If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, support is available – please click here to find someone to talk to. If you are in immediate danger or you think someone else is at risk of harm, contact your local emergency services. In the USA call 988 for 24/7, free, and confidential support.
C.A. GOLDBERG, PLLC and FURY DUARTE file lawsuit against Amazon for selling suicide powder
Lawsuit filed against Amazon on behalf of our client Ruth Scott for dangerous and deceptive business practices involving deadly chemical.
- Suit claims Amazon knew that it was profiting off vulnerable people dying, deceptively and dangerously marketing a suicide chemical.
- Suit claims Amazon assists in causing individuals to die by suicide, cropping warnings from images, having incomplete warnings on the bottle and website, deleting customer reviews aimed at warning others, and retaliating against consumers who left reviews about the product’s deadly use.
- Suit claims Amazon purchased and sold the deadly substance even after some countries regulated or banned online sales of it and after it had heard from families whose loved ones purchased the product from Amazon and died.
This week C.A. Goldberg, PLLC and Fury Duarte filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ruth Scott, whose beloved son Mikael died after ingesting sodium nitrite he purchased on Amazon.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that since 2009, suicide has increased by 45% among 15–24-year-olds and over 30% among 25-34-year-olds. Experts say that for most people, suicidal thoughts will eventually pass. Treatment, support from loved ones, and detailed plans to keep safe all help. Clinicians and researchers have found that people are much more likely to attempt suicide if they learn about methods, become convinced it is the right thing to do, and have the means. When a person is having suicidal thoughts, limiting fast access to methods by which to die can make the difference between life and death.
With Amazon’s Prime Delivery expedited delivery feature, people can obtain deadly sodium nitrite (and the products Amazon specifically recommends purchasing alongside it: anti-vomiting pills, an suicide instruction book, and a scale to weigh the correct amount) within a day of learning about the process from online communities that specifically suggest purchasing the compound from Amazon.
A recent study based on data from the National Poison Data System found that suicide attempts associated with sodium nitrite poisoning in the United States were first reported in 2017 and have been increasing in frequency since.
According to the lawsuit, Amazon is the number one vendor of sodium nitrite used for suicides. Amazon owned its sodium nitrite inventory wholesale and was solely responsible for product marketing, delivery, returns, and customer service. They continued to sell this brand of sodium nitrite even after some countries regulated or banned online sales of it and after the company had heard from families whose loved ones purchased the product off Amazon and used it to die by suicide.
Members of Congress sent a letter to Amazon’s president and chief executive Andy Jassy last week demanding answers about the company’s sales of the preservative and subsequent deaths, details on how the retailer had addressed the dangers, and an explanation of how it had responded to complaints.
Amazon extended condolences to families of the dead and continued to defend their practices and sales of the chemical.
“They know it’s killing people,” our client Ruth Scott said in an interview with the NY Times. “They are fully aware. They just don’t care.”
SOURCE C.A. Goldberg, PLLC
Contact: Caroline@cagoldberglaw.com
Related Links
If you are having thoughts of suicide:
In the USA call 988 for 24/7, free, and confidential support.
If you are in immediate danger or you think someone is at risk of harm, contact your local emergency services.
Support is available – please click here to find someone to talk to.
Read the complaint, authored by Carrie Goldberg and Naomi Leeds of C.A. Goldberg, PLLC, and Francisco Duarte and Scott David Smith of Fury Duarte in collaboration.