Mother rejects apology

An Albany mother whose newborn son died from severe birth defects as a result of her taking thalidomide has rejected a public apology from the drug’s manufacturer, describing it as “demeaning”.

Merle Sandells has waited 52 years for an apology from the Germany-based manufacturer of the drug, which was taken by pregnant women in the 1950s and 1960s to treat morning sickness.

Mrs Sandells said she felt an outburst of grief and anger, having watched the apology from the company, Grunenthal, unfold on the weekend news early this month.

In the apology, Grunenthal chief executive Harald Stock said the company’s long silence was a sign of shock and the drug’s side-effects could not be detected before it was marketed.

“It’s disgusting. Is that all the company can say after 52 years,” Mrs Sandells said.

“And now they say they were in shock too; like hell they were.

“It was not an admission. It shows how much they valued the women.”

Dubbed the “wonder drug”, thalidomide left thousands of children around the world and hundreds in Australia with birth defects, and many victims have only recently received compensation.

Mrs Sandells, who was 24 at the time in 1960, says her son’s death was part of a cover-up.

She was never allowed to see her son who died shortly after he was born.

Kevin would have been her second child.

No record of her son could be found until nearly 40 years later when Kevin’s birth and death certificates were located and it was discovered he had been buried in a mass grave with 49 other infants.

“For the first 39 years it was like he was never born,” she said.

“We didn’t even know he was buried. It was all kept very, very quiet and it wasn’t until two years later when it all hit the fan.”

The drug was removed from the market in 1962 after it was linked to birth deformities.

“I don’t want anything, I just want acknowledgment that they did something terribly wrong,” Mrs Sandells said.

Two months ago, Melbourne-based thalidomide sufferer Lynette Rowe won a multi-million dollar settlement against Australian distributor Diageo.

tim.edmunds@albanyadvertiser.com