Allergan Corporation Sued Over Alleged Botox Death
Ms. Dee Spears of Texas has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Allergan corporation, the maker of the cosmetic drug Botox, over her seven year old daughter's death.
ABC News reports that the girl was using Botox in order to treat muscle spasms that she suffered from because of cerebral palsy. Ms Spears claims that her daughter's death was a Botox death. She claims that the use of the drug led to her daughter Kristen's increased severity of seizures, difficulty swallowing and ultimately led to the pneumonia that she died from. The Los Angeles Times reports that the off label use of Botox for other conditions contributes to $47 million dollars of its sales.
The wrongful death lawsuit claims that the Allergan corporation wrongfully promotes off label use, misrepresents the safety of Botox, and fails to warn healthcare professionals of the health risks of Botox. While the case is definitely tragic, the Allergan corporation denies that Botox is involved in the death of Ms. Spears' daughter. Allergan spokesperson Crystal Muilenburg told ABC News that the company believes "the evidence presented in this case will show that Botox did not play a role in this."
The Los Angeles Times reports that the case comes after a year of a federal mandate for Allergan to post "black box" labels warning of potentially serious reactions to Botox. The Los Angeles Times reports that Allergan's court motion claims that Kristen died from a bacterial infection; not Botox.
Her mother claims that she has experts who will claim that Kristen's muscles were weakened from Botox and stopped her from being able to breathe or swallow. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered the "black box" warning labels of the drug to say it could cause "potentially life-threatening swallowing and breathing difficulties and even death."
It remains to be seen if Botox was a leading factor in the death of this patient, but it is important to be aware of the potential dangers of this widely used drug. For more information, please visit our Related Resources.
Related Resources:
- Botox Treatments May Endanger Children (FindLaw)
- FDA Orders Stronger Warnings on Botox Health Risks (FindLaw's Injured Blog)
- What Is Off-Label Marketing? (FindLaw's Common Law)
- Botox must carry strong warning on risks: FDA (Reuters)
- Wrongful Death Overview (provided by Harris, Powers & Cunningham, P.L.L.C.)
- Product Liability FAQ (provided by Harris Penn & Lowry, LLP)