The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is allowing the family of Chad Edgar Beal to proceed in their lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of the Duragesic patch.  Beal died after just one day of using the 75mcg patch.  He died in March of 2004, which is the same timeframe in which lot number 0327192 of the 75mcg patches was recalled.  I’m not sure whether Beal received one of the defective patches.  Certainly there is a good chance of it.  If he did receive one of those defective patches, his case will be easier to prove since that lot is known to be defective. 

If he received a patch from another lot, his family still may be able to win their lawsuit, it will just be more of an uphill battle.  The manufacturer expects a minimum of 8,000 defective patches per year, and that number should be over and above however many patches were in the defective lot.