The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 3

The Courier-News Jufi A-3 Tuesday, August 10, 1999 AROUND THE SM SILT DglDrD (oD lmu Two N.J. lawmakers say the federal government should pay for prescriptions. By LAURENCE ARNOLD The Associated Press Reaching across party lines, two New Jersey lawmakers are proposing that the federal government pay for prescription drug coverage for the nation's 39 million Medicare recipients. Under the proposal by Rep. Frank Pallone D-Long President Clinton has proposed universal Medicare coverage for prescription drugs at a 10-year cost of $118 billion to taxpayers and a $24-a-month premium charge to beneficiaries.

To pay for the new benefits and buttress Medicare against the coming wave of baby boomer retirements, Clinton wants to use $794 billion of the federal budget surpluses projected over the next 15 years. Republican leaders also have endorsed the idea of a Medicare drug benefit. But they are trying to earmark much of the future surplus for a $792 billion tax cut. While many seniors already get prescription drug coverage through health maintenance organizations, Medicaid and Medigap policies, more than a third of seniors have no prescription drug coverage, according to the Health Care Financing Administration. And with drug costs rising faster than overall inflation and many employers scaling back retirement benefits, affording prescriptions is a problem for more and more senior citizens.

Helping seniors afford prescription drugs is high on the list of priorities for both parties as they grapple with reforming Medicare. seniors would benefit under the plan. Those earning less than 150 percent of the government-calculated poverty level would pay no premiums. Using the government's current definition of poverty, that would mean no premiums for single seniors with income of $12,360 or less and couples with income of $16,590 or less. Those earning above that level would pay a premium based on their income.

In a joint letter to colleagues, Pallone and Roukema wrote: "The tragic stories are familiar to all of us. Increasing numbers of seniors are being forced to choose between Branch, and Rep. Marge Roukema, R-Ridgewood, seniors could choose from competing coverages with varying deductibles and co-payments, but the government would pay all or part of the premiums. Their legislation is a companion bill to one offered in the Senate last week by another bipartisan pair, Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

But where Snowe and Wyden have been explicit in how the new plan should be financed through higher tobacco taxes Pallone and Roukema did not specify their ideas for paying for it. All Medicare-eligible Killer slil wostf4 delay execution Decision halts diet drug trial By SHARON SILKE CARTY Staff Writer A state Supreme Court decision derailed the start of a diet drug trial that was set to begin Monday in state Superior Court, New Brunswick. Three women from South Jersey are suing American Home Products and its subsidiary, Wyeth-Ayerst, after they used fen-phen, a diet drug combination manufactured by the Mariicnn pnmnanv A. i ''TO I -uA-' They claim the "I don't think it company hid details should have any about a potentially u. fatal heart valve mpactonthlS problem associated case." with using the drugs together.

They are attorney asking American Rep. Marge Roukema, left, and Rep. rank Pallone put partisan issues aside with their proposal. food and medicine. Against the recommendations of their doctors, many employ tactics to make their prescriptions last longer, such as splitting pills into pieces, or staggering the days on which they take their medication." ASSUUATl-JU PRESS PHOTO of his competency hearings, is behalf to delay his execution.

determined with time." Friedman said Martini's frame of mind about his pending execution "is very hard to tell. We go, we talk, we make our points. I know he hears me." "He says he understands that he is the first, he understands that it is a real date," Friedman said. "I am not in a position to read him emotionally. He is a man who doesn't give up much in that department to anybody." "He is a stoic person," Friedman said.

validity of the plaintiffs' claims that Norplant caused side effects and left permanent scars when removed. Nor did the court rule on whether Wyeth's advertising included appropriate warnings. The plaintiffs five of roughly 50 New Jersey women who have sued Wyeth over Norplant must now prove their case to a should) proper of the or side of the Justice O'Hern Death row inmate John Martini, seen here in this file photo from one scheduled to die Sept. 22. He does not want any appeals filed on his Court rules widow can file for benefits TRENTON A divided state Supreme Court ruled Monday that a widow may file a claim for death benefits under workers compensation even though her husband had earlier accepted a settlement of his case.

Carl Kibble of East Windsor accepted $36,000 in 1989 as compensation for lung ailments linked to his work as a welder for Weeks Dredging Construction of Cranford and other firms. After Kibble died of lung cancer in 1994, his widow, Mary, who relied on her husband for income, sought annual death-benefit payments under workers compensation. Her claim was dismissed by two lower courts as Weeks Dredging argued that the settlement with her husband precluded any future claims. In a 4-3 ruling, the Supreme Court overturned the lower courts and found Mrs. Kibble should have a right to press her claim regardless of any settlement with her husband.

Timmendequas' brother sentenced NEW BRUNSWICK -The brother of Megan Kanka's molester and murderer was sentenced Monday to seven years in New Jersey's prison for sex offenders. Superior Court Judge Bar-nett Hoffman ruled in July that Paul Timmendequas' behavior could be classified as repetitive and compulsive and rejected his request to be sentenced to a general prison term. Timmendequas, 35, pleaded guilty last year to sexually assaulting two girls while staying at a friend's East Brunswick residence in March 1998. His brother, Jesse Timmendequas, 37, is on death row for the July 29, 1994 rape and murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka of Hamilton Township, the crime that led to passage of Megan's Law around the nation. Swimmers banned on drug charges Two long-distance swimmers were banned from competition for four years Monday for drug offenses, two days after taking top places in the Ocean Marathon in Atlantic City.

