Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jul 2002
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2002 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Debbie Cenziper And Michael Henry

FAMILIES BLAME ABUSE IN 2 DEATHS

Substance abuse experts say more must be done to educate consumers and 
health care professionals about the proper use of narcotic painkillers, 
which can be deadly if abused.

Here are two cases where OxyContin may have played a role in sudden deaths:

'She Couldn't Help Herself'

It's been seven months since Karen Wilkins fell asleep on a recliner in her 
mother's house and never woke up.Wilkins, who lived near Durham, suffered 
chronic back pain after a 1992 injury on the job in a supermarket. The pain 
was so severe that after she sang in church, she'd sometimes crawl to the 
car on her hands and knees.

Two years ago, her family says, a pain specialist prescribed OxyContin.

She died Dec. 11, 2001, a few weeks before her 41st birthday. Her family 
suspects Wilkins started abusing OxyContin by crushing, then swallowing the 
drug, ingesting 12 hours worth of powerful narcotic at once.

"She was addicted to OxyContin and she couldn't get off of it," says her 
sister, Jackie George, who found Wilkins' OxyContin bottles in her medicine 
bag. "She said the way to get faster relief was to chew them."

Wilkins' body was embalmed at the funeral home before an N.C. medical 
examiner could take blood samples for toxicology tests. Those tests would 
check for the presence of oxycodone, the main ingredient in OxyContin. Her 
cause of death was listed as undetermined, though the investigative report 
cites her possible OxyContin abuse.

"I think she got to the point where she couldn't help herself," George says.

Trying To Ease The Pain

Trina Howell married her high school sweetheart in 1998. Two years later 
she buried him. "It's been the most trying time of my life," said Howell, 29.

Zane Massingale, 27, died Sept. 9, 2000, of an accidental drug overdose 
after three years of severe back pain. The day before he died in Etowah, 
just south of Asheville, he went to the hospital twice for back pain and 
once after an automobile accident.

A medical examiner ruled his death accidental due to oxycodone toxicity. 
Howell believes her husband, trying to ease his pain, mistakenly took too 
many OxyContin pills.

Massingale's father, Spurgeon Massingale Jr., had used OxyContin as pain 
medication for arthritis. He says he never gave pills to his son, but said 
Massingale could have taken them without his knowledge. Massingale's 
sister, Athena Justus, also said her brother might have taken the pills.

Massingale had applied for an insurance company job, which offered better 
medical benefits for his bad back. Two days after his death, the insurance 
company called. Massingale got the job.
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MAP posted-by: Beth