The agreement by OxyContin's manufacturer to settle thousands of lawsuits over harm done by opioids could help combat the overdose epidemic. That does not mean all the victims are satisfied, reports the Associated Press. In exchange for giving up ownership of drug manufacturer Purdue Pharma and for contributing up to $6 billion to fight the crisis, members of the wealthy Sackler family would be exempt from any civil lawsuits. At the same time, they could potentially keep billions of dollars from their profits on OxyContin sales. The Supreme Court will hear arguments Dec. 4 over whether the agreement in the Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy violates federal law.
The issue is whether the legal shield that bankruptcy provides can be extended to people such as the Sacklers, who have not declared bankruptcy themselves. The question has resulted in conflicting lower court decisions. It also has implications for other major product liability lawsuits settled through the bankruptcy system. The Sackler family, the maker of OxyContin, will be shielded from lawsuits as part of $6 billion settlement The agreement, even with billions of dollars set aside for opioid abatement and treatment programs, also poses a moral conundrum that has divided people who lost loved ones or lost years of their own lives to opioids. Ellen Isaacs’ 33-year-old son, Ryan Wroblewski, died in Florida in 2018, 17 years after he was prescribed OxyContin for a back injury. When she first heard about a potential settlement that would include some money for people like her, she signed up. She has changed her mind. , Money might not bring closure, she said, and “anybody in the future would be able to do the exact same thing that the Sacklers are now able to do.” Her lawyer, Mike Quinn, said, “The Sackler releases are special protection for billionaires.”