Posted on 02/22/2006 5:03:32 PM PST by wagglebee
When the retired doctor from Austin suddenly began spending big money in Las Vegas, the casinos assigned him a "host" and gave him first-class airfare, hotel suites, meals and shopping trips for his wife, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin.
The casinos even gave him an Alaskan cruise, the lawsuit says.
The retired doctor, Max Wells, kept coming back, the lawsuit says — and kept losing money. By the fall of 2005, Wells had lost $7 million, the lawsuit says. By January, another $7 million.
Now Wells is suing the casinos and a major drug company, claiming that the prescription drugs he was taking for Parkinson's disease set off a compulsive gambling spree.
Wells, 55, wants his money back. He declined to comment Tuesday.
His lawsuit, filed Friday, says the drug company didn't warn patients that Requip could cause compulsive behavior. And it cites a 2005 Mayo Clinic study that documented 11 Parkinson's patients who developed compulsive gambling habits while taking Requip or a similar drug called Mirapex.
The gambling ceased for eight of the 11 when they stopped taking the drugs; test results were not available for the other three patients, the study said.
GlaxoSmithKline, which is referred to as SmithKline Beecham in the lawsuit — the companies merged in 2000 — said Tuesday that it had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
"We will certainly investigate the allegations when we receive the complaint," said Mary Anne Rhyne, a company spokeswoman. "We believe the drug is appropriately labeled."
The lawsuit claims the casinos knew that Wells had Parkinson's, a degenerative disorder that damages nerve cells and causes shaking, slowness and difficulty with balance.
Wells told the casinos he had Parkinson's and "was taking the medication while he was gambling," said his lawyer, Tom Thomas with Winstead Sechrest & Minick in Dallas.
The lawsuit says the casinos should have been aware of the Mayo study, which Thomas said was heavily publicized in Las Vegas last summer.
None of the seven casinos named in the lawsuit returned calls Tuesday. They are Mandalay, Treasure Island, Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas Sands, Harrah's Las Vegas and Hard Rock Hotel.
Wells, a retired pathologist, was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2000, according to the lawsuit.
After taking Mirapex for several months in 2004, Wells "developed an irresistible compulsion to gamble," the lawsuit said, and lost several thousand dollars gambling in Las Vegas and on the Internet.
Thomas said Wells had previously been an occasional gambler.
After he told his doctor that he thought Mirapex was causing him to gamble, the doctor switched him to Requip and increased the dosage, the lawsuit said.
As Wells was losing $14 million — which included about $1.2 million in IOUs called markers that Wells hasn't paid — his wife was unaware of his losses because she wasn't gambling with him, Thomas said.
The last week of January, Wells' wife began to question him, and he confessed to the losses, the lawsuit said.
When his doctor took him off Requip, his gambling compulsion stopped, Thomas said.
Despite the losses Wells claims, he's not bankrupt, Thomas said.
"I would say he hasn't lost the farm, but he's lost the ranch," he said.
I bet this has never been tried before.
Until maybe 20 years ago, IT COULDN'T BE TRIED. Back then, all of the casinos were run by the Mafia, they really didn't care what a court said; if you owed them money, they were going to get it.
The casino will have this man's legs broken before he gets THEIR 14 million.
By filing a frivolous lawsuit, he hasn't really stopped gambling. He has just switched from casinos to courtrooms.
My guess is that he won't get anything from the casinos, but Glaxo Smith-Kline will throw some money at him to shut up and go away.
The article states this man is a retired pathologist. Shouldn't he, as a medical doctor, know of the potential side effects of the medicine HE is taking? I'm betting :) that his wife has more to do with the lawsuit than any potential side affects this drug supposedly has.
For the second time today I'm reminded of the story about the guy who came home broke after losing millions in Vegas.
"Some went on gamblin', some went on broads, some went on booze - and the rest I just squandered".
"His lawsuit, filed Friday, says the drug company didn't warn that Requip could cause compulsive behavior."
He's not an ordinary patient; he's a ! The question isn't whether or not the pharmaceutical mfg. warned patients, it's whether or not the information was available to PHYSICIANS! Any doctor, retired or otherwise, who takes a medication (regardless of who prescribed it) without looking up the relevant details about the side effects before taking it is an idiot.
Precisely!
These casinos use every unethical method they can think up to lure high rollers into gambling away everything they have. Their favorite targets are lonely old widows and widowers, who are showered with attention and perks, as they gamble away their entire nest eggs. When sub-prime home equity lenders and payday lenders engage in any deceptive tactics, federal and state legislatures go after them like barracudas, and often force them to pay out big settlements or else shut them down. When casinos use sophisticated psychological profiling and manipulation to push people into ruining their finances, the politicians and mobsters and unscrupulous business people who get big cuts of the profits, always seem to manage to get it shoved under the rug.
The First Rule of Aquisition: "Once you have their money, never give it back."
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
I hope he and his lawyer get matching cement overshoes. They look like such standup guys.
his wife was unaware of his losses because she wasn't gambling with him, Thomas said.
Something doesn't add up here (pun kind of intended)
Yeah, it's not like his wife thought the casino was just comping all of this out of generosity.
You keep leaving out the word greedy when you describe these victims. I have never seen a winner say no thanks, keep the money, I just like the feeling. What crap.
Deadbroke Mountain
I once was prescribed a certain drug after I broke my arm.
I read the possible side effects disclaimer, bloody stool, no stool, liver failure, heart failure, sexual dysfunction, inability to swallow, inclination to slobber,inability to attain erection, swelling of ankles, stomach cramps, nausea, potential tachycardia, pustules, losss of hair, body rash, and ex-wife could sue for increased support.
I opted for an over the counter, unnamed pain reliever.
He dove after the money he originally lost and chased it all down a dark hole.
His own fault.
Check out The Muse. Also funny.
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