Supplement maker, GNC sued in PT death

Alternative Medicine
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See http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/15/5193294/parents-of-dead-soldier-sue-diet.html for the brief story.
I wish them luck. More then anything else, medical fraud is one of my all time top pet peeves. People get dead this way.

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Laws have to be changed. I could collect the grass from my yard clippings and sell them in capsules ‘to promote health’, and there isn’t a damn thing the government can do to stop me, until a foxglove leaf or two end up in a batch.

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See http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/15/5193294/parents-of-dead-soldier-sue-diet.html for the brief story. I wish them luck. More then anything else, medical fraud is one of my all time top pet peeves. People get dead this way.
"U-T San Diego says the supplement maker, USPLabs, and the ingredient producer, San Marcos-based Natural Alternatives International . . ." Hey, at least it was "natural." Too bad she didnt have McGyver to advise her. I suspect it was a stimulant that affected an existing problem with her heart that she might not have known about.
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Hey, at least it was “natural."
Yeah...so is cyanide. Natural? Check! Effective...OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!!....Check. Safe....uh....errr....Houston, we have a problem!!!!! ;)
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See http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/15/5193294/parents-of-dead-soldier-sue-diet.html for the brief story. I wish them luck. More then anything else, medical fraud is one of my all time top pet peeves. People get dead this way.
As much as I dislike the supplement industry we'll have to see if they can prove proximate cause here. One death that occurred after a product was used is not in itself proof that the product lead to the death. They are going to need to show a pattern of injuries that can convince a jury. I do have a bit of a problem though with people making stupid decisions and then trying to blame someone else for them. No doubt companies that promote products like this without ensuring they are safe should be held liable but the consumer has to accept some responsibility too. Supplements are not FDA approved and yet people take these things without doing any real research on them. They read the manufacturers propaganda or ask their gym rat friends about it and thats where their due diligence often ends. How do you put something into your body that purports to have powerful effects without taking a few minutes to do some research especially in this day and age when so much is a few keystrokes away? I'm also curious why the base commissary was selling this stuff. These guys are a captive audience. It would be a perfect opportunity to influence the health of our service men and their families in a positive way if they asked the medical staff to review what is sold there.
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I'm also curious why the base commissary was selling this stuff. These guys are a captive audience. It would be a perfect opportunity to influence the health of our service men and their families in a positive way if they asked the medical staff to review what is sold there.
Commissaries pretty much sell what customers ask them to. They're pretty much a regular business, except they're required to be non-profit. Which apparently means that they're allowed to have baggers who work for no wages, only tips. That always annoyed the hell out of me when I was in the service.
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I do have a bit of a problem though with people making stupid decisions and then trying to blame someone else for them.
That point is well taken as is the one about proximate cause.
I’m also curious why the base commissary was selling this stuff. These guys are a captive audience.
Not really, no. Military service members are not corralled into a base or a fortification as in the days of the wild wild west. Servicemembers and they're dependants shop elsewhere all the time. The Commissaries and post exchanges do not enjoy a monopoly. The problem of course is that the same crap is available just outside the gate in the local businesses.