By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

RESERVE — Danny Becnel has handled so many class action lawsuits in his lengthy legal career that he might not even remember many of them.

But a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court recently is one that Becnel will, no doubt, never forget.

The suit, filed against several pharmaceutical companies, claims negligence that led to the death of his own mother, Edna V. Becnel.

Becnel filed the suit against Actavis Group, Actavis Totowa LLC, Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Mylan Bertek Pharmaceuticals Inc., and UDL Laboratories Inc., claiming the medication Digitek was improperly manufactured and then sold to the public.

The company issued a national recall of the medication in May, 2008, sending out letters to two million people nationwide who had received the medicine.

Digitek is a pill used to regulate the heartbeat. However Actavis said in its recall letter that the pill was apparently manufactured with “double the appropriate thickness” that could lead to double the appropriate medicine being administered to those who were taking it.

“The medicine killed my mother,” Becnel said. “My mother had a dosage that said it was 1.5 milligrams, but we found out that because of the improper manufacturing of the medication, it was actually 2.5 milligrams.”

Edna Becnel was 92 years of age and had a history of heart problems, with a previous heart attack “about 13 to 14 years ago” Becnel said.

She was a lifelong local resident who was born and raised in Garyville, and had taken a trip to Chicago earlier this year to see her grandchildren when she returned home, complaining of dizziness, nausea and a rapidly beating heart problem.

“We just figured that she was getting old and this was a natural course of events,” Becnel said.

She began taking Digitek on February 11, and Becnel said that within days after that she was complaining of the problems. She was admitted to the hospital, but due to her age, doctors were unable to perform some tests to further look into the problems.

“So we sent her home and accepted the fact that it was probably congestive heart failure beginning to affect her,” Becnel said.

Becnel’s sister and her children came down to take care of her, but on March 22, Edna Becnel died.

It was only 13 days later when the letter came to their home telling them about the Digitek problem, and warning to “not take the medicine” anymore.

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA0 shut down the Actavis plant in New Jersey, stating that they could not guarantee the potency of the medication, according to Becnel.

“Once we got the letter, we knew what had happened to her,” Becnel said.

The recall letter stated that the existence of double strength tablets posed a risk of toxicity in patients, and renal failure. Digitalis toxicity also could cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, low blood pressure, cardiac instability and bradycardia. The letter also stated that death could result from excessive digitalis intake.

Actavis manufactures the products for Mylan and the products are distributed by Mylan and UDL, under the Bertek and UDL labels. Bertek and UDL are affilitates of Mylan.

The lawsuit was filed in the name of Danny Becnel’s siblings, Robert M. Becnel and Susan B. Williams, on behalf of Edna V. Becnel and her estate.

Becnel said that the suit will undoubtedly became a class action case since a minimum of two million people were taking the medication, and other injuries have already been reported.

“The biggest problem for people who need to take this pill, which treats heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms, is to get the right dosage so your heart is properly regulated,” he explained. “So a company selling a dosage that is not what they say it is becomes a very serious problem.”

As for his mother’s situation, Becnel said he hired an independent person to review her case.

“I had my own expert check mom’s case and no question, she had a compromised heart and in all probability, the improper dose killed her,” he said.

Becnel has now filed what he believes to be approximately 20 percent of all cases in the country.

“If you even figure that each person has costs of $100, then this case—with two million people minimum—will be worth $200 million,” he noted.

Becnel said he is not interested in any money on his mother’s behalf, but he said that even his relatives spent a lot of money coming to St. John Parish to take care of his mother.

“I don’t need any more money, but my sister quit working for six weeks to come take care of mom,” he said. “This was just a very bad situation since she would not have died if it hadn’t been for the improper dosage in her medicine.”

Edna Becnel was well-known in St. John Parish as the first area public health nurse, who went from East Bank to West Bank to help treat people. She later worked at Godchaux Sugar company as a nurse.

She was one of 10 children in her family, however her father died when she was only 11 years old, forcing many of the children to help support the family.

She was married for 23 years before her husband’s death in 1965. They had three children, Daniel Jr., Bobby and Susan.