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Her husband , a Wal-Mart produce manager , also ran marathons and was an occasional personal trainer.Ernst 's lawsuit is the first of more than 4,200 Vioxx-related state and federal lawsuits across the country to go before a jury.Reicin reiterated what other current and retired Merck executives have said during the trial : Safety was paramount in 58 clinical trials involving 10,000 patients conducted before Vioxx won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to go on the market in 1999.But Carol Ernst 's lawyer , Mark Lanier , singled out several of those studies , challenging their results because so many were small and involved patients taking Vioxx for days or weeks rather than years.Specifically , he noted a study in 1997 where an outside scientist noted Vioxx could possibly cause blood clots that may lead to heart attacks or strokes because it inhibited an enzyme that thins the blood . However , Ernst , a produce manager at a Wal-Mart , also ran marathons and taught aerobics classes and enough blood flowed to his heart during those activities , plaintiff 's lawyer Mark Lanier noted on cross-examination . She also alleges Merck ignored its company motto of putting patients first , instead putting profits before safety.Robert Ernst , a Wal-Mart produce manager who ran marathons and taught aerobics classes , died in his sleep one month before their first wedding anniversary.Merck counters that the company acted responsibly , disclosed research and believed Vioxx to be safe until the study last year prompted its withdrawal.Merck has relied heavily on Ernst 's autopsy report , which attributes his death to an arrhythmia secondary to clogged arteries . Enough is laid on slavery , without fathering upon it these creations and contributions of Sir Walter . It was such a frightfully long way ; no man knew what horror might not leap and huddle on his shoulders if he went so far ; when a man has an overmastering impulse to get back into bed he ought to take heed of the warning and obey it . On Monday Lanier 's next expected witness was Dr. Isaac Wiener , a cardiologist and co-director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Center at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.Robert Ernst , a produce manager at a Wal-Mart near Fort Worth who ran marathons and worked as a personal trainer , took Vioxx for eight months to alleviate pain in his hands until he died in his sleep . " I did not see a myocardial infarction ( heart attack ) , but it 's common knowledge that in sudden death the heart does not have time to undergo these changes , " Araneta said.Ernst 's wife , Carol , sued Merck , claiming that the Vioxx her husband took for eight months to ease pain in his hands caused his death.In later testimony Monday , Merck 's former marketing director testified that the company did not study how Vioxx would affect patients ' hearts before it went on the market.In a deposition taped in March but shown to jurors Monday , David Anstice said Merck " did not study Vioxx specifically for cardiovascular outcomes , " such as heart attacks , before the drug went on the market in 1999 , as scientists decided such testing was unnecessary.Anstice also testified the company 's million-dollar launch of painkiller Vioxx in 1999 was its biggest , most important launch ever.Plaintiff 's lawyer Mark Lanier has repeatedly referred to Anstice , now chief of Merck 's human health division , as a marketing guru bent on turning Vioxx into the multibillion-dollar seller it was to replace and even surpass revenues the company stood to lose in 2000 and 2001 when patents on other lucrative drugs were due to expire.Lanier also has singled out Merck 's medical manual , which says arrhythmia occurs in more than 90 percent of heart attack patients.Merck pulled Vioxx from the market in September after a study showed that it doubled the risk of heart attack if taken for 18 months of longer.Ernst was a produce manager at a Texas Wal-Mart who also ran marathons and worked as a personal trainer.Merck fought to prevent jurors from hearing Araneta 's testimony on the grounds that Lanier failed to identify her by name as a witness by the pretrial deadline , which the company said violated court rules on surprise witnesses.The 14th Court of Appeals in Texas denied the company 's appeal of state District Judge Ben Hardin 's decision that jurors could hear Araneta 's testimony . These , and other wonderful and quirky personal or civic artifacts that were displayed for the entire meeting , reminded attendees to keep coming back to the caring for and sharing of personally important items - - the stuff that brought them all together in the first place . " We are not entertaining the notion of a global settlement , " he said.Shares of Merck dipped 6 cents to $ 27.71 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.Whitehouse Station-based Merck pulled the popular arthritis treatment from the market last September when its own study showed Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attack or stroke when taken for at least 18 months.Jarrell said the company does not know how many patients took Vioxx for at least 18 months and also had low risks of cardiac problems but expects it to be " a relatively small number .