First the Diet Drugs Hurt Them, Then Their Lawyers Did…
I think most diet drugs are a scam. That’s just personal opinion, of course.
But there’s at least one group of dieters who got hurt twice… and then their lawyers allegedly threatened to hurt these dieters again if they told anyone what happened.
You’ve probably heard of the diet drug combination, fen-phen, that was believed to cause heart problems for many dieters.
American Home Products Corporation paid a huge settlement in 2001 for just that reason.
Now reports are coming out that lawyers who got a $200 million settlement for 440 clients kept most of the money for themselves.
At least one of those clients says he was threatened by the lawyers when he questioned the smaller size of the check.
Even the judge is suspected of questionable behavior.
You can read the whole story at the New York Times online by clicking the link below:
Fraud Inquiry Looks at Lawyers in Diet-Drug Case
It’s an article worth reading.
I sincerely hope it makes anyone who’s thinking of taking diet pills think twice. It’s just not worth it… again in my opinion.
Technorati Tags: diet drugs, diet pills, fen-phen
March 24th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
I almost got caught up in the fen-phen stuff when it came out. I was happy I didn’t when I heard people got heart problems from the drugs. But now I’m really glad I didn’t.
March 24th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Just goes to show what happens when people get greedy. But I guess whenever $200 million is involved, people get greedy.
March 24th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Slimy, really slimy. The sad thing is even if those people had received the money, it wouldn’t give them their health back. I hope they find a way to get the money to them.
March 25th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
The thing I don’t like about diet drugs is you don’t know what harmful side effects they have until it’s too late. There are better ways to lose weight even if it seems harder at first.
March 25th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I knew a couple of people who took diet drugs… not fen-phen though. They stopped after about 6 months. It seems like an easy way to lose weight at first, but you usually have to diet and exercise anyway so why take the pills if you have to do all the same things to lose weight with or without pills.
March 25th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
If those lawyers are found to be guilty, it’s too bad they won’t receive some eye for an eye justice. They should be made to take fen-phen until they develop heart problems and then their money should be taken from them. Then let’s see if they think that’s fair.
I second Stephanie’s comments. Really slimy. They preyed on vulnerable people who’d already suffered enough.
March 25th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
To set up a “charity” to siphon money from these people is unbelievable. I wasn’t that surprised when the lawyers were accused of wrongdoing, but the judge was the one I couldn’t swallow. If they’re all guilty, I hope they get long sentences, not a slap on the wrist.