NATION
THE BATTALION
Th
Former addicts file lawsuit
againgst OxyContin maker
JONESVILLE, Va. (AP) —
A multibillion-dollar lawsuit
has been filed against the mak
ers of the painkiller OxyCon
tin and two doctors, claiming
they failed to warn patients
that the drug was dangerously
addictive.
The drug, intended for use
by terminal cancer patients and
chronic pain sufferers, has been
linked to at least 120 overdose
deaths nationwide.
The suit was filed Friday in
Lee County Circuit Court by
seven people who are former
addicts or relatives of addicts.
The suit, which seeks class-ac
tion status for other victims, al
leges the drug’s makers aggres
sively marketed the painkiller
while downplaying its risks.
Named as defendants are
Purdue Frederick Co., Purdue
Pharma L.P and Purdue Phar
ma Inc., all based in Stamford,
Conn., and Abbott Laborato
ries Inc. and Abbott Laborato
ries, both based in Chicago.
On Monday, West Virginia
also sued the makers of Oxy
Contin, claiming they tried to
get doctors to overprescribe
the drug while failing to warn
of its potential for abuse.
“What has happened is an
atrocity,” said Dawn Stewart of
Hedrichsen Siegel, a Washing
ton law firm representing the
plaintiffs.
“We have reason to believe
there could be potentially
thousands affected by Oxy
Contin,” Stewart said.
U
Whot happened
is an atrocity.”
— Dawn Stewart
lawyer
Also named in the suit are
doctors Richard Norton and
Shireen Brohi. Norton is a for
mer emergency room doctor
now serving a federal prison
sentence in South Carolina for
embezzling from a hospital.
“I do not prescribe the drug
and I have no comment,” Bro
hi told the Associated Press
Saturday. She then said she has
prescribed the drug once in the
last six to eight months.
Calls to a Purdue Pharma
official were not immediately
returned Saturday.
The plaintiffs are seeking
more than $5.2 billion in com
pensatory damages from Pur
due. They also want the phar
maceutical giant to set up
rehabilitation facilities in the
region and provide ongoing
medical monitoring for pa
tients using the drug.
If taken properly, Oxycon-
tin’s active ingredient is re
leased slowly into the body. But
abusers circumvent the time-
release by crushing the pills
and inhaling or injecting the
powder to get the same kind of
euphoric high that heroin
brings.
The federal Drug Enforce
ment Administration (DEA)
has chosen Mississippi, West
Virginia, Virginia, Florida and
Ohio to participate in a pilot
program to monitor prescrip
tions and try to stop OxyCon
tin abuse.
News in Brief
Mother, three children
killed in auto accident
GERMANTOWN, Md. (AP) —Acar
collided with a pickup truck on a rain-
wet road Saturday, killing a mother
and three of her children, police said.
The family's car crossed the center
line, then struck a guardrail, Mont
gomery County police spokeswoman
Debbie Marshal said. The truck's driv
er tried to swerve but could not avoid
the car.
Killed were Laura Delgado, 29, and
children Victor Delgado, 10; Andrea
Delgado, 6; and 1-year-old Isabella
Delgado. The truck driver was unhurt.
Former workers asked
to return severance pay
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A computer
factory that overpaid dozens of former
workers thousands of dollars in sever
ance pay wants them to "kindly re
turn" the money.
San Jose, Calif.-based Komag Inc., a
computer disc manufacturer, laid off
hundreds of workers at its Eugene plant
in January and issued severance checks.
But about 60 workers, and an un
determined number of California em
ployees, got too much money. Many
have already returned the money, but
some said they already spent it and
cannot pay it back.
Employment lawyers said the case is
unusual — and difficult to resolve — be
cause the workers are no longer on Ko-
mag's payroll. Typically, a company can
deduct the difference from a paycheck,
said Christine Hammond, administrator
of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and In
dustries wage and hour division.
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201 W. 26th Street,
Vowntown Bryan
775-7735
Boy missing since ' 79
will be declared dead
NEW YORK (AP) — In
1979, after 6-year-old Etan Patz
vanished as he walked to a bus
stop in lower Manhattan, his
parents vowed they would never
give up hope. And they did not.
They kept the same phone
number because Etan had mem
orized it. They remained in their
SoPIo apartment, because it was
the only home Etan ever had.
So it was clearly a difficult de
cision for Stanley and Julie Patz
to file court papers more than
two decades later, asking that
Etan be declared legally dead.
The doe-eyed little boy, whose
disappearance spawned the na
tional movement to publicize
the cases of missing children,
would no longer be classified as
missing.
At a court hearing Tuesday,
the Patzes’ lawyer, Brian O’D
wyer, is expected to present evi
dence that while Etan’s body has
never heen found, his parents
believe they know his fate.
If a judge declares Etan dead,
it will clear the way for the
Patzes to file a wrongful death
lawsuit against Jose Antonio
Ramos, a Pennsylvania inmate
whom the family believes mo
lested and then killed Etan.
