Learned Intermediary Doctrine Bars Failure-To-Warn Claims, Judge Rules

CLEVELAND - The learned intermediary doctrine defeats failure-to-warn claims brought against the makers of the Ortho Evra birth control patch because the prescribing doctor was aware, and warned the plaintiff, of the risk of blood clots posed by the patch. Legard v. Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., et al., No. 08-40197 (N.D. Ohio).

On June 24, Judge David Katz of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio further ruled that the plaintiff failed to establish that the patch was neither a cause-in-fact nor a proximate cause of her injury.

In May 2002, Ashante Legard, a Louisiana resident, was …