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Fourth Verdict Against Johnson & Johnson

On Monday, a jury in Illinois State Court in Chicago determined that Janice DiCosolo, 38, died in February 2004 because the patch she was wearing delivered a fatal dose of the narcotic fentanyl.   The Duragesic patch is made by Alza Corporation which is owned by Johnson & Johnson; the patch is distributed by Janssen Pharmaceutica, another Johnson & Johnson company.   The jury awarded her family 16.6 million dollars.

“We disagree with the jury’s verdict,” said Greg Panico, a spokesman for the Johnson & Johnson units, in an e-mailed statement. “We are considering our options for an appeal.”

Defense lawyers cited an autopsy report that indicated DiCosolo died from the interaction of at least 5 drugs including fentanyl that were found in her system.

At trial plaintiff’s lawyers said that Fentanyl is a drug that is 100 times more potent than morphine and is contained in a patch that is intended to be worn for 72 hours, then discarded.  Jim Orr, a plaintiff’s attorney, said that each patch contained enough fentanyl to kill 10 men, each weighing 150 pounds.

Janssen recalled one lot of Duragesic patches in February 2004, a day after DiCosolo died, because of improper sealing of the adhesive backing of the devices, defense lawyer David Sudzus wrote in a court filing. The patch worn by DiCosolo was from that lot, he said.

The patches generated $1.16 billion  dollars in sales for Johnson & Johnson last year but the company has still lost each case that has gone to a jury.

In July 2006, a state court jury in Houston ordered Janssen and Alza to pay $772,500 to the family of a Texas woman who died after her patch leaked.  Johnson & Johnson in July 2007 agreed to pay the family of a Florida man $2.5 million to resolve claims that Adam Hendelson, 28, had died after using one of the patches.  A jury in Sanford, Florida, awarded more than $13 million to the family of Susan Hodgemire, a 34-year-old mother of five who died after using a Duragesic patch in 2002.

On January 12th Johnson & Johnson will be facing another pain patch trial in federal court in Chicago.

 

 

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