Eli Lilly set up a compensation fund in the US for $750m, to compensate users of its drug who contracted diabetes. This was done a while ago, but UK sufferers don't get a penny. Why? Because UK law is rubbish. It requires such a high level of evidence that solicitors won't touch it and even if they did on the basis of the law, and the strength of the evidence, the government, keen to slash budgets don't want to fund these types of cases anymore. So, Eli Lilly et al get away with pushing a drug that kills you.
The mentally ill are kind of special on this particular issue, simply because when elderly users, who were prescribed A-Typical medication to control symptoms of dementia (incidentally this was the starting point for anti-psychotic drugs), they came down hard on care homes and doctors using them to treat the older patients. The older patients were dying earlier than they should, via strokes, heart attacks and the like. But when it comes to the mentally ill, that fear factor I've discussed excludes the mentally ill from protection, simply because the various authorities desire the mentally ill to be medicated up to the eye balls rather than running around killing strangers. They'd rather have a sedated, quiet patient with diabetes, or a dead patient, than a patient killing people and generally causing havoc.
I know it all sounds very cynical. But I have experienced this first hand. I know what I am talking about.
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