Money is not the issue. “The
Patz family feels that on some
level, this will help them bring
closure and place blame where
blame is deserved,” said Stuart
GraBois, a former assistant
U.S. attorney who serves as the
family’s adviser.
Stanley Patz sends Ramos a
copy of Etan’s missing child
poster twice every year — on
his son’s birthday in October,
and on the anniversary of his
disappearance.
“I write on the back, ’What
did you do to my little boy?”’
Patz said.
Ramos remains in the Smith-
field Correctional Institution in
Huntingdon, Pa. His sentence
for molesting two other boys
runs until March 13, 2014; he
was denied parole last year and
will not be eligible for release
again until June 2003.
Even if Etan is declared
legally dead, his case wilj re
main open with the police de
partment, and the cold case
squad will continue to investi
gate it.
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Allison
results
in morel
deaths
lews i
Sti
HATBORO, Pa. (AP)-!
week after causing $2 billion
damage in 1 louston, the reit
nants of Tropical Storm Alik:
flooded homes in southeaster:
Pennsylvania, blacked outtho.
sands of customers and chase:
firefighters up trees.
Four deaths were linkedt
the storm in Pennsylvania,ai
thorities said Sunday, pushic
the total blamed on Alliso
since it made landfall inlet
to at least 43. ;d|I ^
“I’ve never seen anvtti::; Qf
lice arre
Taco Be
■ORT WORT
|e-night rur
Je awry.
A man was
day morni
■cycle to a
T) Bell wind*
■ the crew c
Biey and a c
['While he wa
Pupa, an e
olice.
never seen anHMffjcers ar
like this in my entire life.) ene on Fort
only see this on the nevsVB and shot
Madeline Smith said as s:H and leg w
picked her way through tw: hat looked
ed metal and other debris left iern , Fort W
her yard when Pennypadwy 06
Creek rose out of its banks.S::p jn< ^ s < ^° n<
and boyfriend Ken Edwar PT 1 reat:en J n
were rescued from chest-deijj e T? 30 s 1
water rushing past their ho
Saturday by holding onu leputy si"
rope pulled by firefighters. p rx/ : nn a
T he rain tapered off Sun:
in Pennsylvania, whichgotup: CANADIAN
9 inches, as the storm mouemphill C«
through New Jersey and Ttputy was
York into New Englandand Jnday while
to sea. Parts of New Jersey.'^misdemei
more than 5 inches of rai'M ~y ear ~ 0 ^
flooding roads. Sheriff
Firefighters on Saturday tr 9;
cued about 30 residents froir . ! . IIT ~
tl ,„K,cd Village Green
ments in 1 iorsham, 16 miicj U pp e
north of Philadelphia, ^lorning ou
building in the complex rh ere t (-, e m
struck by a natural gas explos had Brittor
and fire, and the rising u utcher said,
prevented firefighters from he scene, Bui
ding the flames. |j|he sheriff
“We lost everything. We [All about t
about lost our lives,” GenevipJ'.36 a.m. Br
Meyers said. “I was scaredkfr^st seven I
to death.” Secanadi
Myers, 65, and her husba ... ' ltc er sa
ill, 72, scrambled into a
fighters boat from a secor j ned sta t e n
story window after the flc , 0 k| e
forced them from their firT
floor apartment. Iin6 injlJ
On Sunday, four bodies"
found in the complex’s
heavily damaged build®!TYLER (AP
where the fire occurred, sa-ople were i
Upper Moteland Police ChiTk le sma
William Moffett. another <
Bi
‘We think that every#
two farm r
was caused by the flood inib ' nveslK *‘ lt
ly,” Moffett said. “It appears# 4 |
the water damage causedagT ' j n
leak somewhere, which caus4|j di ^ .
the fire. And the deaths apj^'L w j^p, a
ently were fire deaths.” iburban dr
At least two people were ^-[rtbr, 41, o
unaccounted for, he said. ;r three pa
Texas Dep;
few troop
Baseball e^anwas
Road
Continued from Page
rm
3p sign at
“There was a little bit ofdfBction wi
light on the right side and iMtijng the
to make a decision.” ^ e * The ir
Tim Crabtree (0-5) tooktqbLrban o
loss for Texas and Nelson Crt e | oa d anc
(1-1) pitched the eighth fort'# 1 ' n 9 t° r
first win. ' tit' said.
On Sunday, the Rangers gk ,
another rare quality pitch®!
performance while the Astral
returned to normal. Texas#!
a four-run fourth inning, capp
by Alex Rodriguez’s 20th hoiB|
run of the year to beat Houston
6-2. Rangers starter Dartfl
Oliver baffled every Astro
cept second baseman Craig Big!
gio, who homered twice to 2
count for both Astro niff
Oliver raised his record to 6--
while Astros starter Scott Elw
ton had his record go to 4-'
The game drew a crowd o'
43,277, breaking the attend#!
record set on the previous
evenings.
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