Dr. Cohen’s Experience as an Expert Witness

Dr. Cohen is a nationally recognized expert on medications and side effects. Because of his research and writings, Dr. Cohen’s work has received extensive coverage by the national media. Dr. Cohen has presented at major medical conferences and at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and he has published his findings in JAMA, NEJM, Lancet, Archives of Internal Medicine, Annals of Pharmacotherapy, and other respected medical journals. Dr. Cohen accepts one or two cases a year and has a success rate above 90%. In his forensic analyses, Dr. Cohen employs skills similar to those in his 100 published articles and ten books. Dr. Cohen covers every facet of a case, and his analyses are well-researched, thorough, balanced, evidence based, and persuasive. Dr. Cohen believes that if a case is worth taking, it is worth winning. His goal in writing his reports and in giving testimony is not only to render an opinion, but to also provide evidence and documentation that will convince a jury and win the case.

Dr. Cohen’s areas of expertise include:

• Adverse drug reactions, adverse drug events
• Medical errors, medication errors, pharmacy errors
• Medical negligence, malpractice
• Pharmaceutical product liability
• Inadequate warnings in product labeling
• Inadequate dosage guidelines in product labeling
• Inadequate informed consent

SPECIAL AREAS

Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics: Levaquin, Cipro, Avelox. It is well known that these medications can cause Achilles tendon rupture, yet less well known is that they can cause serious damage to any tendons, ligaments or joints in the body. They can also cause multiple injuries in one person. Dr. Cohen has spoken with approximately 400 people seriously injured or disabled by FQs. Many of these people have suffered multiple tendon injuries that are disabling. Others have suffered neurological damage including severe neuropathies with pain, numbness, temperature changes, and weakness in their limbs. Others develop severe panic, anxiety or depressive reactions. All of these reactions are listed via special warning sections in the manufacturers’ product information. Other systems such as cardiovascular or gastrointestinal may also be impacted. Nevertheless, patients are rarely warned of these potential adverse effects by their doctors, who also rarely acknowledge these reactions or provide appropriate treatment when patients report these problems. When Dr. Cohen’s article on these reactions (Peripheral Neuropathy with Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics. Annals of Pharmacotherapy, Dec. 2001;35:1540-47) was published during the anthrax scare and Dr. Cohen appeared on National Public Radio, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control dropped Cipro as the preferred drug for treating anthrax exposure. Now, as the FDA has required new and stronger warnings, these cases are winnable. Many of the people injured by FQs are young, some were athletes, and they new help, medical and financial, until they can recover, which can take many months or years.

Lamictal (lamotrigine) is a medication with serious adverse effects when it is not prescribed according to the specific protocol provided by the manufacturer and sanctioned by the FDA. This drug was almost withdrawn due to frequent occurrence of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), a severe, extensive burn-like reaction that can be fatal. Initial dosages were drastically reduced in 1998 and prominent guidelines placed in package inserts and the PDR. When doctors do not follow the guidelines and serious reactions occur, a defense strategy is to discount the link between the drug and SJS. By locating difficult-to-find research confirming the link, Dr. Cohen recently played a prominent role in a multi-million dollar settlement for a man permanently disabled by Lamictal induced SJS.

Dr. Cohen is an Adjunct (voluntary) Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Cohen is a graduate of Temple University School of Medicine. He practiced general medicine 1971-1974, and subsequently has practiced psychiatry and psychopharmacology, while at the same time continuing his research on the causes and prevention of the high incidence medication side effects. Dr. Cohen’s Over Dose: The Case Against the Drug Companies (Putnam 2001) described how medication treatment causes more than 100,000 deaths and a million hospitalizations each year, and how most of these reactions can be prevented. Over Dose received glowing reviews from JAMA, Publishers’ Weekly, and the national media.

If you are interested in contacting Dr. Cohen, please call his office at 858-345-1760.