http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Diluted-Drugs.html
|
August 24, 2001 Diluted Drug Investigation Widens
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:32 p.m. ET KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Federal authorities are adding more agents to
their investigation of a millionaire pharmacist indicted on 20 new counts of
mislabeling and tampering with potentially lifesaving chemotherapy drugs. ``This investigation is a long way from being completed. To the contrary,
it is just beginning,'' FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said Thursday. He said 30
new agents and support staff would arrive next week to join the 50 already on
the case. Robert R. Courtney, 48, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on
eight counts of tampering with consumer products, six of adulteration of a
drug and six of misbranding a drug. The charges replace a complaint filed Aug. 14 accusing Courtney of a
single felony count of misbranding and adulteration of a drug. Investigators said samples they tested contained generally less than half
of the drugs prescribed and one chemotherapy mixture was nearly pure saline. Authorities say Courtney -- who allegedly saved hundreds of dollars per
dose -- was motivated by profit and $600,000 in looming tax bills. Courtney's attorney, Jean Paul Bradshaw, said he didn't expect any further
charges. ``The FBI always says they will continue their investigation,'' said
Bradshaw, a former U.S. attorney in Kansas City. ``The charges today are what
I believe will be filed in this case.'' Courtney is being held without bond after a judge called him a danger to
the community and a flight risk. He is due to be arraigned Monday afternoon,
and will plead innocent, his attorney has said. Prosecutors have said they believe Courtney may have diluted at least 150
intravenous bags for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. But Thursday's
indictments appear to involve far fewer cases, though prosecutors and FBI
agents say the ongoing investigation may involve hundreds of patients. Also Thursday, a man claiming Courtney's weakened drugs killed his wife
filed a wrongful death lawsuit in state court. Ken Atwood's litigation is at
least the eighth civil lawsuit against Courtney. An FBI agent testified Monday that one of Courtney's former patients has
died. But the government declined to say whether that victim was Atwood's
wife, Adelia. She died Feb. 10 at age 62. A lawyer for Ken Atwood said that Courtney's pharmacy billed the Atwoods
almost $84,000 for chemotherapy drugs during a time when prosecutors say
Courtney has admitted diluting the drugs. ``Mrs. Atwood was not experiencing any of the side effects of
chemotherapy. She was not losing her hair, not having ulcers in her mouth,''
attorney Mike Ketchmark said Friday. ``So the doctor kept bouncing her from
medication to medication, trying to find something that would work, but
Courtney was diluting all the medications.'' The adulteration and misbranding counts involve six alleged dilutions over
two days, Aug. 7 and Aug. 13. The eight tampering counts involve various
individual preparations of chemotherapy drugs which Courtney allegedly
prepared for patients of Kansas City oncologist Verda Hunter. Bradshaw has insisted the dilutions affected 30 to 35 patients under the
care of a single doctor. ``We are dealing with a limited number of patients from one doctor over a
three- or four-month period, rather than some of the outrageous figures that
have come to be reported almost as fact,'' Bradshaw said. But a Kansas City doctors group has been trying to contact more than 700
cancer patients it said received treatments with drugs prepared at Courtney's
pharmacy over the past five years. More than 1,700 patients and doctors have called a hot line authorities
have set up to search for people who had prescriptions filled by Courtney's
pharmacy. |
|||
|
|
ALL
INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR
GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE
KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED
AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO
VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU
ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.