Opinion ID: 161331
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dr. Newey

Text: 30 The Ecks first challenge the district court's decision to limit its inquiry to whether Dr. Rodgers would have prescribed Dilantin to Mr. Eck even if a warning had been provided. The Ecks argue that the prescribing practices of Dr. Newey, Mr. Eck's treating physician, are also relevant, because the interaction of the Isocet, prescribed by Dr. Newey, and the Dilantin, initially prescribed and later monitored by him, were the cause of Mr. Eck's injuries. Thus, the defendants must also establish that his practices would not have been altered with the inclusion of a warning. 31 The Ecks emphasize that Dr. Newey testified that had he known of the interaction between the two drugs, he would have passed this information on to his patients. We acknowledge that Dr. Newey was the prescribing physician for Isocet in January 1995, and also prescribed the loading dose of Dilantin to Mr. Eck in February 1997, and continued to monitor his patient after Dr. Rodgers resumed the prescribing physician role. However, it is undisputed that Mr. Eck did not ingest the Isocet concomitantly with Dilantin until April 1997, when his prescribing physician was Dr. Rodgers. There was no concomitant use of the drugs when Isocet was originally prescribed, and there is no indication that in 1995 Mr. Eck was suffering from seizures that might require a Dilantin prescription. That Dr. Newey might have heeded a warning to Mr. Eck about possible adverse effects were he to prescribe Isocet to him in 1997 is of no significance given the facts before us. We hold the district court did not err when it focused exclusively on the testimony of Dr. Rodgers as the prescribing physician. 32