"You killed my daughter and destroyed my family," said Donna Mazurek, whose daughter became addicted to the drug after a root canal.
Ms. Mazurek spoke at an extraordinary Zoom session in a federal bankruptcy courtroom in White Plains, New York on Thursday. She spoke to three members of the Sackler family, two of which were visible on the video screen and one who was unseen.
26 people from 19 states attended the hearing conducted by U.S. Judge Robert Drain. The Sackler family agreed to a session last week to release pain, rage and grief, as part of the still-evolving terms of efforts to settle thousands of lawsuits against them and their company. Thursday's session was the first time individuals had been allowed to directly address the Sacklers after years of litigation and settlement talks.
Anne Andrews, a lawyer on the committee for 70,000 relatives and those in recovery, said just before the start of the hearing that it was a day like no other in the history of American jurisprudence. For a long time the Sacklers painted them as addicts, low lifes, and that it was their fault that they were addicted. They are Americans. They are both of you and me.
The speakers cursed the Sacklers for their greed, indifference to the devastation their product had caused and their refusal to take personal responsibility.
"I pray that criminal charges are filed upon you, because I found your daughter's dead body, and she was first given the drug to treat pain from the disease," said Scott. Ms. Scott displayed a photo of a garbage bag full of pills.
She asked the Sacklers if they had revived one of their children from an overdose.
The three Sacklers who attended the hearing were Dr. Sackler, his son David and Dame Theresa.
Dame Theresa sat quietly. David Sackler moved occasionally. Dr. Sackler, the family member who is seen as the most involved in the company's aggressive efforts to market OxyContin, remained off camera the entire session, angering some of the speakers.
Bill Nelson said that the killers of his son continued to deny any wrongdoing. Why don't you turn on your camera and see?
Arik Preis, a lawyer for the official committee of unsecured creditor in the Purdue bankruptcy, said that Dr. Sackler was allowed to remain off camera, but would not elaborate.
The Sacklers didn't speak during the session and didn't issue a statement after.
The victims had hoped to break through the family's sang-froid, which the Sacklers have maintained during their rare public appearances in court and before Congress, a refusal to take any responsibility for the epidemic of addiction that was touched off by their company.
In 2001, Dr. Sackler wrote about the need to "hammer on the abusers in every way possible". The culprits are the problem. Richard Sackler, you are the abuser. You are the criminal and the culprit.
In 2007, and again in 2020, the company pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges related to their promotion of the drug. The Sackler family was on the board of directors of the company and was trying to increase sales even as overdoses and deaths from the drug were becoming well-known and widespread. Sacklers have always denied personal responsibility for the crisis, even though some have expressed regret.
The photos of the dead were held up by the speakers. A daughter spoke on behalf of her father, a former doctor in the Army who became addicted to the drug and was found wandering at night, naked, delusional and suicidal.
People who were in recovery for addiction spoke of their shame. Marriages fell apart. Houses were taken away.
Marines, doctors, firefighters, a Beverly Hills film producer, and a broadcast executive are some of the victims.
She pawned her wedding band to pay for the treatment of her grandchild who was born with signs of withdrawal from the drug, but her resources were so limited she had to choose which child needed them the most.
At times Judge Drain seemed to be wiping his eyes as he presided over the bankruptcy proceedings for more than two years.
Mr. Nelson and his wife played a recording of a chaotic call to start their remarks.
The phone operator tried to discern vital details as Mrs. Nelson shrieked "Oh God he's dead!" Bryan, the only child of the couple, died from an overdose within years of being prescribed the narcotic after a car accident.
Mrs. Nelson said that Richard was a selfish, greedy, cold hearted, cruel, callous S.O.B.
She said that Dr. Sackler called her son scum of the earth for his comments about patients addicted to the drug. Hello Richard! Brian was a straight-A student in college.
Bryan cared more about others than himself, something your mother did not instill in you. Do you want to see the scum? You should look in the mirror.
I have put away drug dealers with a single wrap of a gavel without blinking an eye, said Mr. Nelson, a criminal court judge. I wish I could do the same thing to Richard Sackler.
If you have ever heard the screams of a newborn in withdrawal, they will haunt you for the rest of your life, said Kara Trainor, a Michigan mother in recovery. She said he will have care for the rest of his life.
More than 140,000 people have filed legal claims against Purdue, but they have not received as much attention as the aggregated lawsuits filed by cities, counties, tribes and states. Individual victims and their relatives fought to have a seat at the table in settlement talks. Though their tragedies were often held aloft as cautionary tales by the states and local governments who stand to gain the most from any settlement, the victims themselves have been largely ignored.
If the current draft of the settlement plan is adopted, individual victims will get less than state and local governments. They can apply for compensation from a fund of up to $750 million and can collect up to $48,000.
The parents and guardians of about 6,550 children with a history of neonatal abstinence syndrome will each receive about $7,000. It's a high bar to show proof that the drug was involved, given the time and difficulty in locating records.
The latest round of negotiations among the Sacklers, eight states and Washington, D.C., resulted in New Hampshire voting against the last bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma. The Sacklers have increased their contribution to up to $6 billion. The judge who mediated the talks requested that people who were affected by the epidemic have their day in court.
Vicki Bishop spoke about her firstborn child, Brian, a construction worker who had been prescribed drugs after a work accident.
When you, Richard, David and Theresa, put your heads down on your pillows tonight and close your eyes to sleep, that you see my son Brian, and you visualize his opiate-addicted life that led him at the age, she said.
She said that she sees this every night when she closes her eyes and tries to find sleep.
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