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Compensate victims!

Victims of highly publicised drug scandals are promised compensation, while victims of adverse reactions to other medications struggle to take the manufacturers to court, to gain media coverage, and to get politicians' attention.

In France, the brand names Mediator° (benfluorex) and Depakine° (valproic acid) are associated with two notorious public health disasters that generated numerous legal proceedings, intense media coverage, and indignant political reactions. The victims of these two very different scandals were recognised as such because they were able to get media coverage and thus capture politicians' attention. They were subsequently promised specific compensation, far more rapidly than if they had had to take the company to court or had instead turned to the French fund for compensation of medical accidents.

However, victims of adverse reactions to other medications are struggling to take the manufacturers to court, to gain media coverage, and to get politicians' attention. Similarly, the victims of diethylstilbestrol (DES) in France continue to fight for compensation. The judicial proceedings are dragging on, costing the individuals concerned a considerable amount of money and mental energy. Fewer in number, but no less noteworthy, are the victims of severe drug reactions such as toxic epidermal necrolysis.

Why not simply recognise, once and for all, that every year thousands of patients are victims of drug toxicity and set up a collective fund for compensating all such individuals? The fund would be paid for by drug companies or their insurers.

The first step is to recognise that accidents due to medicinal drugs are a daily occurrence, and not as unusual as their occasional, often spectacular media coverage would suggest.

©Prescrire 1 June 2017

"Compensate victims!" Prescrire Int 2017; 26 (183): 143. (Pdf, free).
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See also:

No more denial
Prescrire Int 2016:
25 (169): 60.
Pdf, free