Two Springfield, Illinois, doctors and their wives have sued a Merck sales rep for allegedly sending anonymous letters that claimed the couples are heavy drinkers and freeloaders,
The Springfield Journal-Register reports.“These two doctors and their wives feel this conduct can’t be tolerated,” their lawyer, Charles Watson, tells the paper after filing the defamation lawsuit against Beth Kallal, the sales rep. "It’s the type of intimidation that cannot be allowed.” The lawsuit, filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court by internist Carl Lawyer, family-medicine specialist Paul Smelter and their wives, seeks more than $50,000 in damages from Merck and Kallal, a Springfield resident. Kallal, who previously denied any connection with the letters, couldn’t be reached for comment this week, the paper writes. And a Merck spokeswoman declined comment because the drugmaker hadn't yet seen the lawsuit.
The lawsuit focuses on letters the couples say were sent after a dinner Merck hosted at Indigo restaurant on Jan. 10, 2007. The dinner, which Kallal attended, was designed to educate the doctors about Merck’s new anti-shingles vaccine, Zostavax, according to court documents filed by the couples.
Lawyer, who practices with Smelter at Physicians Group Associates, said in an affidavit that during the 2007 event, he asked a medical expert provided by Merck to answer a question about potential cardiovascular side effects associated with Zostavax. The paper writes that the expert wasn’t able to answer the question, according to Lawyer’s statement. The doctors’ suit says Lawyer’s question “could be considered embarrassing to Merck.”
In late January 2007, the suit alleges, Kallal mailed “defamatory” letters from Springfield to Lawyer, Smelter and Springfield neurologist Josh Warach, among others. Watson wouldn’t say how his clients determined that Kallal was the author of the letters, which were typewritten but contained some cursive handwriting. When asked by the paper if a handwriting expert might have implicated Kallal, Watson says, “That’s certainly one way of looking at it.”
According to the lawsuit, the letters said that “in relation to pharmaceutical company-sponsored events,” Smelter and Lawyer “order large amounts of alcohol” and “order multiple entrees and desserts so to have meals to take home.” As a result of the doctors’ conduct at the events, “Mrs. Lawyer looks like a ‘bag lady’ at the end of the evening,” according to the letters described in the lawsuit, the paper writes. The suit adds that the letters said Lawyer asked “some type of stupid question of the speaker.”
According to the letters, waiters at a location often used for the drug-company events refer to the Lawyers and Smelters as the “obnoxious ones.”
Watson tells the paper that he doesn’t know whether Merck ordered Kallal to send the letters. He said Merck may make “the best medicine. But you don’t get to do this kind of thing.” He says the doctors and their wives “want to see their names vindicated. If the facts are as we believe they were, something really bad happened here.”
Watson previously filed court documents that asked Forest Laboratories sales rep Timothy Lyons to provide information about the letters. Watson said Tuesday he doesn’t have any evidence to connect Lyons to the letters.
5 Comments
If nothing else, Merck's hosting of the doctors' spouses at the education dinner is a violation of PhRMA guidelines on commercial practices.
I don't know about this particular situation but there is a sad sense of entitlement that many physicians and their spouses feel when it comes to Pharma sponsored events. I have had physicians wives (and, in some cases, children) show up to investigator meeting functions who get extremely uppity and self-righteous when they are politely asked to leave and told their presence is in violation of company policy as well as PhRMA guidelines. I can usually get them to leave but, when I've worked at companies that insist on having commercial/med affairs present at these meetings, they frequently either complain about displeasing a KOL and/or entertain the physician with the family members themselves. It's all about pleasing the folks who generate income by writing prescriptions.
ol cranky, I've been there too. I felt that indulging the OLs was akin to indulging a poorly behaved chid. The more it goes on the more liberties the child takes. From one international event for US psychiatrists here are three examples: - spouse of physician wrote demanding a certain hotel. "If you don't put us in ( ) hotel my husband will stop writing prescriptions for your company and use ( ) instead. - physician said his wife used an oxygen tank and couldn't be on a high floor so they needed to be in, guess what, the same superior hotel which had better accomodation. (On site she seemed to have improved greatly as no tank was ever seen) - physician and 3 family members turned up 7 mins before flight left for the connection to the event. This meant they missed international flight. They lied and said United had refused them admission and ultimately wrote to the CEO of sponsoring company demanding apologies etc. United verified the truth and it was discovered afterwards that the doc had been somewhat careless with medicare claims too.
My experience is most physicians and spouses are like most people - polite, normal and appreciative. It's the prima donnas and new money types that curdle the blood, and without knowing the facts behind this post, I could only say that I wouldn't be surprised in the least.
From: DAVID EZE Direct phone/mobile:+234-8033649812 The Financial Controller and The Chairman Contract Award Committee Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC ] ATTN, I am DAVID EZE ,the Financial Controller and Contract Award Committee Chairman of Nigerian National petroleum corporation [N.N.P.C. ]. My colleagues have assigned me to seek for assistance of a reliable foreigner through whom we can transfer the sum of US$17,100,000.00 (Seventeen Million,One Hundred Thousand U.S. Dollars) which arose from the deliberate over-inflated contract value for the General maintainance of Kaduna and Warri Refineries. Our contact in the Federal Ministry of Finance have given us a go ahead advice to process the release of this fund hence we have set in motion the machinery for the take off of this transaction and further action will commence immediately we hear from you. We have agreed that after the transfer of the money into your account,you shall be entitled to 25% of the total amount transferred, while the remaining 65% will be for me and my colleagues and 10% mapped out for expenses and your desire percentage is negociable. Since we have no knowledge of business, our plan is to invest this money into Real Estate, Stocks and we can also invest in some other profitable businesses in your country based on your advice because many of our years have been spent as civil servant, and we may likely resign from government service to private business after this money is transferred into your account. Please note that this business is strictly confidential and must not be disclosed to a third party. This is necessary to avoid disclosure that may jeopardize the transaction. Finally, if this proposal is acceptable to you, or if you have any questions, feel free to contact me immediately on my private phone number:+2348033649812. I wait to hear from you Yours truley, DAVID EZE.
Dear David Your offer to depoist huge sums of money in a stranger's bank account is very generous and, I might say, quite tempting. However, if you were a regular visitor to this site you would know that it is rather difficult to find a 'reliable foreigner' here. You will find evil pharmaceutical employees, various rabid advocates for patients' rights, omniscient public health scrutineers, and the odd decent lost soul who wanders here by accident. Then there is Ed... I'll send you my bank account info by seperate email. Chris