| Claims against diet drug attacked A federal judge in Philadelphia has cracked down sharply on two New York law firms, saying they have filed unjustifiable heart-damage claims against a $3.75 billion diet-drug settlement fund. The diet-drug settlement, which was reached in federal court here in 1999, was designed to compensate people who developed heart problems after using the once-popular diet drugs Pondimin and Redux. Pondimin was an ingredient in a drug cocktail called fen-phen. A coalition involving Wyeth, a trust administering the settlement, and lawyers who negotiated the settlement asked Bartle in July to block payments on what they contended were several hundred questionable claims filed by the two New York law firms. Bartle heard testimony on a sampling of 78 of the disputed heart-damage claims during a six-day hearing in September. In his ruling, the judge found on Thursday that all 78 claims filed by the New York firms of Napoli, Kaiser, Bern & Associates and Hariton & D'Angelo were "medically unreasonable." He barred any payment on those claims, and ordered independent medical audits to determine the validity of hundreds of other claims put forth by the Napoli and Hariton firms. One cardiologist working for the law firms had churned out heart-damage reports on diet-drug users at a production rate "that would have been the envy of Henry Ford," Bartle wrote. Marc Bern of the Napoli firm said that Bartle had "misconstrued the evidence" and that all the claims were justifiable. "We certainly will be appealing Judge Bartle's decision," Bern said. Bartle found that the Hariton law firm appeared to have violated rules of professional conduct by hiring New York cardiologist Richard L. Mueller to perform echocardiograms for clients on a commission basis. Under the arrangement, the cardiologist was paid a higher fee when his echocardiogram report showed a level of heart damage that would justify a large payment from the settlement fund, the judge said. Ira Hariton of the Hariton firm could not be reached for comment yesterday. Bartle invoked Henry Ford in reference to Crouse, comparing her to a mass-production enterprise. He said Crouse had been paid more than $2.7 million by numerous lawyers who hired her to administer or review echocardiograms for more than 10,000 people who used Pondimin and Redux. Crouse did not return calls yesterday. Concern over the diet drugs arose in 1997 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration received reports that some users had developed heart-valve damage. American Home Products immediately withdrew the drugs from the market. Lawyers representing diet-drug users filed thousands of lawsuits against the company. Of an estimated 5.8 million people who took the drugs, only a comparatively small number - estimated to be a few thousand - are believed by researchers to have serious heart problems. But this year, the settlement was besieged by a wave of unexpected claims, raising concerns that the fund might be depleted by people claiming exaggerated or nonexistent heart damage. Contact L. Stuart Ditzen at 215-854-2431 or sditzen@phillynews.com |