Some fifty years after the world’s worst drug disaster, Thalidomide survivors like Nick Dobrik are still fighting for justice, seeking adequate compensation to help them live with disabilities caused by a drug that had not been fully tested before it was put on the market.The over-the-counter medication was used by pregnant women for morning sickness in the late 1950s and early 1960s, resulting in the births of about 10,000 people worldwide with deformities like foreshortened and twisted limbs.
A Thalidomide trust was set up by the drug’s manufacturer in 1973, but Dobrik says it is not adequate to address the needs and expenses of people as they age.
“It is ridiculous that 50 years after the events we are still fighting for justice,” Dobrik said. “… The least you can do for the Thalidomiders is allow them some independent life. They are very few in number but their needs are very great.”
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