Page 2 - aruba-today-20220301_Part3

A2 UP FRONT
Friday 4 March 2022
Continued from Front est Purdue settlement and
Purdue Pharma had pro- the previous one struck last
moted its use for a broad year. The Sacklers' cash
range of pain issues for contribution has gone up
which doctors previously by at least $1.2 billion, and
had shied away from pre- state attorneys general
scribing opioids. and the District of Colum-
"While the families have bia have now agreed.
acted lawfully in all re- The money is to begin flow-
spects, they sincerely re- ing after Purdue, which is to
gret that OxyContin, a be renamed Knoa Pharma,
prescription medicine that emerges from bankruptcy.
continues to help people It's not clear when that will
suffering from chronic pain, be. The last payment under
unexpectedly became the settlement is not sched-
part of an opioid crisis that uled to be made until 2039.
has brought grief and loss Last year, the eight states
to far too many families and D.C. refused to sign on,
and communities," said the and then most of them ap-
statement from the Sackler pealed after the deal was
family. approved by the bankrupt-
Under the settlement, vic- cy judge.
tims also are to have a In December, a U.S. district
forum in court, by video- judge sided with the nine
conference scheduled for holdouts. The judge, Col-
March 9, to address some leen McMahon, rejected
of the Sacklers. That's some- Liz Fitzgerald of Southington, left, and Paige Niver of Manchester, right, listen as Connecticut At- the settlement with a find-
torney General William Tong, center, speaks at a news conference, Thursday, March 3, 2022, in
thing they have not been Hartford, Conn. ing that bankruptcy judges
able to do previously in a Associated Press lack the authority to grant
public setting. legal protection to people
The settlement is outlined doctor told me to do and to their greed." "We're pleased with the who don't themselves file
in a report filed in U.S. I just kept giving them to Individual victims and their settlement achieved in me- for bankruptcy when some
Bankruptcy Court in White her. And when they were survivors are to share a $750 diation, under which all of parties disagree.
Plains, New York, and must starting to have kind of a million fund, a key provision the additional settlement Purdue appealed that de-
be approved by the judge. lesser effect, they say, 'Oh, not found in other opioid funds will be used for opi- cision, which, if left stand-
It was hammered out with then you need to give her settlements. About 149,000 oid abatement programs, ing, could have scuttled a
attorneys general from the more.' And that's exactly people made claims in ad- overdose rescue medi- common method of reach-
eight states — California, what I did," she said at a vance and could qualify cines, and victims," Purdue ing settlements in sweep-
Connecticut, Delaware, news conference Thursday for shares from the fund. Pharma said in a statement ing, complicated lawsuits.
Maryland, Oregon, Rhode with her state's attorney That amount is unchanged issued separately from the The attorneys general who
Island, Vermont and Wash- general. in the new plan, but states family's. "With this media- have signed on are drop-
ington — and D.C. who "I never thought I'd see any will be able to create funds tion result, we continue on ping from the main legal
had opposed the earlier justice for it, so the money they can use to compen- track to proceed through battle but are still free to
one, arguing that it did not will do so much good — sate victims beyond that, if the appeals process on an write briefs to tell courts not
properly hold Sackler family fund as much treatment they choose. expedited schedule, and to allow the protections for
members accountable. and prevention as pos- Other new provisions in- we hope to swiftly deliver people who do not file for
Several parents whose chil- sible," Niver said. clude an agreement from these resources." bankruptcy themselves.
dren became addicted to Ed Bisch, whose 18-year-old Sackler family members Kentucky and Oklahoma Connecticut Attorney
opioids said they were am- son died of an overdose 20 that they won't fight when are not part of the deal be- General William Tong has
bivalent — glad that more years ago, is glad states institutions attempt to take cause they both reached repeatedly said he has
money will be available for pushed Sackler family their names off buildings previous settlements with felt a "special obligation to
addiction treatment, but members to pay more. Still, funded by the family's sup- Purdue. be aggressive" in the case
upset that the Sacklers will he called the settlement "a port. And additional com- Purdue, the originator of because Purdue is head-
remain wealthy and es- horrible deal" because so pany documents are to be time-release versions of quartered in the state. He
cape more accountability. many parents who buried made public. powerful prescription pain- expressed some disap-
Connecticut's Paige Niver, loved ones won't see mon- Most of the the money is to killers, is the highest-profile pointment Thursday with
whose daughter became ey, while the Sacklers retain flow to state and local gov- company out of many the final settlement, even
addicted following a bicy- their wealth. ernments, Native American that have faced lawsuits though he said it was 40%
cle accident when she was "Guess what? They still tribes, and some hospitals, over the crisis. It has twice more than the previous
14 and remains in recovery made billions and billions with the requirement that pleaded guilty to criminal one.
about 13 years later, said of dollars," said Bisch, of it be used to battle an charges related to its busi- "I wanted more. I still want
she didn't want other fami- Westampton, New Jer- opioid crisis that has been ness practices around Oxy- more. But I took it as far as
lies to endure what hers sey. "Without any jail time, linked to more than 500,000 Contin. I could take it," he said dur-
did. where is the deterrent? deaths in the U.S. over the The latest announcement ing a news conference. "If
"As a mother, I did what the We've lost two generations past two decades. follows another landmark we were to continue, we
settlement late last week, would do it alone and that
LIKE US ON when drugmaker Johnson is untenable."
The new settlement re-
& Johnson and three dis-
tributors finalized a settle- quires approval from U.S
ment that will send $26 bil- Bankruptcy Judge Rob-
lion over time to virtually ev- ert Drain. Appeals related
ery state and local govern- to the previous version of
ments throughout the U.S. the plan could continue
Facebook.com/arubatoday/ There are two key differ- moving through the court
ences between the the lat-
system.q