“A Punch in the Gut”: After Years of Waiting, Many Opioid Victims Will Be Shut Out of Purdue Settlement
Pennsylvania resident Mary Jannotta, 77, left, and her daughter, Susan Ousterman, with a photograph of Susan’s son, Tyler Cordeiro. Jannotta had to overcome an addiction to opioid painkillers. Cordeiro died of a drug overdose in 2020. Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer Mary Jannotta sliced meat and cheese behind deli counters at Acme and Pathmark supermarkets in the Philadelphia suburbs for decades, developing aches that came with working on her feet. A botched back surgery in 2008 made the pain worse. Her doctor repeatedly prescribed OxyContin, Purdue Pharma’s marquee painkiller — the high-dose opioid the company later admitted it criminally marketed and distributed. Jannotta said she soon became dependent on opioids. Cut off by her doctors, she found her way to Kensington, home of Philadelphia’s dangerous open-air drug market, to score pills. She eventually lost her car, her home — and her grandson. Tyler Cordeiro first pilfered Jannotta’s prescription pil...