Bucks woman found dead in Ind. laboratory

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- Deborah A Delp

Bucks woman found dead in Ind. laboratory

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7923639.htm Bucks woman found dead in Ind. laboratory Traci R. Johnson was found at clinic where she was part of testing for a newdrug. By Walter F. Naedele Inquirer Staff Writer A 19-year-old former Bible college student from Bensalem committed suicideSaturday in Indianapolis, police there reported. Traci R. Johnson was found hanging by a scarf from a bathroom shower rod inthe Lilly Laboratory for Clinical Research, the Indianapolis Star reportedyesterday. She left no note, the newspaper reported. A toxicology test will determine whether drugs played a role. Johnson hadbeen participating in clinical trials for a drug that Eli Lilly & Co. hopedto launch this year, the Star reported. Lilly officials said Monday they did not believe the drug - duloxetine - wasrelated to Johnson's death. Toxicology test results are expected in about amonth. Johnson's death "has ripped the heart out of the body of our church," saidthe Rev. Joel Barnaby, pastor of the Greater Church of Philadelphia inKensington, where Johnson had been a youth leader for several years. She was a 2002 graduate of Bensalem High School and lived with her family inthe 2600 block of Finley Avenue in Bensalem, according to the high schooland family friends. Paul D. Mooney, president of Indiana Bible College in Indianapolis, whichserves the United Pentecostal Church International, said Johnson was astudent for one semester at his school but dropped out early last month andjoined a clinical study at Lilly. "I would suspect it was" for financial reasons that she dropped out, Mooneysaid. "We encouraged her to do both." Mooney said Johnson was "very perky" and "lived on campus up until shedropped out [and] was living at the Eli Lilly residence for people who...are in their program." Barnaby said that Johnson's father, a machinist, was laid off about sixmonths ago and that one of her three sisters had to drop out of school forfinancial reasons. Barnaby was furious at the drug firm. "I am troubled to the core of my spirit that Eli Lilly has taken such adefensive posture and [has] been so quick to deny any responsibility" inJohnson's death, "throwing all the blame on this young lady.All the pathological reports, the toxicity reports, those things don't comeback for weeks. And I am shocked that they have taken such a deliberatedefense to distance themselves from any responsibility." David Shaffer, a spokesman for Eli Lilly, said "there is no circumstance inwhich we are trying to blame anybody. This is an incredibly sad thing foreverybody involved." For privacy reasons, Shaffer said he could not identify the person "who diddie on Saturday from an apparent suicide" and who was found "in a room atthe Lilly Laboratory for Clinical Research." According to an Indianapolis Police Department incident report, Johnson waspronounced dead at 9 p.m. Saturday at Indiana University Hospital and wasruled a suicide. Shaffer said a drug called duloxetine "is being studied as a treatment forstress, urinary incontinence and depression." He said the woman in question was "a healthy subject" who "would have beentaking medications as part of the study and we would have been takingvarious test results." There are about 100 subjects in the study. But last week, he said, the woman who committed suicide was on a placebo. Her death took place while she was taking sugar pills rather than duloxetine" Shaffer did not know how much Lilly was paying Johnson, but he said that, typically payments to participants in studies such as this are in theneighborhood of $150 a day." He declined to state her weekly income. At the nondenominational Pentecostal church in Kensington, Barnaby said theJohnson family commuted three times a week to take part in the church's workwhich he said was "an inner-city mission." In the neighborhood near Frankford and Allegheny Avenues, which Barnabycharacterized as low-income and high-crime, Johnson and other young peoplewould gather neighborhood children for meals and entertainment. Barnaby said that after graduating from Bible college, Johnson had expectedto return to be an inner-city missionary. Johnson is survived by her father, Michael; her mother, Margaret; threesisters, Crystal, Freda and Vicki; and several aunts and uncles. A viewing will be held at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Greater Church ofPhiladelphia, 2021 E. Allegheny Ave., followed by the funeral at 11 a.m.Burial will be in Resurrection Cemetery in Bensalem. Be At Peace, Deborah A Delp Mother to: Samantha (9, ADHD/ODD) JR (6, ASD/ADHD) dadelp What we do with our lives depends on our Motivation to do something with our lives. D.A.Delp Vaccine damaged children are called the "acceptable risk" group by pharmaceutical leaders. As parents there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING acceptable about the risk! It's time to tell these "leaders" that we will no longer allow this! IT'S TIME TO ACT! DELP'S HOPE PAGE http://www.delpshopepage.org Autism & Vaccinations autism_and_vaccinations The Right to Fight Mercury Damage http://factsformedia.com/factsformedia/coalition.cgi Globe of Hope WebRing: http://delpshopepage.org/my_web_ring.htm