The Lawsuit???

On Wednesday I read about a lawsuit regarding someone who became(?) a compulsive gambler by taking a drug for their Parkinson's Disease. This drug is a different drug from another drug which was in the news about six months ago. There is also a little twist to this lawsuit because it not only names the drugmaker but seven different casinos in Las Vegas who may have known about this doctor's Parkinson Disease and his medication yet they continued to offer lavish comps and most likely extended credit to this doctor. I didn't post the story on Wednesday purposely because I wanted to see if any of the mainstream media outlets would pick up the story and it appears they have. Here is the link to the initial article regarding the lawsuit.

Now here is an excerpt from an interview on MSNBC with Tucker Carlson and the attorney representing the doctor. Please pay close attention to Tucker Carlson's questions and keep in mind Mr. Carlson is a very intelligent man and a seasoned newsperson. I know most people don't understand addictions and Mr. Carlson is no exception even though he is highly educated. In my opinion it really doesn't matter if you have a high level education or no education; if you are not exposed to addiction then you have no idea what an addiction can do to any person. I am here to tell anyone who cares that addictions especially my addiction to gambling compulsively took me to places I would have never dreamed and no I couldn't just stop, unfortunately.

Here is the interview with Tucker Carlson and the attorney representing the doctor who is suing a drugmaker for making him a compulsive gambler and seven different Las Vegas Casinos who allegedly perpetrated this compulsive gambling.

Gambler blames Parkinson's for his addiction

Dr. Max Wells plans to sue casinos and drug maker to lessen his debt

After gambling away $14 million, a retired physician from Austin, Texas, is making one last bet, that he'll recover his loss by suing casinos and the makers of his Parkinson's medication.

Dr. Max Wells says the drug company failed to warn patients that Requip and a similar drug called Mirapex could cause compulsive gambling. He also says Las Vegas casinos, including the Wynn, Bellagio and Harrah's, share the blame because they let him gamble, even though they knew he was on the medication and compulsive about it.

Dr. Wells' attorney, Tom Thomas, joined Tucker Carlson, on Situation to discuss his clients case.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, SITUATION: Now, I understand that there's a likelihood that this medication did make your client compulsive about gambling; whether it made him a compulsive gambler is a different question. Let's just say that right off the top. I think it's possible.

TOM THOMAS, ATTORNEY FOR DR. MAX WELLS: Yes, there are some studies. Mayo Clinic published one in '05. There's been one as recently as three weeks ago. There's no doubt that in a number of these patients that they're compulsive gambling.

CARLSON: Yes, I absolutely believe it. But this guy lost $14 million. OK.

THOMAS: Yes. His life savings.

CARLSON: After about, say, a million dollars or $7 million or even, say, $10 million, why didn't he seek treatment?

THOMAS: It wouldn't have made any difference if it had been $100 million. If you've got a compulsion, you can't stop.

CARLSON: Well, you can tell other people you have a compulsion. Of course you can stop. I know a million compulsive drinkers. I know some compulsive gamblers who've stopped. I mean, there are a lot of people with compulsions who either control them or turn to other people to help them control them. Why didn't your client do that?

THOMAS: Because he's taking a drug. You can't control it when you're taking the drug that creates the compulsion. You can only control it by stopping to take the drug.

CARLSON: But he must have been aware that he was losing millions and millions and millions of dollars, correct?

THOMAS: You know, he was aware of it. But the compulsion overcame the feelings that you describe that most of us would have. You're importing or assuming and properly and understandably so a rational train of thought. That's one of the evils of this particular problem, is it destroys rationality. No rational person would squander $14 million in 10 months.

CARLSON: There's no question your client's insane, whether it's the drug's fault or not. Of course, you lose $14 million it's bad.

I'm just saying that people with compulsions to drink, to do drugs, to gamble, are not completely insane. They understand they're destroying themselves, and that's why many of them reach out to other people to help them. There is an element of free will in this disease, even if you're taking Parkinson's medication. So why didn't he do that?

THOMAS: There's not much of an element of free will when you're choosing between the only drug that will give you any normalcy in your life and a byproduct that you don't know is being created by that drug.

CARLSON: I guess I'm not going to ask you for a fifth time why he didn't go to Gamblers Anonymous. Why didn't his wife pipe up? Apparently, the Las Vegas casinos treated them like the whales they were, and sent them on a cruise to Alaska, and gave them all kinds of comps. She must have known.

THOMAS: She didn't know how much. If you've been to Las Vegas, you know wives don't gamble with husbands. And he had his own their money separately. She didn't know.

CARLSON: Did a casino send your client on a cruise to Alaska?

THOMAS: They did. She knew that they were gambling money. She had no idea it was in the millions.

CARLSON: OK. Well, I'm sure she didn't. But I mean, she couldn't have imagined she was being sent on a cruise because her husband was winning at the craps table, correct?

THOMAS: I don't know what she imagined about that. She's a high school math teacher. I don't think she knows beans about it.

CARLSON: She does now.

THOMAS: She does now. And in fact, it was her ultimate questioning that led to Max's seeking some help where he was taken off the drug.

CARLSON: Wait. Just to go back to something you said. She's a math teacher you said?

THOMAS: Yes, she's a math teacher.

CARLSON: But not obviously, not a very good math teacher if she couldn't figure out that he was losing a lot of money.

THOMAS: Now, that's not so. You can't draw that conclusion if you don't know what's happening.

Tucker Carlson is right about one thing; if this doctor is successful against the casinos it will change the way in which the casinos give credit and give out comps to all of their customers and this will create a huge ripple effect throughout the Gaming Industry. I would be very surprised if this doctor is successful because he is going against one of the most powerful and influential industries this country has to offer and they will go to great lengths to protect their product. It will be interesting to see how far this lawsuit goes.

You can watch the entire interview via this link.