Marfan Miscellany

COUMADIN ANTI-TRUST SETTLEMENT:

People who purchased Coumadin between March 1, 1997 and August 1, 2001 in the United States may be entitled to a share of an antitrust settlement from a class-action lawsuit if the settlement is approved at a settlement hearing in January. The lawsuit alleges that DuPont Pharmaceuticals "disseminated false and misleading information to consumers,Third Party Payors and others regarding the bioequivalence of Coumadin and other warfarin sodium products by providing consideration to entities involved in the distribution of pharmaceuticals to induce them to favor Coumadin over other warfarin sodium products." The notice stresses that "No question is raised about the safety or effectiveness of Coumadin."

If you bought Warfarin (even if you only paid a copayment rather than the full price), and if the settlement is approved, you may be entitled to a share of the $44,.500,000 that has been proposed. It seems that you will be contacted if you did purchase Coumadin in the United States between the above dates.

For more information, see CoumadinSettlement.com

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NUTRITION AND MARFAN:

• Sandy Simmons' Inherited Connective Tissue Disorder Web Site
• My own page on nutrition and natural health

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PATIENT ADVOCACY:

• Managed Care Central (from Families USA) Offers a wide variety of information about managed care
• The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities
NICHCY is the national information and referral center that provides information on disabilities and disability-related issues for families, educators, and other professionals. Their special focus is children and youth (birth to age 22).
• Write to your U.S. Senator

• Write to your U.S. Congressman or Congresswoman

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DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA:

Revised diagnostic criteria for the Marfan Syndrome (including a chart for normal aortic root measurements, about halfway down the page)

• To calculate surface body area, try this link: Body surface area calculator
• If you need to convert measurements to metric, try this link: Metric conversion in Javascript Remember to also convert meters to centimeters for the body surface area calculator.
• Please read about the Revised (Ghent) Diagnostic Criteria on this page, by Dr. Harold Chen, Louisiana State University Medical Center. Marfan syndrome, especially the section on History. Please keep in mind that diagnosis is sometimes very hard to make in the Marfan syndrome.