Opinion ID: 164175
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Learned Intermediary Doctrine in Wyoming

Text: 18 BMS contends, and the district court agreed, that as a drug manufacturer and distributor, its duty to warn extends only to physicians. In turn, physicians, based upon knowledge of their own patients, bear the final responsibility for the decision to prescribe medications and to warn the patient of possible side effects. Known as the learned intermediary doctrine, this doctrine shields manufacturers of prescription drugs from liability where the manufacturer adequately warns a patient's prescribing physician of the potential risks inherent in the use of the product. Edwards v. Basel Pharms., 933 P.2d 298, 300 (Okla.1997). The district court predicted that the Wyoming Supreme Court would adopt the learned intermediary doctrine. 19 The learned intermediary doctrine derives from § 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, see, e.g., Edwards, 933 P.2d at 300, which the Wyoming Supreme Court has adopted in its entirety. Ogle v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 716 P.2d 334, 341-42 (Wyo.1986). Section 402A provides that a seller of a defective, unreasonably dangerous product is strictly liable for physical harm to a consumer. Comment k to § 402A establishes that this rule does not apply to unavoidably unsafe products. These are 20 products which, in the present state of human knowledge, are quite incapable of being made safe for their intended and ordinary use. These are especially common in the field of drugs.... Such a product, properly prepared, and accompanied by proper directions and warning, is not defective, nor is it unreasonably dangerous. 21 Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A cmt. k. 22 Forty-four other jurisdictions have adopted the learned intermediary doctrine in prescription medicine cases, see Vitanza v. Upjohn Co., 257 Conn. 365, 778 A.2d 829, 838 n. 11 (2001) (collecting cases), and the District of Wyoming has predicted that Wyoming would follow suit. See Jacobs v. Dista Products Co., 693 F.Supp. 1029, 1036 (D.Wyo.1988) (The drug manufacturer's liability to plaintiff ended when it imparted adequate warnings to the physician.). In addition, the Tenth Circuit has implied in an analogous case that Wyoming would adopt the doctrine. See Haste v. Am. Home Products Corp., 577 F.2d 1122, 1125 (10th Cir.1978) ([T]he defendant discharged its duty to plaintiffs by the warnings to the veterinarians.). 23 The Thoms' main arguments against application of the learned intermediary doctrine are (1) the Wyoming Supreme Court and Legislature have not specifically adopted the doctrine, despite a Wyoming district court's prediction fourteen years ago that it would; (2) BMS's provision of a Patient Information Sheet to the plaintiff via Dr. Schueler constitutes a gratuitous undertaking, subjecting BMS to liability; and (3) the policy of Wyoming, in light of the Wyoming comparative fault statute, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-1-109, would not immunize drug manufacturers. 24 First, silence on the part of the state means only that it has not had occasion to review the matter, not that it disagrees with the federal court's interpretation of state law. Although the Wyoming Supreme Court has not to date acknowledged the learned intermediary doctrine, neither has it denied the [doctrine]; it simply has not ruled on the issue. We can and must safely assume that the delay, in the grandest traditions of all common-law courts, is due to the absence of a well presented and soundly argued case, rather than indicative of some invented implication that the doctrine does not exist. Rawson v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 822 F.2d 908, 927 (10th Cir.1987) (McKay, J., dissenting). 25 Second, the voluntary duty doctrine is exactly what the learned intermediary doctrine seeks to avoid. Thus, even if a drug manufacturer provides pamphlets for distribution to the ultimate drug user, [t]he patient is expected to place primary reliance on the physician's judgment, and to follow his advice and instructions as to use of the drug. Seley v. G.D. Searle & Co., 67 Ohio St.2d 192, 423 N.E.2d 831, 840 (1981); see also Spychala v. G.D. Searle & Co., 705 F.Supp. 1024, 1033 (D.N.J.1988); Wyeth-Ayerst Labs. Co. v. Medrano, 28 S.W.3d 87, 93 (Tex.App.2000); Presto v. Sandoz Pharms. Corp., 226 Ga.App. 547, 487 S.E.2d 70, 73-74 (1997). 26 Third, the Wyoming comparative fault statute has no effect on the application of the learned intermediary doctrine. The learned intermediary doctrine addresses a drug manufacturer's duty to provide a warning to consumers. See Wright ex rel. Trust Co. of Kan. v. Abbott Labs., Inc., 259 F.3d 1226, 1233 (10th Cir.2001). Wyoming's comparative fault scheme, on the other hand, presents evidence of another's negligence in order to reduce damages; [it] in no way defines or affects the scope of the defendant's initial duty. Valance v. VI-Doug, Inc., 50 P.3d 697, 702 (Wyo. 2002). The adoption of comparative negligence... does not abrogate the necessity of an initial finding that the [defendant] owed a duty to [the plaintiff]. Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).