How should you evaluate a potential Fosamax case?
One important tool is determining whether the patient was diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis at the time they were first prescribed Fosamax.
Osteopenia is a condition where bone mineral density is lower than normal. It is considered by many doctors to be a precursor to osteoporosis. However, not every person diagnosed with osteopenia will develop osteoporosis. More specifically, osteopenia is defined as a bone mineral density T-score between -1.0 and -2.5. This score is based on a deviation from the bone mineral density of a healthy 30 year old white woman. Any test result over a -2.5 will result in a diagnosis of osteoporosis.
In reality, osteopenia is an arbitrary diagnosis. It is an invented term to characterize women who may be at risk of osteoporosis and have lost some bone density. There is no real medical basis for developing this term or choosing that number. Many women are told they have osteopenia when they may never develop osteoporosis. The definition or term is controversial among the medical community. The patient’s diagnosis may not always be determined by a test result from a bone scan but from the doctor’s notes/diagnosis. However, if we find the test result fits in that -1.0 to -2.5 reading and the doctor prescribed Fosamax, it is almost a certainty that the doctor diagnosed the patient with osteopenia.
Because of the loose definition of osteopenia, the treatment for the ‘condition’ is even more controversial than the diagnosis. Many women diagnosed with osteopenia are treated with biosphosphates, including Fosamax. It is reported that half of all postmenopausal women are being told they had this "disease"—with the implication that they should begin taking drugs to treat it. These patients probably should not be treated with biosphosphates to begin with and better treatment would consist of monitoring by their doctors.
There are several reasons why the distinction between the two is important in evaluating a potential case. We know that osteoporosis patients are much more at risk for bone fractures, whereas osteopenia patients have almost as much risk for bone fractures than a healthy white woman age 30. An osteoporosis patient is much more likely to have a history of fractures, making the causation connection difficult. Also, an osteoporosis patient is probably on more medication than an osteopenia patient, thus making the causation connection even more difficult.
Our firm is currently investigating claims for those people who have taken Fosamax and have been injured. If you would like a free case evaluation, please contact Booth Samuels at toll free 1-866-515-8880 or booths@pittmandutton.com.
