Sacklers confronted by opioid crisis victims and families at virtual hearing
A virtual hearing on Thursday in US bankruptcy court gave survivors of opioid dependency and people who lost loved ones to the crisis what they have long desired – an official chance to confront members of the family behind Purdue Pharma, the US creator of the powerful but highly addictive prescription painkiller OxyContin.
They blamed the billionaire Sackler family members for helping spur the epidemic that ultimately has cost about half a million American lives, through aggressive marketing of Purdue’s signature narcotic and for failing to take responsibility for their role.
Three Sackler family members attended the hearing: Richard, Theresa and David Sackler.
Under court rules, they could not respond and had to sit silently while roughly two dozen people gave emotional statements.
Public activism, pressure via state and local lawsuits across the US and investigative journalism have contributed to sending Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma into bankruptcy and force the family group that’s controlled the company for generations to relinquish ownership.
The Sacklers have also being pressed to provide more of their vast billions accrued from the pain business for communities to combat opioid addiction.
Richard Sackler appeared only via audio; he is the former Purdue president and board chair who has said the company and family bear no responsibility for the opioid crisis.
He also is a son of Raymond Sackler, one of the three brothers who in the 1950s bought the company that became Purdue Pharma.
Theresa Sackler is a British dame and wife of the late Mortimer D Sackler, another of the brothers, while David Sackler is Richard Sackler’s son. Both appeared on video.
The forum was an unconventional hearing for the White Plains, New York, courtroom of bankruptcy judge Robert Drain, who on Wednesday gave tentative approval to key elements of a plan to settle thousands of lawsuits against the company.
The settlement agreement is estimated to be worth at least $10bn over time. It calls for certain billionaire members of the Sackler family to contribute $5.5bn to $6bn over 17 years to ease the opioid crisis.
That’s an increase of $1bn-plus over a previous version that was rejected by another judge on appeal. The overall settlement still requires actions by multiple courts to take effect.
Victims who addressed the court on Thursday were selected by lawyers for creditors in the case.
Kristy Nelson played a tape of her 911 call reporting that her son was unresponsive.
Later this month, she and her husband will go to the cemetery to mark what would have been Brian’s 34th birthday, and pointed out that Richard Sackler turned 77 on Thursday.
“I understand today’s your birthday, Richard. How will you be celebrating? I guarantee it won’t be in the cemetery … You have truly benefited from the death of children. You are scum of the earth,” Nelson said.
Her husband, Bill, a judge in Indianapolis, added: “When we are done, David and Theresa will do whatever billionaires and dames do. Richard will hang up his phone and go do whatever greedy billionaire cowards do on their birthdays.”
Vitaly Pinkusov lost his wife to an overdose when she was 32.
“I stand here before you as a broken man … How do I feel about you? The closest feeling is … pure contempt,” he said, saying that they are “condemned to eternal infamy”.
Ryan Hampton, who became addicted after being prescribed OxyContin for a knee injury, addressed Richard Sackler.
“You know what you did … I hope you hear the sirens. I hope you hear the heart monitor as it beats along with failing pulse … You poisoned our lives and had the audacity to blame us for dying,” he said.
Kathy Strain, a Pennsylvania mother caring for children with addiction, said medication to treat it was expensive. She said she worked 16-hour overnight shifts as often as possible so she could keep days free to ferry her children to treatment.
“Costs were so high … some days I had to choose which of my children I could help, based on my best guess of which one was most likely to make it through that day. Can you, Richard, imagine how to make that decision?”
The court heard from Nan Goldin, the New York art photographer who survived OxyContin addiction after being prescribed the drug, and a later fentanyl overdose, and in recovery became an activist, successfully helping pressure elite arts and academic institutions to stop taking Sackler philanthropy and, in some cases, remove their name from famous establishments.
“It’s nice to finally see the Sacklers face to face,” she said. She called for federal criminal charges against family members and said their recent statement of responsibility, in which they expressed regret for the toll of OxyContin but did not explicitly apologize, was “insulting to all of us who’ve been damaged by them”.
Stephanie Lubinski, whose addicted husband took his own life in their home in 2020, said: “Richard, David and Theresa, you have made an insane amount of money off of our family, more than you could ever spend,” she said, noting that she is grappling with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. “Can’t you all feel one bit of empathy for the victims, the devastation that your
drug has caused?” Kara Trainor, who is in recovery, gave birth to her son while on methadone to treat her addiction, said: “If you’ve ever heard a newborn in withdrawal, the screaming will haunt you for the rest of your life.”