American and Russian diving champions also received shorter bans following positive drug tests. World swimming's governing body, FINA, said it had suspended Spain's David Meca-Medina and Slovenian Igor Majcen after both tested positive for the steroid nandrolone earlier in the season. Synchronized diver Tracy Bonner, of the United States, who won the U.S. championships with her partner Kathy Pesek, was banned for a year after testing positive for dextroamphetamine. Russia's Yulia Pakhalina was also banned for two months after testing positive for caffeine.

From wire reports LOTTERIES Drawings for Monday, August 9, 1999 NEW JERSEY Pick 3: 095. Straight bet $303.50, Box $50.50, Pairs $30 Pick 4: 5660. Straight bet $3,902.50, Box $325 Cash 5: 8,17,19,21,37 Pick 6: 5,22,23,24,38,40 Bonus: 95614 PENNSYLVANIA Daily Number 491 Big 4: 8268 Cash 5: 15,20,27,35,39 NEW YORK Daily number 616 WinFoun 1993 Take 5: 15,16,22,24,36 Pick 10: 4,5,8,12,23,24,30,31 36,42,43,46,56,57,58,60,62,70,71 80 THIS SECTION objections. In 1995, Martini told a judge he wanted the Public Defender's Office to drop his case and stop appeals, and Zegas was appointed to represent Martini's rights in this regard. The state Supreme Court ruled the following year that a death row inmate could not cut off his own state appeals, but the federal courts have no such rule.

When the state Supreme Court on July 27 rejected the public defender's third and final appeal on Martini's behalf, the state rug firms must warn consumers By RALPH SIEGEL The Associated Press TRENTON John Martini's Sept. 22 date with execution stands. He has not changed his mind about dying. The 69-year-old convicted killer met with Mark Friedman of the Public Defender's Office on Friday and also spoke earlier last week with his own court-appointed attorney, Alan Zegas. He told both lawyers he still does not want any appeals to be filed and any other actions taken to delay his date with lethal injection.

Martini would be the first person to be executed in New Jersey in 36 years. But he can change his mind at the last minute and ask for a federal appeal to be filed. Friedman said he would do it immediately if asked, and such an appeal would probably delay an execution date for several years. Lawyers will continue to meet with Martini over the next six weeks. Friedman said Martini accepts visits voluntarily and is glad to have the contact even though that office no longer officially represents him in any legal capacity.

But Friedman said the condemned man still gives no hint he intends to change his mind and authorize the filing of a federal appeal. "On Friday morning, we had a talk with him," Friedman said Monday. "No change as of yet. We just chatted. There was nothing to it." Friedman has handled Martini's appeals for eight years, half of that time against Martini's swage ClOSOS baachss Staff Report ATLANTIC CITY Health officials closed six ocean beaches to swimming Monday after a reported overflow of raw sewage into a storm drain, officials said.

The move was taken as a precaution after the Sunday overflow. The announcement marked the first swimming bans imposed along the Jersey Shore since this beach season, which began Memorial Day weekend, said Virginia Loftin, an environmental specialist in the state Department of Environmental Protection. The Atlantic City Sewerage a private company, did not notify the DEP or the Atlantic City Health Department about the 300-to 500-gallon sewage overflow until Monday morning, said Denise Nelson, the city health department's environmental health coordinator. "It could be serious for the sewer company for not notifying us" as soon as the overflow occurred about 3 p.m. Sunday, Nelson said.

The penalty for failing to notify the DEP about a spill is up to $50,000 a day per violation, said Amy Collings, a DEP spokeswoman. "I can't say what the (sewerage company) would be cited for until the case is fully reviewed," Collings said. Company officials could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Nelson said, "It's really questionable as to how much and (to) what degree" the sewage actually reached the ocean. appeals were exhausted and a death warrant was issued that day.

Zegas broke the news that day to Martini, who told him he had done "a good job." He said after speaking with Martini last week, he saw that nothing has changed. "He said he has not changed his mind, essentially saying the same things he was saying as before," Zegas said. "I have not seen any change whatever in his express desire to submit to execution. He has become more Cosmopolitan and Glamour. The growth of mass marketing of prescription drugs means "a pharmaceutical manufacturer that makes direct claims to consumers for the efficacy of its product" should also "provide proper warnings of the dangers or side effects of the product," Justice Daniel J.

O'Hern wrote for the majority- In a dissent, Justice Stewart G. Pollock accused the majority of ignoring the clear intent of the 1987 New Jersey Products Liability Act. The ruling reinstated a case that had been dismissed by lower courts. The court did not assess the fail to adequately inform them of the risks. American Home sold the "fen" part of the fen-phen combination by manufacturing Pondimin, the brand name for fenfluramine.

