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$16.6 Million Duragesic Pain Patch Trial Ends

By Eddie Farah

The trial of a woman who died from an overdose of the drug delivered through the Duragesic pain-killing patch is over. The jury awarded her husband and three children $16.6 million.

The Chicago area woman, Janice DiCosolo, 38, died in February 2004. DiCosolo was the mother of three children who suffered constant pain from a neurological condition, reflex sympathetic dystrophy for which she used the patch.

The narcotic, fentanyl, is the pain killing main ingredient in the patch, made by Alza Corp, owned by Johnson & Johnson. Fentanyl is 100 times more powerful than morphine. The pain patches are supposed to be worn 72 hours and then thrown out.

DiCosolo was wearing one when she died. The amount of the fentanyl contained in the patch is enough to kill 10 men weighing 300 pounds each, said her lawyer Jim Orr.

One lot of the Duragesic patches was recalled in February 2004 because the adhesive on the back of the device was improperly sealed. DiCosolo died the next day, the patch she wore was from that lot.

This represents the fourth pain-patch loss for J &J in two years.

Duragesic generated $1.16 billion in sales last year, according to Bloomberg.

Her case began last October, one day after a Sanford Florida jury awarded $13.3 million to the family of Susan Hodgemire, a 34-year-old mother of five who was recovering from back surgery. She too died when a Duragesic patch failed in 2002, flooding her system with the narcotic. In the middle of the night Hodgemire began vomiting violently, then lapsed into a coma and stopped breathing.

Last year, a West Palm Beach, Florida man’s family was awarded $5.5 million after dying from an overdose of prescription patch painkiller. Adam Hendelson was 21 and shattered his hip in a car accident in 1996. Because of constant pain, he was prescribed the Duragesic patch in 2003. He died at the age of 28, from an overdose of fentanyl.

Meanwhile there may be as many as 100 of these cases waiting to have their day in court.

J & J says it may appeal the latest case. #

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on November 24, 2008 (boomark / email).