POLITICS: The Impact Of Purdue Pharma On Victims Of Their Drugs & Their Families – USSA News

The media has been busy covering the sentencing of Bryan Kohberger admitted murderer of four Idaho college students – Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin.  There were emotional impact statements delivered by family and friends of the innocent victims. The deprived murderer sat devoid of any emotion — just empty eyes.

I could not help but reflect back to 2007 when I delivered an Impact Statement in an Abingdon, Virginia federal court.  For six years, I worked with Department of Justice (DOJ) officials to convict Purdue Pharma, maker of the killer opioid OxyContin, of criminally marketing the drug responsible for millions of addictions and deaths.

My daughter, Jill was a victim of Purdue Pharma when she was prescribed OxyContin for back pain in 2002 and died.  I began a laborious task of learning everything I could about Purdue Pharma and shared my information with the DOJ.

The US Attorney investigating Purdue Pharma connected me with his team and we stayed in close contact by phone calls, emails and several meetings.  In six years, a very rewarding working relationship developed with the DOJ team.

Although my usual intuitive mind did not pick up on a member who was not a team player.  I will save that for another time.

The day in Federal Court to face the criminals responsible for Jill’s death and countless other victims arrived with great anticipation.  I went into a building beside the courthouse and met with the US Attorney and the DOJ team. We all walked together into the courthouse.

Taking a seat near the team, I watched the Purdue Pharma criminals walk into the courtroom and take their seats at the defense table.  There was Michael Friedman, President, Howard Udell, General Counsel and Paul Goldenheim, MD (who looked like a deer in the headlights).

There was a 15-minute break in the court proceedings and many people stood to stretch their legs.  I looked across the small courtroom and saw Paul Goldenheim glaring at me surrounded by his high-powered attorneys. It evolved into a stare down.  I was not about to sit down while he was glaring at me.

Finally, one of the DOJ guys told me I had to sit down and I told him I would not sit down until the felon sat down.  How could I accomplish that since he was so defiant and obviously wanted me to give in to him? I called across the courtroom as my eyes were on Goldenheim, “You are a bastard.”  His defiance left him quickly and he sank into his seat.  It was a good feeling.  I then took my seat and made everyone happy.

When the court proceedings were over, we all filed outside and I remember hearing the blades of a helicopter overhead with the three convicted criminals flying back to Stamford, Connecticut.  It was then that I realized it was not over — not by a long shot.  A multi-billion-dollar criminal pharmaceutical company was going to continue making billions of dollars because they had no conscience.

We walked to a historic tavern for lunch and enjoyed the last time we would all be together, but I was cranking. I had work to do.

When I returned home, I contacted the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC regarding Friedman’s contribution in the form of a display.  I advised them that Friedman was a convicted felon responsible for addictions and deaths and his display paled in his efforts to change his image.

Howard Udell (now deceased), general counsel for Purdue Pharma, had to be accountable for his part in the OxyContin Tsunami.  This included his role in causing the termination of his 25-year-long term secretary who became addicted to OxyContin and was terminated by Purdue Phama.  She reached out to me and we met in Stamford, Connecticut and had numerous telephone conversations.  She was petrified of the power of Purdue Pharma.  Unfortunately, she is deceased — a broken woman.

My first effort with Udell was to have him disbarred or “debarred” by the Connecticut Bar Association.  I was successful in having him debarred, which meant he could not hold an office in the Stamford, Connecticut office.
Udell had indicated he was in private practice at the Udell Law Office, LLC in Westport, Connecticut — “Corporate Counsel” even acknowledged this in their reporting.

Below is the email that Udell sent out when he was debarred and became a liability to Purdue Pharma as their Chief Counsel:

Please be advised that I have retired as a Purdue Pharma employee and am now working as a consultant for Purdue on certain matters. You may contact me at my new e-mail address: [email protected]. You do not have to resend your message as it has been forwarded to the appropriate e-mail address. The remainder of my contact information is unchanged and appears below. Please make a note of the new email address for future use.

Howard R. Udell
Udell Law Office LLC
One Stamford Forum
Stamford, CT 06901
Tel (203) 588-7020
Fax (203) 588-6204

[email protected]

Strange — Udell’s address of One Stamford Forum and his email are at the corporate headquarters of Purdue Pharma — not Westport, Connecticut.  But then maybe Udell is confused.  He lives in Westport, CT.

Just to be sure I was accurate in my reporting, I called the above telephone number and asked if I had reached Howard Udell’s office.  I had indeed.  I asked if Udell worked in Stamford, CT and the receptionist confirmed he worked in Purdue Pharma’s ground floor in Stamford, CT.

