A federal appeals court recently affirmed judgment for the maker of an anti-depressant drug, ruling that the plaintiff could not show that an allegedly inadequate warning caused the injury at issue. Dietz v. Smithkline Beecham Corp., 2010 WL 744273 (11th Cir. 2009).

The case reminds readers about the importance of the testimony of the prescriber in a pharmaceutical case. The plaintiff’s physician diagnosed him with major depression and offered him hospitalization for psychiatric treatment, which Dietz declined. The doctor then prescribed him Paxil, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (“SSRI”) antidepressant.  Eight days after having filled and begun his Paxil prescription, Dietz apparently committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train.

Appellant filed a diversity suit. During discovery, the parties deposed Dietz’s physician, who testified that he had considered the potential risks and benefits of prescribing Paxil to Dietz when he wrote the prescription in 2002.  He also testified that, even in retrospect, he agreed with his decision to treat Dietz with Paxil and would do so again today under the same circumstances.

Within the context of prescription drugs, Georgia employs the learned intermediary doctrine, which alters the general rule which imposes liability on a manufacturer for failing to warn an end user of the known risks or hazards of its products. According to the doctrine, the manufacturer of a prescription drug does not have a duty to warn the patient of the dangers involved with the product, but instead has a duty to warn the patient’s doctor, who acts as a learned intermediary between the patient and the manufacturer. The rationale for the doctrine is that the treating physician is in a better position to warn the patient than the manufacturer, in that the decision to employ prescription medication involves professional assessment of potential medical risks in light of the physician’s knowledge of a patient’s particular needs.

Here the court affirmed summary judgment for the manufacturer since the appellant could not demonstrate that any alleged failure to warn the treater about increased suicide risks associated with Paxil proximately caused Dietz to commit suicide. The doctor provided explicit, uncontroverted testimony that, even when provided with the most current research and FDA mandated warnings, he still would have prescribed Paxil for Dietz’s depression. Pursuant to Georgia’s learned intermediary doctrine, this assertion severs any potential chain of causation through which appellant could seek relief.