• 05
  • August
    2011

Reuters reports that the family of a man whose wife allegedly poisoned him with a toxic metal recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company where she was employed, as well as the hospital where her husband died.

The poisoning is alleged to have taken place at the couple's home and in the hospital bed where the man had been transported after he complained of abdominal pain and lack of feeling in his hands and feet.

The woman, a 40-year-old chemist at Bristol Myers Squibb, has since been charged with murder. The wrongful death suit was filed by relatives of the deceased man in New Jersey in Camden Superior Court this Thursday. Named on the suit are the drug company, the hospital and six doctors.

Sources said the wife has been accused of poising her husband with thallium, a highly toxic radioactive substance used to diagnose coronary artery disease, over a period of two months. She has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge.

The complaint alleges that the woman had obtained the toxic drug from her employer, and that the employer had been negligent in failing to establish rigorous safety and security controls to guard against unauthorized access. The doctors named in the case are accused of failing to take the man's complaints seriously. The man had apparently told at least one doctor of his suspicion that he may have been poisoned, and had requested a urine test. Medical charts also showed that staff had noticed that the wife had acted strangely during one visit, and that the man was not to be left alone. His wife continued, however, to have unfettered access to his hospital room.

Source: Reuters, "Lawsuit names drug company, hospital over suspected murder case," Dave Warner, August 4 2011.