Chicago Tribune, 435 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 - MONDAY, March 24, 1997 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: BUSINESS Page: 1 Word Count: 1,271
Chuck Hutchcraft, Tribune Staff Writer.

This is in addition to the high-powered, and expensive (at least $1,000 a month just for the drugs), regimen he is undergoing to battle the AIDS virus. Beebe learned in 1985, when he was 25, that he had contracted the virus from contaminated blood products.

"It was the happy-go-lucky '80s," says Beebe of Deerfield, his voice weak and tired. He was single and sold safety equipment.

Beebe is no longer able to work and collects Social Security disability; the government covers his medical costs.

He is among the more than 6,000 hemophiliacs who contracted the AIDS virus from contaminated blood products and is among thousands who have been waiting to receive the settlement from the four companies they say sold them the tainted products.

Last August, U.S. District Judge John Grady gave preliminary approval to a proposed settlement in which the companies--Deerfield-based Baxter International Inc., Armour Pharmaceutical/Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., Alpha Therapeutic Corp. and Bayer Corp.--would pay the plaintiffs $100,000 each, or more than $600 million. The settlement would provide an additional $40 million for administrative and legal costs.

Seven months later, Beebe and the other 6,200 plaintiffs who accepted the settlement have seen none of that money. The settlement has been held up by legal and regulatory Catch-22s that will require action by the federal bureaucracy and probably Congress to untangle.

The case may have been thrown wide open last week, when a jury in a separate case in Indianapolis awarded $2 million to a hemophiliac who allegedly contracted the AIDS virus from tainted blood supplied by Bayer.

The question now is whether that decision will prompt more hemophiliacs to opt out of the settlement now before Grady.

Corey Dubin, of Goleta, Calif., president of the Committee of 10,000, said Friday that his phone was ringing off the hook from plaintiffs asking what to do.

"It seems to me that this victory (in Indianapolis) raises some very important questions," said Dubin, whose group represents some 10,000 hemophiliacs who contracted the AIDS from tainted blood products. "It certainly raises the question, 'Is $100,000 a fair offer?' "

Dubin said the "best-case scenario" would be for Grady to give final approval to the settlement, but to be more flexible in allowing more hemophiliacs who want to opt out to do so.

For those who are "in such dire need . . . both financially and because of their health, it is important for the offer to go through," Dubin said.

But those who decided for other reasons, such as a perceived weakness in their case, "ought to stay put," he said.

If Grady proceeds with the settlement, there are problems that, if not cleared up, would for all practical purposes render it moot.

For one thing, those who have liens placed against them by private insurers or by the federal and state governments for Medicaid payments might never see their $100,000.

The companies say they are near a settlement on the liens, but without a government waiver or the creation of a special needs trust, any victim who received the settlement would then have too much money to qualify for continued government benefits.

The $100,000 is "not a lot," says Beebe. "It doesn't come close to paying for all the different things in my life, whether it's (lost) work or medical bills."

But it's something. And thanks to the new class of AIDS drugs, Beebe and other plaintiffs now hope to have time to enjoy it, if the red tape can be cut.

For many, though, the wait has been in vain. Plaintiffs are dying at the rate of two a day. Their share of the settlement will go to their survivors.

Earlier this month, an impatient Judge Grady gave the companies until May 31 to show that within 30 days of that date they will start making payments to plaintiffs who are free of government or private insurance liens, and for whom the settlement does not threaten future eligibility for government benefits.

He further ordered that all concerns related to those who are caught in the web of liens and benefits be cleared up by Dec. 31. Otherwise, Grady said, he would reject the proposed settlement as unfair to the plaintiffs.

"Then we start from square one," said Tom Mull of Louisiana, another attorney for the plaintiffs.

Some help may come from revived federal legislation that would allocate $900 million for the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act.

The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), is named after a 15-year-old Florida hemophiliac who died from AIDS in December 1992. His case received national attention after local townspeople boycotted his school and his family's house was burned down.

The legislation would pay hemophiliacs who contracted the virus from tainted products $125,000 each. Hemophiliacs, family members who in turn contracted the AIDS virus from them and survivors could receive the money and still be eligible for supplemental security income, Medicaid and other government benefits. The bill also includes such an exemption for the settlements proposed in the case now before Judge Grady.

The defendants, meanwhile, are attempting to work out a deal similar to one reached with private insurers with federal and state governments to clear liens attached for Medicaid payments, according to Guy Esnouf, a spokesman for the four companies.

Philadelphia attorney Wayne Spivey, who heads the legal steering committee for the plaintiffs, said the companies have agreed to pay 10 cents on the dollar, or roughly $15 million, in addition to the $600 million settlement, to settle the liens with private insurers.

He said the deal on Medicaid liens is expected to be roughly the same, but could not provide total costs.

But plaintiffs who depend on government assistance--supplemental Social Security income or Medicaid--face yet another problem: The $100,000 settlement will make them ineligible for future benefits.

A special legal team hired by the plaintiffs last November proposed the creation of a special needs trust. Plaintiffs could have their share of the settlement placed in the pooled trust, earning more interest than individual trusts. They then could draw from individual accounts for "quality of life" purchases.

This would give plaintiffs access to the settlement funds and at the same time protect their eligibility for government benefits.

One shortcoming with this plan, Spivey pointed out, is that what's left of a plaintiff's share of the trust when he or she dies would go to pay off any liens that have accrued since the settlement, not to survivors.

Meanwhile, the delay "is taking a real bad toll on a lot of members of the community," says Wayne Swindlehurst, vice president of the Washington-based Committee of 10,000.

Swindlehurst, of Lansing, Mich., found out he was HIV-positive (from contaminated products) in 1986, "just before I got married."

Swindlehurst, who has opted out of the lawsuit, and his fiance did marry. But having AIDS has robbed him of more than money. "We hoped to have kids. And all of a sudden to find out I was HIV-positive and to realize that we would never have children--that had always been a dream of mine."

CAPTION: PHOTO (color): Adam Beebe of Deerfield contracted the AIDS virus from contaminated blood products. Tribune photo by Stan Policht. PHOTO: Wayne Swindlehurst of Lansing, Mich., learned that he contracted the AIDS virus from contaminated blood in 1986, just before he got married. Swindlehurst is vice president of the Committee of 10,000. Photo for the Tribune by Dale Atkins/AP.

Copyright 1997/The Chicago Tribune. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Chicago Tribune, 435 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611.
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