Pubdate: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 Source: Standard-Times (MA) Copyright: 1999 The Standard-Times Contact: http://www.s-t.com/ Author: Polly Saltonstall, Standard-Times staff writer NEW BEDFORD -- The Center for Health and Human Services has reached an out-of-court settlement in a suit filed by relatives of a patient at the center's methadone clinic who died of a methadone overdose. But the center remains under investigation by a handful of state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. attorney, in connection with its methadone operations and other financial dealings. The terms of the settlement reached last month in the Bristol County Superior Court case were sealed and attorneys for the center and for Marjorie Milosek, administrator of the estate of Sharon L. Newton, would not comment on the details. Ms. Newton died March 30, 1995, after receiving two doses of methadone, a powerful narcotic, in one day, the suit alleged. An in-house investigation by the center and a subsequent state probe found the nurse manager who administered the second dose failed to check the clinic's computer system to determine whether Ms. Newton had received a previous dose. The nurse subsequently failed to file a report on the incident, according to court records. The cause of Ms. Newton's death did not come to light until almost a year later, when a disgruntled former employee told authorities about that incident and another involving a nurse at the clinic, who also died of a methadone overdose, according to reports. A subsequent investigation of death certificates by The Standard-Times linked six deaths to methadone use. Methadone blunts heroin addicts' craving for the street drug and eases the painful symptoms of heroin withdrawal. Its physiological effects on the brain are similar to those of heroin, but without the "high" that addicts crave. Ms. Newton's mother, Ms. Milosek of Fairhaven, filed the suit in March a year ago, asking for an unspecified amount of damages. Her attorney, Steven L. Hoffman of Sugarman and Sugarman of Boston, said the terms of the Feb. 3 agreement prohibit him from discussing it. Attorney Scott Lang, who represents the center, said the nonprofit organization's board of directors felt strongly about settling the suit. "It was clearly a medical error by one of the center's staff members," he said. "The allegations of methadone-related deaths involving patients at the center are simply allegations and nothing more. These cases are extremely difficult to prove. But in this instance the board felt strongly that if there was the possibility of an amicable agreement, it should be done." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D