Patteson v. Astrazeneca, LP

876 F. Supp. 2d 27, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97052, 2012 WL 2827640
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJuly 9, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 10-1760 (JEB)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 876 F. Supp. 2d 27 (Patteson v. Astrazeneca, LP) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patteson v. Astrazeneca, LP, 876 F. Supp. 2d 27, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97052, 2012 WL 2827640 (D.D.C. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JAMES E. BOASBERG, District Judge.

Plaintiff Kay Patteson first consulted Dr. John Maloney in May 2006, complaining of anxiety, depression, chronic insomnia, and serious alcohol abuse and dependence. Having evaluated Patteson’s symptoms, Maloney began prescribing Seroquel — a second-generation antipsychotic drug manufactured by Defendant AstraZeneca — to treat her. insomnia. Maloney prescribed Seroquel “off label,” as it had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for insomnia. Patteson’s condition improved while she was on the drug; within a year, however, she began experiencing trouble walking and muscle spasms. Patteson consulted with Maloney and a number of other physicians to determine the cause of her symptoms. For many months, her doctors struggled to come up with a diagnosis, and it was not until January of 2008 that she was ultimately found to have tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder linked to her Seroquel use.

Patteson and her husband filed this suit in September 2010 asserting nine claims against Maloney and AstraZeneca based on their failure to warn her of the risks associated with Seroquel. Both Defendants have now separately moved for summary judgment. Because the Court finds that AstraZeneca’s duty to warn runs to the physician — and not to Ms. Patteson — it will grant AstraZeneca’s Motion, dismissing all claims against the drug’s manufacturer. The Court, however, will deny Maloney’s Motion, which rests exclusively on a statute-of-limitations argument, as it finds that Plaintiffs have shown that their claims were timely filed under the continuing-treatment and discovery rules.

I. Background

Looking at the evidence in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, as the Court must do here, Maloney first began treating Ms. Patteson on or about May 30, 2006. See Maloney Statement of Undisputed Facts (Maloney SUF), ¶2. In her initial visit to Maloney, she complained of “depression, anxiousness, chronic insomnia, and serious alcohol abuse/dependence,” id., ¶ 3, and Maloney diagnosed her with “depression, anxiety, and alcohol dependence.” Id., ¶ 4. Additionally, Patteson complained of difficulty sleeping. See AstraZeneca Statement of Undisputed Facts (AstraZeneca SUF), ¶ 11. Maloney initially prescribed Trazodone to attempt to address her insomnia; however, the drug did not improve her symptoms, and Maloney then switched her to a low dose of Seroquel. See id., ¶ 12.

Seroquel, a second-generation antipsychotic manufactured by AstraZeneca, see id., has been approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar mania, as well as bipolar depression, bipolar maintenance, and as an adjunctive therapy for major depressive disorder. See id., ¶¶ 20-21. It has not been approved by the FDA, however, to treat insomnia. See id. Seroquel’s FDA-approved label includes a variety of warnings, including a discrete section concerning the risk of tardive dyskinesia, a “syndrome of potentially irreversible, involuntary, dyskinetic movements.” See id., ¶¶ 22-23. Such warnings also ap[31]*31peared in the Physician’s Desk Reference, which Maloney “referred to as a source of information at the time he was treating Kay Patteson.” Id., ¶ 25.

Although Maloney was aware of the possibility that Seroquel carried a risk of tar-dive dyskinesia at the time he prescribed the drug to Patteson, see id., ¶ 27, he nonetheless did so after considering multiple factors. See id., ¶ 13; AstraZeneca Mot., Exh. 2 (Deposition of Dr. John Maloney) at 11:12-12:12 (“There was a ... multitude of factors that I consider in prescribing medication. I did a complete medicaVpsyehiatric evaluation and she was complaining of a sleep disorder.... I ultimately did prescribe Seroquel in that context because of the nonaddictive properties of it____That was the reason I chose that medicine.”).

After she began taking Seroquel, Patteson reported to Maloney that her symptoms had improved. See AstraZeneca SUF, ¶¶ 14-15. In April 2007, however, approximately ten months after she began taking the drug, Patte'son’s general medical condition began to worsen. See Pis.’ Statement of Material Facts in Genuine Dispute (Pis.’ SMF), ¶ 14. She was admitted to the hospital on April 22, 2007, for progressive weakness in her lower extremities and difficulty walking. See id., ¶ 16. In a visit with Maloney on June 5, 2007, Patteson discussed the symptoms she was experiencing. See id., ¶ 19. She nonetheless continued to take Seroquel following this meeting. See id. Patteson consulted with Maloney over the course of that summer, as well as with a neurologist, Dr. Peter Bernad; however, neither physician could determine the cause of her symptoms. See id., ¶¶ 17, 20-21.

On August 3, 2007, Patteson again discussed her difficulty walking with Maloney, as well as muscle spasms and weakness that she was experiencing, and Maloney, accordingly, began to taper her dosage of Seroquel. See id., ¶22. Maloney claims that he informed Patteson that he was reducing the dosage because there was a possibility that it could be contributing to her muscular problems. See Maloney SUF, ¶ 10. Patteson disputes this, claiming that Maloney informed her that he was reducing the dosage because “she had been on it for a long time and there was a possibility that it was aggravating her limp.” Pis.’ SMF, ¶ 22. Two days after this consultation, she met with Bernad and inquired as to whether her leg problems could be related to Seroquel. See id., ¶¶ 24-25. Bernad told her that he was unsure and that her symptoms were most probably caused by the highly unusual stressors in her family life. See id.

Over the next few months, Patteson’s doctors continued to grapple with her symptoms. See id., ¶¶ 26-30. Potential causes ranged from the psychological to spinal-cord problems. See id. During an appointment on December 31, 2007, Maloney still told Patteson that he did not know what was causing her problems. See id., ¶ 30. Patteson followed up with a different physician on January 17, 2008, and was told — for the first time — that she might have a condition known as tardive dyskinesia, which could be attributed to her long-term use of Seroquel. See id., ¶¶ 31-32. The difficulties the professionals treating Patteson experienced in trying to diagnose her condition were due in part to the “profound stressors in her life,” as well as the “highly atypical” presentation of the condition. See id., ¶¶ 34^35. “Most patients with that condition have symptoms concentrated in the face, tongue, or eyelids, whereas Mrs. Patteson’s symptoms were concentrated in the lower extremities.” Id., ¶ 35. Patteson was ultimately dis[32]*32charged from Maloney’s treatment on February 1, 2008. See id., ¶ 40. She met with a neurologist several days later, who concluded that tardive dyskinesia was the most likely diagnosis. See id., ¶ 39. Patteson and her husband filed a Complaint in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on September 9, 2010, and Defendant AstraZeneca subsequently removed the matter to this Court. Both Defendants now separately move for summary judgment.

II. Legal Standard

Summary judgment may be granted if “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
876 F. Supp. 2d 27, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97052, 2012 WL 2827640, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patteson-v-astrazeneca-lp-dcd-2012.