Father of Fen-Phen Sentenced
November 19, 2001
URGENT NOTICE: In many instances, if you have not filed a complaint you may lose your rights to bring a claim or receive compensation for any valvular heart damage that you sustained from Fen-Phen diet drugs.
While there are some exceptions available to class members who timely requested a free echocardiogram under the Screening Program, to fully protect your rights you should immediately contact an attorney to determine if there are any important dates which are approaching. For this reason, you should act immediately.
The man who once described himself as the "father of fen-phen" was sentenced to almost four years in prison this week for selling the now-banned diet drug combination over the Internet. Pietr Hitzig, 60, was convicted in June 2001 on 33 counts of prescribing the appetite suppressing drug.
Hitzig, who attorneys say is delusional and unstable, prescribed fen-phen for illnesses the drug was never intended for, including Gulf War syndrome, AIDS, and cancer. According to the judge, Hitzig used his patients as human guinea pigs.
Fen-phen was banned in 1997 after it was discovered that the fenfluramine component of the drug was responsible for an alarmingly high occurrence of heart valve defects and a deadly condition known as primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). To date, over 4,000 lawsuits have been filed against fen-phen's manufacturer, American Home Products Corporation.
-- Article Courtesy of InjuryBoard.com
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