Are ads from plaintiffs lawyers about prescription drug lawsuits endangering lives by frightening patients into stopping their medications? A U.S. House subcommittee hearing scheduled for Friday on that issue has drawn lawyers from both sides into the fray.

Lisa Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform, said in a statement issued Thursday, “Alarmist plaintiff lawyer ads targeting prescription drugs can literally scare people to death. Congress is right to examine their impact on the public's health and to consider how this can be remedied.”

Rickard cited a new online survey showing that one in four Americans would stop taking their prescription medication—without consulting their doctor—after seeing ads promoting lawsuits against the drugs' manufacturers. “And 84 percent [of respondents] say they would be concerned if they saw a lawsuit ad about a medicine they were taking,” according to ILR's survey.