Ky. Jury Awards Family $18 Million for Fatal Parlodel-Induced Seizure

LOUISVILLE, Ky.- A Jefferson County jury ordered Novartis Pharmaceuticals to pay $18.3 million to the family of a woman who died in 1993 after suffering a seizure caused by the breast milk suppressant, Parlodel. Ronald Gunderson, et al. v. Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, et al., No. n/a (Ky. Cir. Ct., Jefferson Cty.).

After a month long trial, the jury unanimously agreed that Novartis 'was unreasonably dangerous for use' and a 'substantial factor' in the death of then 32-year-old Mary Margaret Gunderson. Nine of the 12 jurors also found that the physician who prescribed the drug, the late Dr. Lyman Armstrong, was partly …