I felt led to send a letter to Udell’s son who was also an attorney regarding his father’s culpability in so many deaths and addictions when financial profits took precedent over human lives.

Below is his reply, which I found offensive — especially his referring to his father as a saint.

Dear Ms. Skolek:

Thank you for your letter.  Let me first say that, as a parent, I would not wish the tragedy that you have suffered upon anyone.  I am so sorry for the terrible loss of your daughter.  I certainly can understand and respect how such a horrible loss has motivated you to seek some kind of remedy.  Your belief, however, that my father — or Purdue, for that matter — shares even the remotest culpability for your loss is sadly misguided.  Ms. Skolek, I am glad that you read my sentencing letter.  Assuming that you read the remainder of the submissions, I’m sure you understand that, contrary to the spiteful words you wrote below, my father is beloved by his family, his friends, his work colleagues and virtually everyone with whom he interacts.  You may recall the one letter noting how he is “semi-seriously” referred to as a “saint” by some colleagues.  You have my sincerest hope that you can work through your grief by redirecting your misguided anger and handling yourself in the same noble way that my father has handled himself throughout his wonderful life. 

Best of luck to you.

My reply to Udell’s son was as follows:

“I have been working through my grief — it is called justice in a courtroom.  Yes I believe your father and the other two convicted criminals share culpability and my belief is not misguided.  My daughter too was beloved by her family and is deeply missed.  I do not use spiteful words — I speak for thousands of victims of a criminally convicted pharmaceutical corporation and three convicted criminals who pled guilty to the charges against them.  I do not believe your father to be a noble person but I respect your desire to see him as the person you wish he were.  I would not call your father’s actions as regards the addiction and death of thousands of people as noble — a saint he is not.  I wish you luck too.  You are going to have a rough road ahead of you.”  -Marianne Skolek

Then the “deer in the headlights” Paul Goldenheim, MD had to receive a mother’s justice.

I knew Goldenheim served as a Board Member at a very prestigious private school named Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire where his children were fortunate to attend — money was no object.

I notified Exeter Academy of Goldenheim’s conviction in Federal and was rewarded with the following article published in the “Boston Globe”:

September 9, 2008

An alumnus of the Phillips Exeter Academy, in N.H., has successfully ousted the vice president of the school’s board of trustees, Paul Goldenheim, according to the Boston Globe.

Dr. Goldenheim was a vice president and chief medical officer at Purdue Pharma, in Stamford, Conn., when he and the company pleaded guilty to charges of “misbranding” the company’s painkiller OxyContin. The government convicted Purdue of playing down the addictive qualities of the drug.  In 2008, an alumnus of New Hampshire’s elite Phillips Exeter Academy waged a war against Goldenheim and won. Goldenheim had served on the prestigious board and had been on probation after his 2007 criminal conviction when he pleaded guilty to misbranding OxyContin. Goldenheim stepped down. Board president Harris defended Goldenheim by calling him a “broken man.” Harris went on further to say that Goldenheim had “acted in accordance with the highest ethics of his profession” and pleaded guilty “to avoid additional years of litigation and disruption”. Harris might like to know that Judge James P. Jones of United States District Court indicated that he was troubled by his inability to send the executives to prison at their sentencing.

It was rewarding to read that Goldenheim was a “broken man,” although it does not compare to the devastation of families losing loved ones to Goldenheim’s lies regarding OxyContin.

My Impact Statement in front of Judge James Jones and the three convicted felons of Purdue Pharma fame:

Thank you, your honor for giving me this opportunity to make a statement in front of the three convicted criminals of Purdue Pharma – Michael Friedman, Howard Udell and Paul Goldenheim. 

My name is Marianne Skolek. I am a mom and a grandmother. I had a beautiful 29-year-old daughter named Jill. She had the misfortune of being prescribed OxyContin in January 2002 and was killed on April 29, 2002. Jill left behind her son Brian who was 6 years old at the time of his mom’s death. Brian is with me in the courtroom today. He needed to be here today to see that bad things do happen to bad people. 

How did a $9 billion privately held pharmaceutical corporation take the life of my precious daughter? I wondered exactly the same thing and began my research on Purdue Pharma and some of the key executives of the corporation 5-1/2 years ago. My work initially focused on J. David Haddox, dentist turned psychiatrist and Senior Medical Director of Purdue Pharma. Unfortunately, he is not seated with the three criminals before me. I also focused on Robin Hogen, former PR spokesman for Purdue Pharma who was terminated by the company and also unfortunately is not before me. 

