A physician to be called to testify that Vioxx caused a blood clot which killed Richard Irvin cannot do so, ruled Judge Fallon last week. Beasley, Allen serves as Plaintiff's counsel on the case.
Merck's counsel had filed a Motion to Exclude/Disqualify Dr. Michael Graham. What else is news? The Motion filed by Merck notes that three medical experts who testified in the first trial held in Houston because of Hurricane Katrina had apparently been dropped from the Witness List in the Irvin trial
Beasley, Allen had called Michael Graham, M.D. with a view that his testimony would indicate that Vioxx could cause a blood clots in a short period of time, and in fact caused the clot that led to Irvin's heart attack.
In Judge Fallon's Order disqualfying Graham, he wrote that Graham had no pharmacology training, was not qualified to explain how Vioxx might cause a blood clot, has never prescribed it, and got most of his knowledge about the drug in an eight-hour review of medical articles, expert reports and trial transcripts.
The trial is set to start today, February 6, 2006 in New Orleans.
