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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cosmicforce who wrote (69398)	12/6/2002 2:22:36 AM
From: cosmicforce	Respond to of 82486

Drug-Diluting Pharmacist Gets 30 Years in Prison 12-6-2 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - A Kansas City pharmacist who admitted diluting potentially life-saving drugs to thousands of cancer patients was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith imposed the maximum sentence on Robert Courtney, 50, who pleaded guilty in February to 20 counts of misbranding, tampering with or adulterating chemotherapy drugs. Defense attorneys had asked that Courtney serve only 17-1/2 years. If he had gone to trial, Courtney faced 196 years in prison. The 30-year sentence does not carry an option of early release for parole. The case drew worldwide attention and prompted actions on both state and federal levels aimed at more tightly regulating pharmacists after an FBI investigation led to Courtney's arrest in August 2001. The well-to-do pharmacist, considered a specialist in mixing chemotherapy treatments, eventually admitted to diluting drugs for nearly a decade in order to pocket higher profits. Courtney told authorities that he donated some of the ill-gotten gains to his church. The scheme is thought to have affected possibly 4,200 patients, including one woman who died just before Courtney's arrest after her watered down treatments failed to fight off her cancer. That woman's husband, Steven Coates, was one of 10 cancer patients and their family members who gave victim impact statements before the sentencing. In October, a Jackson County jury symbolically awarded ovarian cancer patient Georgia Hayes $225 million in actual damages and $2 billion in punitive damages for Courtney's actions. Hayes was the lead plaintiff in legal actions representing about 300 people who alleged they were hurt by pharmacist Courtney.

To: cosmicforce who wrote (69398)	12/9/2002 5:29:13 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 82486

From that powerpoint file under "Problems with the First Act" - "Failed to provide clear-cut definitions and standards." Without clear standards there is no easy for people to know if their product is illegal. Going after the company decades later because they sold harmful products isn't right. If you want to ban the sale of the product then go ahead and ban it after you find out it is dangerous but don't go after the company for selling it before it was found to be dangerous. ______________ Re: Arresting the man for taking photos - Arresting him was wrong (unless there is more to the story that we don't know about). I also don't think that the Patriot act authorizes such an arrest but I'm not certain. Tim