i agree 100% with your feeling that pwp need to be encouraged/allowed to participate in their own care. i guess we can agree to disagree about any imbalance there might be in the level of info available on particular drugs and what impact that might be having on people's lives.

All I know is the defendant lost the case.

Here's on Mirapex settlement story:
http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/07/com...-over-mirapex/

Others can be found on this Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...US341&ie=UTF-8

Mirapex lawsuits:
Will the plaintiff please rise.
The Mayo evidence was interesting, but not good enough. It’s flimsy science. In court, the infinite resources of Big Pharma can out-talk that research. Hell, even we can.
But this was not the trial, this was a rehearsal of theoretically having the Mayo Clinic as witnesses. So far, the most powerful evidence you have is your own story, told in your own voice, in full detail and with full honesty; practise telling your story as if you had to go on stage (because you do) and tell your story with powerful words, and powerful emotions, and powerful human truthfulness.
And beyond that, you will not be alone. The Mayo Clinic has their eleven Parkies; I e-mailed Anuket about that, and 20 minutes later she e-mailed back the names of 435 people whose lives have been turned upside down by agonists. 435 (not just 11) who have been interviewed, medically verified, signed avadavits, have witnesses - and that’s just one of the lawsuits in one of the countries.
The court may not have time to hear many of them - I wish PWP could organise the rest of the 435 to crowd the courtroom and line up into the street and talk to reporters and passers-by and hand out leaflets. You PWP just never do enough street theatre.. And make sure you get it all on videotape and edit and post excerpts on U-Tube everyday of the trial, along with video-interviews with some of the victims of Big Pharma’s utter lack of ethics and humanity.
I hope some scientists and doctors will step forward, with better evidence than the flimsy Mayo paper. Why do Parkies get the third-rate science?
And I wonder if there is a superstar who would show up for you - someone like Oliver Sacks, who could confirm that your story is no surprise to him.
And you also have the advantage that Big Pharma has lost all credibility and considers paying settlements to people it hurts plus paying multi-billion dollar fines for criminal misconduct to be simply part of the cost of doing business -- they build those costs into their prices and still make, in some cases, 95% gross margins on selling some of their drugs.
So don’t be discouraged by this rehearsal trial; the only evidence brought forward was 11 people who went to the Mayo.
It shows that the Mayo study does not stand up too well all on its own; so that can’t be the major item; your own story is the major item; plus hundreds of others confirming yours; plus I hope that some scientists, doctors… and it would be great to have a whistle-blower from inside.

I hope Bluedahlia and as many others as possible sue the pants off every Pharma that comes along, until such day as there is a recognition of the 48 Amgen volunteers, and a solemn commitment that it won’t happen again, because it is exactly still what is happening. Pharma learned that they can get away with anything.

People who suffered greatly because they were left alone with some drugs that they had no experience with - like teenagers who were secretly given LSD in the ‘60’s and jumped out of windows and had no idea what was going wrong == these people suffered or died because the drug dealers had hearts of stone.

The only thing we all have in common is that we all have the same disease, and even there, it affects us all differently. We have different religions, cultures, mental tricks for survival. I have learned a lot from others on this site; I think I can see what they see.

But I wonder if anyone would see my situation. We have the disease in common, but other than that, I know a few Parkies that you would probably not give the time of day to. Ever been called as a character witness to a Parole Board hearing at a federal penitentiary for someone who committed armed robbery, and then developed PD in prison? Jesus.

The percentages are hugely important.
Your Honour, it is just the shaking palsey, it is just a movement disorder, a stiffness in the joints. It’s not relevant to the prisoner’s conduct or his ability to exercise free will properly if he is freed from prison.
But the definition of Parkinson’s is changing. It is being re-defined. By whom? And what is it now? A disease that causes 20% to lose control of their actions? That is dangerous for all of us if it gets imprinted in society. And we could say, “Your Honour, it’s the Mirapex, he will drop the Mirapex and just take the L-Dopa.” But, the makers of L-Dopa, just a few months ago, added in, word for word, the warning on the Mirapex package. With no announcement, with no scientific studies at all, they just removed our major escape route.

I can sell 1%. I can sell 2%. Your Honour, these people suffered side effects that no one expected, that were completely unheard of, that the Pharma drug dealers knew about, but did not warn these victims, who were left alone with an enemy they could not see.

I could sell that.
But I can’t sell 20%. Your Honour, 20% of people who take Mirapex or - this just in – L-Dopa – 20% of them do serious harm to themselves or to society because they lose their free will and are incapable of controlling themselves -- then we are all screwed. If that becomes the new definition of Parkinson’s. And I see it already - the evaluation comes, not when you can no longer accomplish the task, but as soon as they find out that there is a one in five chance that you are Big Trouble. Just having the disease means you are too great a risk to have around.
The definition of Parkinson’s has cut loose from its anchor and the boat is floating downstream and there are lots of pirates and sharks all around.

So I hope the 20% is not true; otherwise we are screwed. I hope it turns out to be a rare thing - a few thousand people; but not hundreds of thousands.
And those who were clobbered by the thick-headedness of Greedy Pharm, I hope they sue their pants off and I hope they do enough street theatre and publicity stunts to get the word out more and more: the conduct of Big Pharma and certain other outfits towards Parkies is intolerable – that’s where the real destruction is - the President of that drug dealer with his $2.3 billion dollar fine – he is the one who should be told to go and see a shrink. 20% of Parkies are screwing up the world, stealing money to gamble? I would suggest its more like 20% of Pharma executives need to have something pumped into their brains.
So I hope y’all win and win big time against these turkeys, but I hope the percentages turn out to be low. Free will is a quasi-religious belief, without which I would never have survived. I always have to believe I can make myself up; that I am a free creature who chooses who to be…. Without believing that, I never would have gotten through what I went through, and without the religion of free will – that I can re-invent myself as necessary – without that I shatter like an empty cup. And that was true decades before I fell in love with Mirapex. There’s nobody for me to sue, so I just hope science does not get too far with the current world-wide trend to say that there is no free will. I hope everybody gets taken care of but I hope we don’t have to agree that we are just chemicals that Pharma can manage; that the brain is just a recipient of chemicals and free will never did exist at all. There are scientists who are saying that. And it often seems that they are looking at the Parkinson’s people, Alzheimers, depressed, etc., as their perfect market and cheap testing ground. Because these are brain problems and they have the brain drugs. The chemical composition of your brain is something they want to be in charge of. It will make our streets safer, I suppose. They will increase the proportion of tranquilizers during elections. We should all wear robot uniforms and march down Main Street.