As I have said repeatedly painkillers are actually killers not just of pain but people too. Since pain is such a common problem even for perfectly healthy people (and even a minor pain can completely paralyze us from doing the simplest of tasks) we have no choice but to take pain relief drugs (I have found, though, that minor headache can be eliminated by putting a chilled eye mask over your eyes). Unfortunately, the drug companies are not only selling dangerous drugs but suggesting much higher doses for common prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Fortunately, FDA is now acting and has decided to move forward with initiating a recall of Vicodin and Percocet. It is also recommending lower suggested doses of other similar drugs because of many cases of liver damage.

What can you do next?

Talk to your doctor to decide how to take care of your pain and also to test you for liver damage.

In case your liver has suffered damage, it is time to discuss your case with a personal injury attorney to assess your legal options and file a lawsuit against the drugmakers.

Looks as if there no recall of Avandia despite its serious side effects. GlaxoSmithKline, like any other drug company, continues to deny that the drug is dangerous, but was forced to add a black box warning by the FDA. Generally, a black box warning means that you should not take this drug unless you have no other option. It is extremely important not to take this drug if you suffer from diabetes but also have heart diseases or are at high risk of suffering a heart attack. You must also insist that your doctor monitor you more carefully for cardiovascular complications.

If you or a family member have had any personal injuries as a result of taking rosiglitazone, you might also want to speak to an attorney to find out if you have a legal case against the drugmaker and demand compensation.

Brian writes, "My case started 2 years ago due to a stroke I suffered after taking Vioxx for 3 years. I am using a group of attorneys who specialize in Vioxx cases. They only get paid if I get compensated. At this point, they said my case is being reviewed by the New Jersey courts. How far along do you think I am in my case? My lawyers have told me that they are making progress but they won't go into detail about a timeline. Please help. I have already suffered enough."

As you very well know American legal process is slow and Merck is doing whatever it can to delay the process. Honestly, I would love to be able to tell you more but based on what you have told me (and I am assuming that you have told me everything that you know), it is nearly impossible for me to say what is happening to your case.

Remember that there are close to 30,000 cases right now and Merck has said that it wants to fight each case one by one (a delaying tactic to wear out the victims). It means that even your attorneys may know only little about when a specific case will be tried. So just be patient. Justice will be served.

Vioxx victims received another victory over Merck. The company withdrew the deadly painkiller in 2005 after it was found that as many as 60,000 Americans died due to heart attacks and strokes due to the side effects of the drug. Many of these patients who did not suffer a cardiovascular complication, like Phyllis Sinclair and Joseph Murray, had sued the firm seeking medical monitoring. The company has been very hostile to its past customers and refused to pay for it.

A New Jersey Appeals court is ordering Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee that she reconsider her earlier decision to side with the drugmaker.

Vioxx litigation resumes

While recent months have meant setbacks to Vioxx victims and victories for Merck, in a favorable decision to the victims, a New Jersey appellate court has ruled against the company, potentially allowing some more class action lawsuits to go forward.

In related news, after a break for Christmas holidays, Vioxx litigation is resuming in the court of NJ Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee, who is presiding over most of the approximately 27,000 cases.

One plaintiff is Frederick "Mike" Humeston, a decorated Vietnam veteran, who first lost his case because Merck hid critical data about the dangers of the painkiller. He eventually won a retrial and the trial is now on.

The second lawsuit has been fined by the estate of Brian Hermans, who died of a heart attack at an early age of 44. While Merck has won some cases arguing that victims were already obese and had pre-existing cardiovascular complications, it may be somewhat harder to claim that in this case. Hermans was "a world-class racquetball player" whose autopsy showed a heart artery blocked by a large blood clot (something that Vioxx is known to do). The attorney taking on Merck is Mark Lanier, who also defended Carol Ernst.