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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Mivacurium and Bronchospasm

Healthsouth Northwest Surgicare, Arlington Heights, Illinois

To the Editor:

The authors of the case report regarding mivacurium and bronchospasm (1) draw a conclusion with serious medicolegal implications. They state "that extreme caution be exercised in the administration of mivacurium to patients at risk for bronchospasm (as suggested by the manufacturer) and that alternative drugs be considered for such patients (1)." The authors provide litigation support, and, consequently, their conclusion may be biased. Just as there is disclosure of an author’s relationship with a pharmaceutical company or device manufacturer, it would be worthwhile for your readers to know the nature of these authors’ relationship with the legal process, and whether most of their consultative work is done for plaintiffs or defendants.

Reference

1. Bishop MJ, O’Donnell JT, Salemi JR. Mivacurium and bronchospasm. Anesth Analg 2003; 97: 484–5.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Response

Anesthesiology and Medicine (Adjunct), University of Washington School of Medicine, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA

In Response:

I am not a lawyer and cannot speak to any medicolegal implications of the article. However, I am happy to provide the disclosure information requested by Dr Katz. My involvement in the cases mentioned included one as a defense witness and three for which I performed an initial review but did not serve as an expert. Dr O’Donnell and Mr. Salemi work for Pharmaconsultant, which provided the technical expertise to extract the data from the FDA data set. Pharmaconsultant provides pharmaceutical consultation for a variety of legal and governmental clients and counts both plaintiffs’ attorneys and defendants’ attorneys among its clients.

The motivation for this paper was patient safety and to raise awareness of a side effect that is actually noted in the existing package insert.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Katz, S. M. Articles by Bishop, M. J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Katz, S. M. Articles by Bishop, M. J.