The American Home Products Settlement Trust has responded to a motion to remove three of its auditing cardiologists, saying one has quit on his own and the movants have failed to show that the other two should be removed.
As a threshold matter, the trust says in a Sept. 12 response, the law firms lack standing to seek the removal of Craig Oliner, M.D., Donna Zwas, M.D., and John Gottdiener, M.D., because the settlement agreement conveys that right only to class counsel and Wyeth. In addition, the trust says, the trust has agreed to pay the claims of Ruth Enloe and Linda Morales, on whose behalf the law firms brought the motion
"Even if the Court were to address the merits of this motion, it should be denied," the trust says. "Hariton/Napoli [the law firms] base their entire argument to remove two highly qualified cardiologists [Oliner and Zwas] on the thin reed of a single disagreement between each of them and the Trust's consulting cardiologist, Dr. John Dent. This is hardly a 'persistent' difference between the auditors and Dr. Dent, as Hariton/Napoli claims."
Medical Director
Oliner is medical director of the Coronary Care Unit at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, according to the trust, and is board certified with Level III training in echocardiography, the highest level. Zwas is director of Echocardiography Services at the Jefferson Heart Institute in Philadelphia, the trust says, and is also board certified with Level III training.
Gottdiener's case is different because he approved a claimant that Dent had disqualified but subsequently reversed himself after the trust resubmitted the claim to him. The firms sought his removal on alleged conflict of interest because he had participated in a Wyeth-sponsored scientific study that downplayed the dangers of Pondimin and Redux.
The trust does not address the propriety of Gottdiener's performing audits of matrix claims, saying he has since withdrawn as an auditor, but argues that there is no reason to reopen his audits.
The Settlement Trust is represented by Andrew A. Chirls, Abbe F. Fletman and Robyn D. Levitan of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen in Philadelphia. The claimants are represented by Paul Napoli of Napoli Bern in Mineola, N.Y., and Mario D'Angelo of Hariton & D'Angelo in Great River, N.Y.
10/22/03
