Johns Hopkins, Bristol-Myers must face $1 billion syphilis infections suit

[rooster59]

Johns Hopkins, Bristol-Myers must face $1 billion syphilis infections suit

By Jonathan Stempel

 

FILE PHOTO: Logo of global biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb is pictured at building in Le Passage, near Agen, France March 29, 2018. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - A federal judge in Maryland said The Johns Hopkins University, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co <BMY.N> and the Rockefeller Foundation must face a $1 billion lawsuit over their roles in a 1940s U.S. government experiment that infected hundreds of Guatemalans with syphilis.

 

In a decision on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang rejected the defendants' argument that a recent Supreme Court decision shielding foreign corporations from lawsuits in U.S. courts over human rights abuses abroad also applied to domestic corporations absent Congressional authorization.

 

Chuang's decision is a victory for 444 victims and relatives of victims suing over the experiment, which was aimed at testing the then-new drug penicillin and stopping the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.

 

The experiment echoed the government's Tuskegee study on black American men who were deliberately left untreated for syphilis even after penicillin was discovered.

 

It was kept under wraps until a professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts discovered it in 2010. U.S. officials apologised for the experiment, and President Barack Obama called Guatemala's president to offer a personal apology.

 

Chuang said lawsuits against U.S. corporations under the federal Alien Tort Statute were not "categorically foreclosed" by the Supreme Court decision last April 24 in Jesner v Arab Bank Plc covering foreign corporations.

 

He said the "need for judicial caution" was "markedly reduced" where U.S. corporations were defendants because there was no threat of diplomatic tensions or objections from foreign governments.

 

The judge also said letting the Guatemala case proceed would "promote harmony" by giving foreign plaintiffs a chance at a remedy in U.S. courts.

 

According to the complaint, several Hopkins and Rockefeller Foundation doctors were involved with the experiment, as were four executives from Bristol-Myers predecessors, Bristol Laboratories and the Squibb Institute.

 

"Johns Hopkins expresses profound sympathy for individuals and families impacted by the deplorable 1940s syphilis study funded and conducted by the U.S. government in Guatemala," the university said in a statement. "We respect the legal process, and we will continue to vigorously defend the lawsuit."

 

A Rockefeller Foundation spokesman said that the lawsuit had no merit, and that the nonprofit did not know about, design, fund or manage the experiment. Bristol-Myers spokesman Brian Castelli declined to comment.

 

Paul Bekman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said his clients will proceed with discovery, including the exchange of decades-old documents. An earlier ruling found no statute of limitations issues if the plaintiffs could not have learned about the experiment before 2010.

 

"This experiment began 72 years ago. It's hard to believe," Bekman said.

 

The case is Estate of Arturo Giron Alvarez et al v The Johns Hopkins University et al, U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, No. 15-00950.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-05

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

Another proud moment of American history being revealed. 

[geriatrickid]

Unfair to successor firms as they are being penalized for a government policy that was acceptable at the time. Of course the experiments were wrong, but that is who people  behaved in that era. There were also forcible lobotomies and sterilizations of the mentally deficient or ill.  This is just a case of looking for deep pockets for  payouts that will go to plaintiff law firms.

[Chomper Higgot]

43 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

Unfair to successor firms as they are being penalized for a government policy that was acceptable at the time. Of course the experiments were wrong, but that is who people  behaved in that era. There were also forcible lobotomies and sterilizations of the mentally deficient or ill.  This is just a case of looking for deep pockets for  payouts that will go to plaintiff law firms.

If you have evidence that the Hippocratic Oath has been revised since this appalling abuse was perpetrated, let’s be having it?

 

Your concern for unfairness to ‘successor firms’ is a sickening insight.

[ReMarKable]

3 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Unfair to successor firms as they are being penalized for a government policy that was acceptable at the time. Of course the experiments were wrong, but that is who people  behaved in that era. There were also forcible lobotomies and sterilizations of the mentally deficient or ill.  This is just a case of looking for deep pockets for  payouts that will go to plaintiff law firms.

or maybe it is about accountability and justice

[Benmart]

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Another proud moment of American history being revealed. 

