$8 Million Awarded to Family Of Man Who Died in Risperdal Trial

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A California jury ruled that Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical and a psychiatrist are responsible for the death of 25-year-old Leo Liu. During a clinical trial for Risperdal, Liu died of a heart injury that was “further complicated” by the drug and ignored by the study doctors. Janssen was found 70% responsible for Liu’s death and ordered to pay $5.6 million to the family.

risperdalWhen Liu was first recommended for the Risperdal trial a pre-screening exam yielded abnormal electrocardiogram (EKG) readings and irregular blood tests, which indicated possible heart disease, according to a Fox 11 report.

Despite these results, Liu was cleared for the study and he began the Risperdal trial in February of 2009.  Just days after starting the study his condition worsened.  He died 5 days after his first Risperdal injection.

According to Law360, Doctors testified at the trial that Liu would have had a 50% better chance of surviving if the researchers would have transferred him to an acute-care facility when they first realized that his condition was worsening.

The family alleges that Liu’s psychiatrist convinced him to sign a consent form and enter the study and later received a “finder’s fee” of $30 thousand dollars from the drug company for his enrollment. The psychiatrist was found 30% responsible and ordered to pay the remainder of the settlement.

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Justin Karter
Justin Karter
Justin M. Karter, PhD, leads research news coverage and editorial strategy at Mad in America. He is the Acting Program Director of the PsyD in Clinical Psychology & Psychological Humanities at Boston College and part-time faculty with the Center for Psychological Humanities & Ethics. His scholarship examines historical and cultural formations of mind, subjectivity, and personhood; the roles of activist movements and lived-experience communities, including the consumer/survivor/ex-patient (C/S/X) tradition; and how mental health discourses shape institutions, practices, and identities. He works across mad studies, critical psychology, philosophy of psychology, and rights-based global mental health. Methodologically, he specializes in critical qualitative inquiry and psychotherapy process research grounded in intersubjective and phenomenological approaches. He is the President of APA Division 24 (2025-26) and serves on the Executive Board of Division 32. Previously, he was a Research Officer to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. He earned his PhD in Counseling Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where his dissertation examined psychosocial disability advocacy in the global mental health movement. He also holds graduate degrees in Journalism and Community Psychology from Point Park University.
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4 COMMENTS

  1. “The family alleges that Liu’s psychiatrist convinced him to sign a consent form and enter the study and later received a ‘finder’s fee’ of $30 thousand dollars from the drug company for his enrollment.”

    This type bribery of doctors should be illegal, why is it not?

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  2. There are never criminal charges in these cases… For the companies such settlements are a drop in a bucket and the “cost of doing business” and most individual doctors are insured against such cases so that they rarely have to reach to their own pockets.
    As long as there are no jail sentences it’s not justice – it’s a mockery.

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