Pain Patch Makers Hit With $5.5M Verdict

Billy Shields
Daily Business Review
07-10-2007

A federal jury in West Palm Beach, Fla., has awarded $5.5 million to the estate of a young West Palm Beach man who died from an overdose due to the malfunction of a popular prescription pain patch manufactured by two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries.

In 1996, then 21-year-old Adam Hendelson shattered his hip in a car accident. Surgeons grafted a metal plate onto his hip with bolts and pins. His spine, back and hip were all degenerating, causing constant pain. In June 2003, he started using a prescription patch called Duragesic, which administers a powerful painkiller through the skin.

While typing his resume in December 2003, Hendelson passed out while wearing a 75-microgram patch and never woke up again. He died Dec. 16 at age 28. Doctors discovered he died from overdose of fentanyl, a painkiller in the transdermal patch.

Last month, after a two-week trial before Southern District of Florida Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley, the jury deliberated for eight hours before it found the two subsidiaries of New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson -- Alza Corp. and Janssen Pharmaceutica -- negligent in producing the defective patch that killed Hendelson. The jury also found the companies failed to adequately warn the public about the dangers the patch poses.

Most of the verdict, $5 million, was in noneconomic damages awarded for mental anguish Adam's father, Lee Hendelson, suffered as the result of his son's death. The rest was for economic losses.

The plaintiffs attorney, Jason Stuckey of Gulas & Stuckey in Birmingham, Ala., said the judgment doesn't come close to the worth of a human life. "You tell me, what's a man's only child and his best friend worth?" Stuckey said. Lee "will go through mental anguish and emotional suffering for the rest of his life. Obviously nobody can put a price tag on life, but in lawsuits that's all we can do."

In an interview, Lee Hendelson said, "Just hearing the verdict, that they were guilty of the manufacturing defect, was enough for me. It wouldn't matter if [the verdict] was a low number or a high number. To have my son back right now with me, to have him living and breathing, I would throw it all away just to have him here with us."

Johnson & Johnson attorney Michael Zellers of Tucker Ellis and West in Los Angeles did not return calls for comment. Local counsel for Johnson & Johnson, Anthony Upshaw of Adorno & Yoss in Miami, was on vacation and not available for comment by deadline.

In a written statement, Alza Corp. and Janssen Pharmaceutica spokesman Gregory Panico said: "We sympathize with the Hendelson family over their loss. However, we disagree with the jury's verdict. We are considering our options for an appeal."

This is the second time the manufacturers of the Duragesic patch lost at trial. Last July, a state court jury in Houston awarded the family of Michaelynn Thompson $772,500. Like Hendelson, Thompson died from overexposure to fentanyl. Thompson also used the patch to control pain suffered from auto accident injuries.

There are an estimated 100 suits across the country involving the Duragesic patch. Stuckey said he has pending suits in Oklahoma, Georgia, California and New Mexico.

Introduced in 1990, the Duragesic patch has a membrane that allows a painkilling gel to be absorbed through the skin over the span of three days. The patch is one of Johnson & Johnson's top five selling products. On June 15, 2005, the FDA announced it was investigating deaths from fentanyl overdoses related to the patch.

Janssen recalled batches of Duragesic at least twice -- once in February 2004 and again in April 2004 -- because of potential leaks due to manufacturing flaws. The company also issued a statement in June 2005 updating prescription and warning information.

Hendelson's family filed suit against Alza Corp. and Janssen Pharmaceutica -- subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson -- in December 2005. Douglass Kreis of Aylstock Witkin Kreis & Overholtz in Pensacola, Fla., was the Hendelson family's local counsel.

Although the jury found largely in favor of the plaintiff on June 21, the jurors rejected plaintiff allegations that the defendants committed negligence by putting the patch on the market with a design defect and failing to warn about the patch's interactions with other drugs. They also rejected the plaintiff's request for punitive damages.

Stuckey said the patch should be reserved for severe chronic pain in terminally ill patients. "When it works, it works great," he said. "When it fails, it kills you."