And do you hail from a blemish, untarnished, historically crime free country?

[Odysseus123]

5 hours ago, car720 said:

Obviously a lot of people had a big clap about this one.

One of the most appalling responses I have read on TVF for some time.

 

Welcome to the forum Dr Mengele.

[helpisgood]

4 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Unfair to successor firms as they are being penalized for a government policy that was acceptable at the time. Of course the experiments were wrong, but that is who people  behaved in that era. There were also forcible lobotomies and sterilizations of the mentally deficient or ill.  This is just a case of looking for deep pockets for  payouts that will go to plaintiff law firms.

 

A legitimate concern that plaintiffs, who are not direct victims, are only looking for deep pockets, but this does not appear to apply to this specific case.

 

I quote twice from a US Federal District Court's own opinion:

 

"Lesbia Lucila Giron Galindo, Plaintiff No. 3, is the daughter of a Direct Victim and his wife. She was born with syphilis and has tested positive for the Nichols strain [of syphilis used in said experiment]."  [Bold added.]"

 

"Ronald Roberto Benavente Galvez, Plaintiff No. 70, is the grandson of Direct Plaintiff Ramiro Villalobos....He [Plaintiff no. 70] has suffered from symptoms of congenital syphilis, including deformity to his left arm, legs, and chest wall, from birth."  [Bold added.]

 

Estate of Alvarez v. Johns Hopkins Univ.,  275 F. Supp. 3d 670, 703 (D. Md. 2017)

 

On the Internet, you can find it at:

 

https://casetext.com/case/estate-of-alvarez-v-johns-hopkins-univ-1

[from the home of CC]

6 minutes ago, car720 said:

hey zigfried,,  have you never heard syphilis referred to as the clap.

 

lol the clap is gonorrhea 

[stevenl]

4 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Unfair to successor firms as they are being penalized for a government policy that was acceptable at the time. Of course the experiments were wrong, but that is who people  behaved in that era. There were also forcible lobotomies and sterilizations of the mentally deficient or ill.  This is just a case of looking for deep pockets for  payouts that will go to plaintiff law firms.

Strangely enough the Germans got punished for their forced sterilisations at about the same time. So no, it was not acceptable at the time.

[ParadiseLost]

1 hour ago, Odysseus123 said:

One of the most appalling responses I have read on TVF for some time.

 

Welcome to the forum Dr Mengele.

Well said, Mother Teresa!

[Odysseus123]

55 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

One of the most appalling responses I have read on TVF for some time.

 

Welcome to the forum Dr Mengele.

It's Siegfried to you.

 

And as another poster has pointed out-syphilis is not the 'clap' and can lead to physical and mental degeneration leading to a very grim death.

 

Perhaps cases such as this might lead to preventing plonkers from the military-industrial complex from dangerous experiments on human beings who are either poverty ridden,subjugated or regarded as sub-human.One should remember that the US was a leading proponent of eugenics from the 20's thru to the 40's.

 

It is a legal 'Nuremberg' in a way.

[from the home of CC]

2 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Strangely enough the Germans got punished for their forced sterilisations at about the same time. So no, it was not acceptable at the time.

Anybody who stands up for those companies that put profits over human misery is a sociopath. Of course they should pay, the company profited directly from essentially torturing others. It's also the business of opioid addiction, big pharma made a killing (ptp) turning patients into junkies, and the list goes on and on. The only justification for these abhorrent business decisions is money and these lawsuits will be viewed as the cost of doing business. They're lucky their corporate headquarters are in 1st world countries, there are some locales that would yank these tie wearing killers out of their offices and string them up in the streets. And, I wouldn't shed a tear.

[Odysseus123]

11 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

Anybody who stands up for those companies that put profits over human misery is a sociopath. Of course they should pay, the company profited directly from essentially torturing others. It's also the business of opioid addiction, big pharma made a killing (ptp) turning patients into junkies, and the list goes on and on. The only justification for these abhorrent business decisions is money and these lawsuits will be viewed as the cost of doing business. They're lucky their corporate headquarters are in 1st world countries, there are some locales that would yank these tie wearing killers out of their offices and string them up in the streets. And, I wouldn't shed a tear.

