Gerson & Schwartz' Philip Gerson told the jury in Frazier v. Philip Morris that Phyllis Frazier started smoking at age 15, around 1960, and smoked a pack a day for 30 years, until she was diagnosed with emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 1991. She quit smoking eight months later with the assistance of a nicotine patch. Ms. Frazier underwent a successful lung transplant in 2003, but her body subsequently rejected the new lungs, and at the time of trial she still suffered from COPD.
