Death by "not quite lethal enough" injection

Posted on Fri, Dec. 06, 2002

Courtney sentenced to 30 years in prison for diluting medicines
By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

In a case that stunned the nation and outraged Kansas Citians, former pharmacist Robert R. Courtney received a maximum 30-year sentence Thursday for diluting cancer patients' drugs so he could make more money. [...]

[...] In his confession, Courtney said greed motivated him to dilute drugs. He also said he diluted medications to cover $1.1 million in income taxes that he owed in 2001 and to make the final $333,000 payment on a promised $1 million contribution to his church's building fund.

I have long had serious problems trusting doctors and other medical personnel, largely because I have had so many health problems, and too often it seems that the doctors, therapists and other professionals haven't had any answers.  In the last decade, though, my distrust has grown significantly, after watching my father struggle through a year of pain due to a botched knee replacement surgery, and my mother-in-law's death following what was supposed to be a simple outpatient test.  The case of the pharmacist diluting drugs has not done anything to inspire greater trust.

When this story first broke, I was shocked.  The idea that someone would tamper with medicine that people depended on for their lives was astounding - at least until I realized just how much more money he could make by stretching each order of the drugs that much further. Part of why it hit me so hard, though, was locality.  I've been in the hospitals where two of him pharmacies were located.  I even bought drugs from one of them, though nothing that could have been diluted.  Still, having something this monstrous happen so close to home puts a very different perspective on it. 

I think part of what shocked me more than anything else, however, is that when he finally got around to saying why he did it, one of the top reasons he listed was because he had made a $1 million dollar pledge to his church, and needed help raising the money to live up to that pledge. I think that, in many ways, this case speaks to the whole concept of faith as a fashion accessory.  We hear so often about how Americans believe in God and how many go to church each week.  Most of our politicians make their religious affiliations known - often because it helps buy them political support.  People make sure that they dress their best for Sunday morning services, and its not that uncommon for people to make a big show of the things they do to help out the church or the community.  Yet in their everyday lives, their supposed faith is pushed aside - its tenets no longer binding them to act, speak, dress or think in a certain way, and little, if any, thought is given to the ethical standards that the religion teaches.

For Robert Courtney, it was important that he be seen as a strong supporter of his church's desire to expand, so he made a pledge to donate $1 million.  Many would see this as a sign of his commitment to his faith, yet he then turns around, and in order to help raise the money to fulfill this pledge, he takes actions that he must know can only cause greater pain and suffering his patients, or kill them. Drugs that were intended to kill cancer cells were too weak to have any impact on them. While God may look favourably on a nice new church expansion, somehow I don't think He wants to see it done at the expence of people's lives.

Courtney was sentenced today, and will be serving 30 years in prison.  Personally, I don't think that's nearly enough, but I'm not the one handing out the sentence....  Prior to his sentencing, victims and their families were allowed to speak, as was Courtney.  So, what did he have to say for himself?  In part, this:

[...] "From this moment, and for a long time to come, I will be agonizing over what I have done," Courtney said. "My hope is that...everyone knows that I apologize. And I'm sorry. For the rest of my life, any good that I can do, any kindness that I can show, I'll do."

As the Church Lady might say: "Well, isn't that special".