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Details Revealed About Virginia Drug Maker Wrongful Death Settlements

What does the Freedom of Information Act mean for Virginians? In this case, it means that important details about four Virginia wrongful death cases were released to the public despite some trying to keep the public documents confidential.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg challenged the ruling to keep wrongful death information and details from the public - and the Virginia Supreme Court agreed that the public had a right to exam the wrongful death settlement documents. The result was that newspaper readers across the state were informed of a multi-patient wrongful death lawsuit that involved a defective drug and medical malpractice.

The controversy and subsequent settlements involved Mary Washington Hospital's cardiac unit, four patients, and four patient deaths. According to records, patients were dying or becoming seriously ill after having heart operations that involved the drug Central Admixture cardioplegia in both 2004 and in 2005. The drug, which paralyzes the heart during cardiac surgery so that the doctors can successfully operate, caused the hospital to close their cardiac unit for two weeks to investigate the causes.

Two years later, in 2007, the pharmaceutical company and the patient families settled the wrongful death claims in a Spotsylvania County Circuit Court. Although the settlement details were not reported in full, protests from two newspapers and appeals to the Virginia Supreme Court allowed some information about the cases to be release, including the fact that the four wrongful death claimants received a total of $5.5 million.

While some argue that the settlements of wrongful death cases should be kept secret for privacy reasons, other believe that the details should be made public, so that citizens can be informed of the charges and results, and so that family members who are entitled to part of the compensation can become involved.

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