Thalidomide judgment
(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyripht) LOS ANGELES, June 19. A New York city drug firm has been ordered to pay s2m to a deformed nine-year-old girl whose mother said she took the tranquillising drug thalidomide during pregnancy, the associated press reported. The judgment was returned yesterday against RichardMerrill, Inc., after a 10-week jury trial in the Superior Court.
The suit was filed by Margaret Joan Whitehead and her mother, Shirley McCarrick Whitehead, aged 26, of Anaheim, California. The child was bom on May 26, 1962, with a deformed right leg, and now uses a prosthetic limb. She also i has some deformities in the joints of her left leg.
Thalidomide was banned after it was linked with birth defects in Europe and Canada.
Mrs Whithead was awarded $200,000. Her attorney said it was the first thalidomide court judgment in the United States.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32639, 22 June 1971, Page 24
Word Count
142Thalidomide judgment Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32639, 22 June 1971, Page 24
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