Lawyers on both sides in the nation’s first Vioxx-related trial are expected to make their final arguments Wednesday, The Associated Press reported Monday.

The plaintiff, Carol Ernst, alleges that Merck and Co.’s painkiller Vioxx caused the sudden death of her husband, Robert Ernst, in May 2001 after he had taken the drug for eight months to ease the pain in his hands.

Merck pulled Vioxx from the market after a study confirmed that it increases a patients’ risk of heart attack and stroke.

(via The Associated Press)