The company also sold fenfluramine's chemical cousin, dexfenfluramine, as Redux. Both were taken off the market in September 1997, several months after a study linking the drugs with potentially fatal heart valve damage was released. Attorneys have charged that American Home knew that the drugs, when taken in combination with phenter-mine, caused heart valve damage but hid that evidence from the public. The company has been accused of marketing the drugs together, even though the Food and Drug Administration had never approved of their use together. Peter Bleakley, an attorney representing American Home, said he doubts Monday's decision will affect the fen-phen trial.

"I don't think it should have any impact on this case," Bleakley said. "One, we did not advertise directly to consumers, and two, the information we provided to consumers was truthful." Opening remarks are scheduled to begin at 9:15 this morning. ten spend little time with patients, and manufacturers advertise their drugs directly to consumers requires a new legal approach. The ruling marks the first time a state supreme court has assessed the learned intermediary doctrine in light of the now-frequent practice of direct marketing of drugs to consumers, lawyers involved in the case said. But the ruling's practical effect could be limited, lawyer John F.

Brenner said. He submitted a legal brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents 80 drug companies. which the primary election has been held." LaVergne argues that means the Republican and Democratic parties each had to poll enough votes in their respective primary elections in June to equal 10 percent of the total votes cast in the last Assembly general election in 1997. He said there were 4,283,042 votes for Assembly candidates in 1997, with each voter being allowed to vote for two. That means Republicans and Democrats each had to draw 428,304 votes in this year's primary to maintain their status as officially recognized political parties.

LaVergne said both fell way short of that criteria. He said only 203,119 votes were cast for Republican Assembly candidates in this year's primary, less than 5 percent of the 1997 votes, while 257,606 votes were cast for Democratic Assembly candidates in the primary. Home to pay for expensive yearly medical tests to monitor their health. Opening remarks were set to begin about 11 a.m. Monday, but court proceedings were disrupted after Judge Marina Corodemus checked her e-mail during a break.

A state Supreme Court case that could impact the trial had been decided, and the details were e-mailed directly to the judge, who handles all major personal injury suits in the state. The state Supreme Court case, which also involved American Home and Wyeth-Ayerst, says that people can sue pharmaceutical companies who advertise directly to consumers if the companies rate and fair." In most product liability litigation, companies must show they gave consumers adequate notice of any potential dangers. But prescription drugs traditionally have been an exception. Under the so-called "learned intermediary" doctrine, drug companies must inform only the doctors who prescribe medica tion, not the patients who take it. In its ruling Monday, the court majority said the new landscape of health care in which doctors working for managed-care companies of STAFF PHOTO BY NOAH K.

MURRAY "(Pharraaceuti-cal companies provide warnings dangers effects product" Daniel J. By DEBORAH YAFFE Gannett State Bureau TRENTON -Pharmaceutical companies that market prescription drugs directly to consumers must warn those consumers and not just their doctors about potential side effects, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday. In a 5-2 decision, the court found that Wyeth Laboratories, a subsidiary of American Home Products was required to tell women about possible side effects of the contraceptive implant Norplant in advertisements that ran in magazines such as Judge jury. In a statement released Monday, Wyeth said it will ask the lower court to dismiss the Norplant cases. The company said its advertisements were "accu- allows challenge to ballot law It' -ill)" 1 1 I jL rr 1 2sj cratic candidates are now no different than those of third party or independent candidates, and that all should have an equal shot in a drawing for columns one and two.

Fisher, in refusing to block the ballot drawing, said he wasn't convinced that the NJ Conservative Party had shown there was "a reasonable probability" that it would be successful in the case. But he acceded to the request of Eugene M. LaVergne, the lawyer for the NJ Conservative Party, to allow the suit to move ahead as a "summary" proceeding, setting a full hearing on the matter for Aug. 23. Fisher said that should be early enough for whoever loses to file and be heard on an appeal before the county clerks have to print up their ballots for the general election.

At issue is a statute that says "no political party which fails to poll at any primary election for By SHERRY CONOHAN Staff Writer FREEHOLD BOROUGH -A Superior Court judge Monday agreed to hear the NJ Conservative Party's challenge to a state law that historically has given Republicans and Democrats the top positions on the election ballot. But Judge Clarkson S. Fisher Jr. refused to block the 3 p.m. Monday drawing for ballot position, when clerks in 21 counties gave the Republican and Democratic parties the preferential ballot columns one and two.

The NJ Conservative Party charges that too few votes were cast in the Assembly races in this year's Republican and Democratic primaries for those parties to continue to be officially recognized. The NJ Conservative Party contends Republican and Demo Monmouth County Clerk Claire French, left, and Special Deputy Bertha Sumick select ballot positions for the election in November. a general election at least 10 per centum (10 percent) of the votes cast in the state for members of the General Assembly at the next preceding general election Pages in this section were designed and edited by Marie Brzostowski, Jason Cody, Marlaina Gray, Kathy Phillips and Eric Schwarz. 1 held for the election of all the members of the General Assembly, shall be entitled to have a party column on the official bal-iot at the general election for.