Attorneys at Dallas-based Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei secured $16.5 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries Monday after arguing that drugmaker ignored serious risks assocated with the painkiller patch in order to reap profits.

Days after a 38-year-old mother of three died in 2004 while using a defective Durogexic painkiller patch, the woman's family received a letter in the mail from the pharmacy that

filled her prescription, warning that the drug had been recalled out of safety concerns. On Monday, a Chicago jury awarded more than $16 million to the family of Janice Dicosolo, who used the Duragesic patch for chronic pain associated with a neurological condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The patch is designed to give a slow, constant dose of the drug fentanyl, a powerful pain killer 100-times stronger than morphine.

Attorneys Jim Orr and Michael Heygood argued that Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. and ALZA Corporation(both Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries) knew about problems associated with the patches, which are known to leak fentanyl in amounts large enough to kill. "They knew this patch was dangerous and defective but they continued to seel it and make money, and that's the only reason Janice DiCosolo is dead," says Orr. Last year, attorneys with Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei secured a $5.5 million verdict for the family of a 28-year-old Florida man who died while using the patch for hip pain. As reported by Bloomberg today, the patches generated more than $1.1 billion in sales for Johnson & Johnson last year.