Parents of drug overdose victims take legal action

PITTSBURGH -- Brandy French's friends thought they were doing her a favor.

With Brandy high on Ecstasy, they took her to a friend's house, telling their friend's mother that the 16-year-old was drunk and just needed time to sleep it off.

The next day, the teen-ager died. Her first time using the drug was her last.

The man accused of selling the pill that killed Brandy faces a homicide charge, but Brandy's father has gone further. He filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the woman who let Brandy into her home and Brandy's friends, saying they did too little to prevent the girl's death.

In some civil cases -- like the one Don French filed in Pittsburgh and another involving a young woman who died in Las Vegas -- families want to blame those they say stood by while their loved ones died.

"He doesn't understand how no one could do anything over several hours," said French's lawyer, John Gismondi. "We're talking about a 98-pound child."

Brandy, a sophomore at Ambridge High School about 15 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, died May 19, a day after a concert near Pittsburgh. She went with two friends, one of whom, Michelle Maranuk, admits buying Ecstasy pills for each of them.

Michelle had done the drug a few times and erroneously believed -- like many teen users -- that it was nonlethal, said her lawyer, Greg Schwab.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says medical examiners in several major U.S. cities reported 27 Ecstasy deaths between 1994 and 1998.

"There is a misrepresentation out there that this is a recreational thing that can't harm you," Schwab said.

Brandy's friends told authorities she started throwing up at the concert, which they considered a normal reaction. By early evening, she was sluggish and pale. She had trouble talking.

They took her to the house of a friend, Lewis Hopkins, in nearby Sewickley -- in part, said Schwab, because they didn't want her to get in trouble at home. They told Lewis' mother, Rosalind Hopkins, that Brandy drank too much.

They then put her in a bedroom upstairs. Don French claims that even though Brandy was unable to talk and her breathing was abnormal, Rosalind Hopkins waited more than three hours to call paramedics, who arrived after midnight and could not find a pulse.

Brandy died the following day. The coroner said the cause was an Ecstasy overdose, which slowly shut down her nervous system, affected her breathing and stopped her heart.

Coroner's inquest held

At the coroner's inquest, Rosalind Hopkins said she thought she had taken the right steps and asked Brandy's friends several times if they were sure she had only been drinking.

In the lawsuit, French is requesting damages totaling at least $275,000. He also has named Clear Channel Entertainment, operator of the concert site, saying employees failed to help his daughter. A lawyer for Rosalind Hopkins refused comment, as did a representative for Clear Channel. Wilson and Sontag could not be reached.

In the Las Vegas case, the parents of Danielle Heird, are suing a casino and the C2K nightclub where she partied before she died in July 2000, saying operators should have done more to stop Ecstasy use at the club and that employees should have been trained to deal with overdoses.

Ecstasy's growing popularity, makes that even more important, Rusche said, noting research which indicates the drug may cause brain damage, even though users believe it is safe.

"The kids who are using Ecstasy now are the first-generation guinea pigs," she said.

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On the Net:

National Institute on Drug Abuse: http://www.nida.nih.gov

National Families in Action: http://www.nationalfamilies.org