In 1996, the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Pain Society issued a set of guidelines for the use of opiates in the treatment of chronic pain. These guidelines are referred to as a
“consensus statement.” This statement leaning toward a more liberal use of opiates was adopted just as the marketing push for OxyContin began.
This consensus statement was produced by a task force which was headed by J. David Haddox, former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, who was senior medical advisor for Purdue Pharma — the maker of OxyContin. Haddox was quoted as saying that “the point was to gather consensus. If you are going to do this, this is how it should be done.” 

There was question as to whether it was ethical for Haddox to be associated with a pharmaceutical maker to guide the formation of a document that would play a key role in promoting the use of products made by the company — Purdue Pharma. 

At one point in the greed and sheer evil of Purdue Pharma, they intended to market OxyContin to OB/GYN patients. I flooded the country with emails and faxes to Attorney Generals and the media reporting that we had enough devastation in the country without addicting infants to the blockbuster drug OxyContin. This marketing ploy was terminated by Purdue Pharma when they were exposed.

Pain patients from pain societies will speak of the merits of OxyContin and their quality of life being restored because of the drug. These pain societies throughout the country are funded by Purdue Pharma. Let the pain patients not a part of any funded pain society of Purdue Pharma speak about the quality of life they have after becoming addicted to OxyContin — and when their physicians refuse to renew prescriptions for the drug — and they go on the street to buy the drug because they can’t kick the habit of this less addictive drug. 

Ask the FDA why OxyContin is in such plentiful supply on the streets all over the country. 

Anything that is imposed against these convicted criminals will not give us back Jill, but I will guarantee that Purdue Pharma will never forget the name Jill Skolek. 

When I began my work at exposing these three criminals and Haddox and Hogen, I told Hogen that he messed with the wrong mother and they did because my work is not over. 

I want to know why the FDA allowed OxyContin to cause such destruction to the lives of scores of innocent victims. I want to know why 12 warning letters were sent by the FDA to Purdue Pharma about their marketing of OxyContin and to this day, they are not required to put “highly addictive” or “addictive” on the label of the drug.

I want to know why the FDA deleted without reading so many of my emails about the marketing of OxyContin until this last month.

I want to know why Curtis Wright while employed by the FDA played an intricate part in the approval of OxyContin and then was hired by Purdue Pharma.

I want to know why Attorney General Blumenthal of Connecticut’s Citizen Petition which requests strengthened warnings for OxyContin as a result of information they uncovered in their investigation against Purdue Pharma has been sitting at the FDA — without any action — since January 2004.

I want to know how Rudy Giuliani could be the “big star” hired by Purdue Pharma to play down the abuse and diversion of OxyContin and also get paid from the DEA for work performed for them.

I want to know why the Sackler Brothers have not been held accountable for their involvement with Purdue Pharma and the mass marketing of OxyContin. 

Eventually Purdue Pharma will introduce another blockbuster drug like OxyContin and as they did with another devasting drug called Palladone.

Palladone was removed from the market after a couple of months. I like to think that my faxes and emails all over the country played an intricate part in having it removed. My advice to Purdue Pharma is when you are ready to introduce another drug such as OxyContin or Palladone, look behind you because I will be right there. 

I will be working at having Howard Udell disbarred for his criminal activities and Paul Goldenheim’s medical license revoked for what amounts to white collar drug trafficking. I will be actively working at Friedman, Udell and Goldenheim never being able to work in the pharmaceutical industry again because they are criminals who criminally marketed OxyContin. I will accomplish this — do not doubt me at not being successful at achieving this.

Every time I read that Michael Friedman is giving a speech on all his charitable work and the fact that he had a family member that survived the Holocaust, I will contact the group he is speaking to and remind that that Friedman is no better than Adolf Hitler who killed and destroyed countless lives. Hitler through death and torture — Friedman through death and addiction. 

I would like to thank US Attorney Brownlee and all that were involved in this long process of proving Purdue Pharma and these three criminals guilty in the marketing of OxyContin.

In particular, I would like to thank a very special person who knows who he is for never letting us down. You will always be a hero to Brian. 

Her name was Jill Carol Skolek. She did not deserve to be prescribed OxyContin and die because of the criminal activity of these three individuals. Please give my family justice and send them to prison where they belong. They are monsters in every sense of the word. 

(P.S. — as I walked in front of the defense table Friedman, Udell, and Goldenheim surrounded by their attorneys glared at me. I stood and said “you are sheer evil. You are bastards.” I did it for Jill and all the victims of Purdue Pharma. (I was close enough to take a swing at them and hit my mark, but I knew if I resorted to physical contact, my credibility would be destroyed.  Two members of my DOJ team stood on either side of me and escorted me back to my seat).

Yes, Purdue Pharma — you “messed with the wrong mother.”

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