Trust suit alleges Mos. cardiologist improperly certified drug damage

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A trust responsible for distributing a multibillion dollar legal settlement to people who took a potentially harmful diet drug sued a Missouri cardiologist Thursday, contending she diagnosed thousands of people as being ill without properly evaluating their health.
The suit, filed by the AHP Settlement Trust, accuses Linda J. Crouse of turning her Kansas City practice into an "assembly line" that improperly certified that people who had taken the diet drugs Pondimin and Redux were suffering from valvular heart disease.
In many cases, the suit alleges, Crouse took only a few minutes to evaluate echocardiograms and she rarely met patients in person, reviewed their medical records or took a medical history.
It said that for 11 months of work, Crouse was paid $3.2 million by law firms representing people who hoped to win a share of the $3.75 billion settlement paid by American Home Products, the company, now known as Wyeth.
, that made the drugs.
During that time, the trust claims, Crouse signed 2,500 certificates, dubbed "green forms," designating that a person could participate in the settlement.
"Dr. Crouse signed these green forms either knowing that many of her representations were false or knowing that she was acting with reckless disregard as to the truth of the representations," the suit said.
Crouse, who is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, did not immediately respond to phone messages left at her office Thursday.