Learned Intermediary Doctrine Bars Failure-To-Warn Claims in Ortho Evra Case, Judge Rules

CLEVELAND — The learned intermediary doctrine defeats failure-to-warn claims brought against the maker of Ortho Evra because the prescribing doctor was adequately informed of the risks, yet he chose to prescribe the birth control patch, an Ohio federal judge has ruled.

However, in the April 24 order, Judge David A. Katz of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio denied defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings as to the remaining claims, finding they are not grounded in failure to warn and therefore not defeated by the doctrine.

Tiffani Brown, a Tennessee resident, was prescribed Ortho Evra …