Delayed Drug Effect Possible- VA Witness

Delayed Drug Effect Possible — VA Witness

DETROIT — Someone at the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration Hospital could have spiked patients’ intravenous (IV) solutions with a muscle-relaxing drug, then left the hospital long before the drug took effect.

The possibility that IV fluid could have been laced with the drug emerged Tuesday during the trial of two Filipino nurses accused of murdering and poisoning patients with injections of the powerful muscle relaxant Pavulon, during the summer of 1975.

The possibility of Pavulon’s delayed action could become an important issue during the course of trial.

Much of the prosecution’s evidence against the defendants in the complicated case, Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez, rests on their being seen near victims’ bedsides either shortly before or after the men were stricken.

If the defense can strengthen the idea that Pavulon could have taken effect long after it was planted in the IV solutions, it could undermine the prosecution’s contentions in the minds of the jurors.

The admission that Pavulon could eventually paralyze breathing muscles even if it was diluted came from a prosecution witness. Dr. Marcelle Willock, a New York City anesthesiologist who is considered an expert in muscle-relaxant and other drugs such as Pavulon.

Under questioning by Edward R. Stein of Ann Arbor, one of the four defense lawyers in the case, Willock said Pavulon injected into a bag containing IV solutions would be highly diluted but eventually would take effect, possibly hours after, when an assailant was miles away.

At the same time, Willock insisted, however, that the time required for a highly diluted dose of Pavulon would vary considerably. It would be difficult, if not impossible for someone to guess accurately how long it would take for a weakened form of the drug to take effect, she testified.

All nine hospitalized veterans the women are accused of attacking with Pavulon were connected to IV feeding apparatus at the time they were stricken.