Some people who lost family members to opioids expressed shock and sadness, but also a resolve to keep fighting, after the Supreme Court on Thursday torpedoed a massive settlement for victims of the drug crisis. "I felt like someone came up and punched me in the stomach," Jill Cichowicz, whose twin brother, Scott Zebrowski, collapsed in a California parking lot and died of fentanyl poisoning after he took what he thought was OxyContin in 2017, said. "It kind of equated to the day that he died," Cichowicz, who founded a nonprofit group called Two in the Stigma, said in an interview that aired on NBC News' "Hallie Jackson Now.
" In a 5-4 decision Thursday, the Supreme Court blocked a huge bankruptcy reorganization of Purdue Pharma , the company that made and marketed OxyContin, a prescription painkiller that was abused and led to people all over the country getting addicted. The majority ruled that the bankruptcy court did not have the authority to release the Sackler family members from opioid victims' legal claims. But the deal also included billions for states to abate the crisis and help those who were addicted, as well as $750 million for victims of the opioid crisis.
Edward Neiger, an attorney who is co-managing partner of the law firm ASK LLP and who represents victims of the opioid epidemic, called the setback devastating. He said the opioid epidemic is "the biggest health care crisis of our time." "Today we're grieving, we're upset, we're collecting our thoughts, and we.
