States say drug ruling should be upheld

MONTPELIER, Vt.—Vermont and 46 states are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a Vermont Supreme Court ruling that forced a drug manufacturer to pay $6.8 million to a woman whose arm had to be amputated after she was injected with one of its medications.

A jury awarded the money to Diana Levine of Marshfield who sued Wyeth after she was injected in April of 2000 with its Phenergan nausea medication. The drug was inadvertently injected into an artery, which was seriously damaged. Doctors later amputated her arm.

Wyeth appealed and the Vermont Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling in 2006.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal, which will be argued on Nov. 3

Wyeth contends it should not have been subjected to the lawsuit because the company had the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the warning label that accompanied the drug.

In a friend of court brief filed Thursday, Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell urged the court to reject Wyeth's argument that it be immune from lawsuits when the FDA approved its labeling.