle, Prod. Liab. Rep. (CCH) ¶8690 (N.D. Ala. 1980).

E.g. Terhune, supra note 7.

Needham, supra note 32, at 402-3.

Carmichael v. Reitz, 95 Cal. Rptr. 381 (1971).

E.g., Carmichael, supra note 37; Vergott v. Deseret Pharmaceutical Co., 463 F.2d 12 (5th Cir. 1972).

Berry v. G.D. Searle & Co., 309 N.E.2d 550 (Ill. 1974); see also Skelton v. Druid City Hospital, 459 So.2d 818 (Ala. 1984).

Jones v. Sportelli, 399 A.2d 1047 (N.J. Super. 1979).

Lindsay , supra note 32; Mahr v. G.D. Searle & Co., 390 N.E.2d 1214 (Ill. App. 1979).

Lukasiewicz v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp., 510 F.Supp. 961 (E.D. Wis. 1981).

See Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Ass'n v. Food & Drug Administration, 484 F.Supp. 1179 (D. Del. 1980) (holding that although 21 U.S.C. §§352 and 353, regarding misbranding of drugs, were intended to make the prescribing physician the primary source of information available to a consumer of a prescription drug, 21 U.S.C. §371(a) authorizes the Food and Drug Administration to require disclosure on the labeling of the drug of those possible side effects that are sufficiently serious as to be material to the patient's decision whether or not to use the drug).

See Dixon M. , Drug Product Liability, §9.05 (1974).

Givens v. Lederle, 556 F.2d 1341 (5th Cir. 1977).

See Flitt, supra note 16.

Roth v. Bell, 600 P.2d 602 (Wash. App. 1979).

Jones, supra note 40.

Husbands v. A.H. Robins Co., Case no. 84-5877 (11th Cir.) ($4 million in punitive damages returned Sept. 6, 1984); Tetuan v. A.H. Robins Co., Case no. 82-C-304 (18th Jud. Dist., Kan.) ($7.5 million in punitive damages awarded May 3, 1985).

Lindsay , supra note 32.

Ballew v. A.H. Robins Co., 688 F.2d 1325 (11th Cir. 1982).

King v. Seitzingers, Inc., 287 S.E.2d 252 (Ga. App. 1981);Glass v. A.H. Robins Co., Case no. C84-2041A (N.D. Ga., June 24, 1985).

See Official Code of Georgia, Ann. §9-3-33.

See Givens v. A.H. Robins Co., Case no. 84-1482 (8th Cir. Dec. 27, 1984).

Mack v. A.H. Robins Co., 573 F.Supp. 149 (D. Ariz., 1983);Olson v. A.H. Robins Co., 696 P.2d 1294 (Wyo. 1985);Baker v. A.H. Robins Co., Case no. 83-3533 (D. D.C. 1985).

Baysinger v. Schmid Products Co., Case no. 9973 (Worcester Cir. Ct., Md., Feb. 4, 1985) (Saf-T-Coil IUD); Miller v. A.H. Robins Co., Case no. 83-3048 (7th Cir. July 1985).

Nelson v. A.H. Robins Co., 515 F.Supp. 623 (N.D. Cal. 1981).

Philpott v. A.H. Robins Co., 710 F.2d 1422 (9th Cir. 1983).

See Allen v. A.H. Robins Co., 752 F.2d 1365 (9th Cir. 1985);Knaysi v. A.H. Robins Co., 679 F.2d 1366 (11th Cir. 1982).