EtG Litigation
Call 1-888-ETG-AND-U (1-888- 384- 2638)
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Health Care Professionals Class Action:
Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG) Alcohol Testing
Thank you for visiting our web page for the class action litigation against testing labs including Quest Diagnostics, Inc. and National Medical Services, Inc.(NMS), Third Party Administrators (TPA) including FirstLab and Compass Vision for falsely marketing and using ethyl glucuronide (EtG) alcohol testing as a "Gold Standard" for proof that a positive result at cutoffs set by the labs and TPAs was irrefutable evidence of the consumption of alcoholic beverages substantiating disciplinary action against health care professionals (e.g. RN, LPT, Rph, MD, and DO) in voluntary assistance programs.
Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP have filed a National Class Action in New Jersey Federal District Court seeking compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of those who have been harmed by so called "positive results" although they had not broken their program agreement by consuming an alcoholic beverage.
The unfairness of EtG testing as proof positive of drinking alcohol obtained national prominence when the Wall Street Journal published "A Test for Alcohol—And Its Flaws" Kevin Helliker, August 12, 2006.
Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP has also filed an individual Pennsylvania State Civil Action Complaint on behalf of RN Nancy Clark who was featured in the front page article. EtG actions have been filed in federal court in both the Northern and Southern Districts of California. See Southern District First Amended Complaint.
Since the WSJ article, testimony before SAMHSA, a federal agency that is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, resulted in the issuing of a SAMHSA ADVISORY, warning that the EtG test is unproven in its reliability or accuracy. It advises that many ethanol-containing products (e.g., hand sanitizers such as Purell, detergents, foods and additives) can produce positive results at or above cutoff levels established by the industry. A 2nd Wall Street Journal article "Federal Agency Warns That Alcohol Test Isn't 100% Reliable" Kevin Helliker, October 5, 2006 continued to bring the EtG debacle to light.
Thousands of health care professionals are involved in programs for voluntary random testing for drug use. Many have been suspended or in shame have lost their ability to work in their profession because of being reported to have positive test results, despite the fact that they denied drinking any alcohol. Defendants have conducted these tests and administered the programs through a Medical Review Officer ("MRO") for licensing boards throughout the United States. The industry continues to market, promote and sell EtG testing with broad and sweeping claims of scientific validity. The Defendants sued are leading labs and administrators that have spearheaded this $4 Billion market and who fiercely, for economic reasons, defend the test and the cutoff levels.
Related Information:
The purpose of this page is to inform those suffering from wrongfully positive EtG testing (Health Care Professionals and others including Commercial Air Pilots, Lawyers, Parties ordered by Courts to have EtG testing) and other interested parties about the litigation, as well as to provide potential class member plaintiffs with a means to assist counsel in prosecuting the case on their behalf by telling us about their experiences with EtG testing by filling in our questionnaire below.
Please complete the questionnaire below if despite your NOT DRINKING ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE, you have had positive EtG results that have led to disciplinary actions against you. Doing so will assist class counsel in prosecuting the case and will ensure that you will be notified of material developments in this case.
Please note that this site is in no way affiliated with the defendant labs and administrators.
Call 1-888-ETG-AND-U (1-888- 384- 2638)
for More Information