One of the most interesting cases about gambling addiction is about to be settled outside of court after Pfitzer offered a settlement deal to 150 Australian citizens who had some unwanted side effects of Pfitzer’s drug for treating Parknson’s.
As was reported in The Guardian, 150 patients from Australia complained that after they started taking the medication Cabaser supplied by Pfitzer they started to feel like taking risks which led them to lose thousands of dollars on gambling and betting. To make everything even more complicated, not one of the people had any gambling problems in the past.
Besides the Australians who became addicted to gambling, there were others who said that the medicine provoked compulsive sex behaviour.
The whole process began in 2008 and the next hearing was scheduled for the beginning of the next year. However, the company agreed to pay the patients who said that they were never warned of any side effects like the one mentioned above. The settlement was accepted by both involved parties and currently awaits court approval.
One of the people to comment on the recent events was Bill Madden who is the leader for Slater & Gordon’s medical law division. He pointed out that in the past there have been cases when the court refused to approve settlements and hence the wisest thing to do is wait for the final decision.
Madden also explained why this case is so interesting from a legal perspective of view. He said that that the peculiar side effects of the drug are the main reason that the case gained popularity. He went further on expressing his thoughts on settling outside of court saying: “However, it would be good to see a case like this settled outside of court, because it would save everyone involved a lot of time and a lot money.”