Unsafe Drugs: Witness Says Vioxx Did Not Cause Death

Dr. Jerome Cohen, a professor of medicine at the St. Louis University of Medicine, testified that "there is not sufficient evidence to prove Vioxx causes heart attacks after taking it for 20 months." Cohen testified in the case of Patricia Schwaller. Schwaller had been taking Vioxx for 20 months before she suffered a fatal heart attack in August 2003 at the age of 52.

Merck witness says Vioxx did not cause death

Schwaller's estate and her husband, Frank Schwaller, are suing Merck & Co., saying that Vioxx was to blame for Schwaller's heart attack. Vioxx was a painkiller often prescribed to treat arthritis symptoms. Cohen testified that the lawsuit filed on Schwaller's behalf was without merit because Schwaller had a number of other risk factors for heart attacks, including the fact that she was morbidly obese. Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in 2004.