Pharmaceutical companies should think twice about marketing their products on television to boost sales.

On Friday, CNN reported a Texas jury found Merck & Co. – the producers of the arthritis painkiller Vioxx – liable for the death of 59-year-old Robert Ernst.

The jury awarded the plaintiff/widower Carol Ernst $253 million in punitive damages.

Merck’s defense was the claim that Robert Ernst died of clogged arteries and the prosecution could not prove that Vioxx caused his heart attack.

Ten of 12 jurors were able to see through Merck’s poor defense, as Ernst was a marathon runner.

He even taught aerobics classes in his spare time. Ernst had arthritis, not heart problems.

So why is Vioxx to blame?

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “Merck & Co. documents trained its sales staff to mislead doctors in an aggressive campaign to boost prescriptions for Vioxx despite evidence that the drug increased heart attack risks.”

This effort of concealing information caused consumers to take a drug with possible adverse side effects without knowing about them.

Any doctor knows doing something like that is unethical. This is why these pharmaceutical companies should not play doctor or drug dealer on TV.

Oddly enough, Jonathan Skidmore, Merck’s lawyer, believes the company “acted responsibly – from researching Vioxx prior to approval in clinical trials involving almost 10,000 patients, to monitoring the medicine while it was on the market, to voluntarily withdrawing when it did.”

The FDA did eventually include a warning label on Vioxx’s health risks, and yes, Merck moved Vioxx voluntarily out of stores once more research reached the public  – but this was two years after Merck’s own study in 2000 linked heart attack risks.

And speaking of the FDA, isn’t it supposed to protect us from this kind of threat?

Well, according to the New York Times, at least 10 of the 32 committee members of the FDA’s drug safety panel are financially tied to pharmaceutical manufactures.

Somebody please let down a window! I smell a conflict of interest.

Once again in our market-driven society, general safety takes a backseat to the almighty bottom line.

Now more than ever, consumers need to read the fine print (not skim over it like the introductory page of a math book).

While most college students won’t have to suffer from arthritis anytime soon, acid reflux, clinical depression, chronic fatigue and other disorders affect all ages.

The huge demand for these products is usually the cause for companies like Merck to cover up research, which is why we need to be patient when a new drug comes out.

At least for Carol Ernst, justice was served. Her husband has not died in vain.

As she said to reporters after the verdict was handed down, “I felt strongly that this was the road I needed to take so other families wouldn’t suffer the same pain I felt at the time.”

The jury’s decision could set a precedent against Merck & Co. and all other pharmaceutical companies that have knowingly sold potentially harmful drugs.

Millions of Americans have used Vioxx, or a similar version of the drug.

Now, as Merck’s shares are falling by the day, Americans have a chance to fight back against these companies.

Hit them where it hurts the most – their pocketbooks.

Columns reflect the opinions of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.