Opinion ID: 1465141
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of scientific evidence

Text: Finally, Mrs. Giles argues that the district court's rulings prevented the jury from hearing the whole truth. She maintains that it was error to let Wyeth introduce scientific knowledge gained after Mr. Giles's suicide, including the FDA's later data analyses, but not the subsequent warnings. Mrs. Giles's claim at trial was that taking Effexor led her husband to commit suicide on October 30, 2002. The jury therefore had to determine whether Effexor caused Mr. Giles's death, and scientific evidence after 2002 that showed no increased risk of suicidality when adults took Effexor was relevant to whether Effexor caused Mr. Giles's suicide. The question at trial was not whether scientific knowledge in existence in 2002 demonstrated that Effexor caused Mr. Giles to take his life, it was whether Effexor caused him to take his life. If later studies shed light on that answer, all the better. Whether Effexor's warnings were adequate, on the other hand, was time-dependent. Illinois law holds a manufacturer responsible for failing to warn only regarding dangers it knew or should have known about at the time it made the drug. See Smith, 148 Ill.Dec. 22, 560 N.E.2d at 344. It does not hold a manufacturer liable for failure to warn about dangers that might be revealed later if the manufacturer had no reason to foresee them. It was therefore not inconsistent to allow post-2002 evidence on causation while keeping out post-2002 warnings that did not pertain to adults and was not based on information known when Mr. Giles took Effexor. [1]