As stephenl has pointed out such practices were deemed (quite rightly) in others to be unacceptable-as they were.

 

Same as the 'Rules of War' pasted inside the pay book of every German servicemen condemned them when they broke every one of them post June 22,1941-and sent them on the path to Nuremberg.

[Bluespunk]

3 hours ago, car720 said:

I am amazed just how many people don't know that the clap is used to express the presence of venereal disease.

Personally, I am amazed when people try to use abusive and exploitive behaviour, that ruined lives, as a reason to make ill thought out attempts at humour. 

[retayl]

5 hours ago, Benmart said:

And do you hail from a blemish, untarnished, historically crime free country?

Probably not, but the Americans do do blemish, tarnish & historic crime so much better than the rest of us. 

[bristolboy]

53 minutes ago, retayl said:

Probably not, but the Americans do do blemish, tarnish & historic crime so much better than the rest of us. 

The Irish for one might disagree with that. The Indians for another. Pakistanis also. How about the Chinese? And a rather huge swathe of Africa? Australia, anyone? Other's too. Apart from those minor examples. your point is well taken. 

[Chomper Higgot]

8 hours ago, Benmart said:

And do you hail from a blemish, untarnished, historically crime free country?

So what’s your point?

 

Let America and Americans own American history, all of it, including this disgusting episode.

 

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed along with an off-topic post.

 

[Odysseus123]

7 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

So what’s your point?

 

Let America and Americans own American history, all of it, including this disgusting episode.

 

Altho' to be fair-a federal judge in Maryland categorically states that they are responsible for it.However slow and imperfect it may be the system is "owning" this historical episode.

[Bluespunk]

21 minutes ago, car720 said:

Yes it is a little like people who try to use the English language to be snide and sarcastic but just don't have enough vocabulary.

I assume you are choosing to believe that was the intent of my post, it wasn't, just expressing my views on certain human traits...

[HerbalEd]

On 1/5/2019 at 9:07 AM, geriatrickid said:

Unfair to successor firms as they are being penalized for a government policy that was acceptable at the time. Of course the experiments were wrong, but that is who people  behaved in that era. There were also forcible lobotomies and sterilizations of the mentally deficient or ill.  This is just a case of looking for deep pockets for  payouts that will go to plaintiff law firms.

Do you feel the same about the Nazi death camps? As you say, "that is who people behaved in that era."

[manarak]

1 hour ago, HerbalEd said:

Do you feel the same about the Nazi death camps? As you say, "that is who people behaved in that era."

I think the point he was making is that the people that will get punished today are not the same as the people who committed the crimes/mistakes at the time.

[stevenl]

4 hours ago, manarak said:

I think the point he was making is that the people that will get punished today are not the same as the people who committed the crimes/mistakes at the time.

He said it was acceptable behaviour at the time, which is clearly not true.

Comparing with death camps though is not correct, not necessary and not done imo.

[Berkshire]

On 1/5/2019 at 2:20 PM, from the home of CC said:

Anybody who stands up for those companies that put profits over human misery is a sociopath. Of course they should pay, the company profited directly from essentially torturing others. It's also the business of opioid addiction, big pharma made a killing (ptp) turning patients into junkies, and the list goes on and on. The only justification for these abhorrent business decisions is money and these lawsuits will be viewed as the cost of doing business. They're lucky their corporate headquarters are in 1st world countries, there are some locales that would yank these tie wearing killers out of their offices and string them up in the streets. And, I wouldn't shed a tear.

I think everyone (myself included) agree that what was done then was abhorrent.  Evil.  Despicable.  But who were the individuals responsible exactly?  Hold them accountable.  Also, are the victims even alive?  If they are, they should be compensated.  But their relatives?  It would seem in a lawsuit like this, it'll be the lawyers mostly getting paid.  Just sayin....