WISH-TV, Indiana Station, Accused| In Textbook Defamation Case

INDIANAPOLIS (CN) - LIN Television Corp. dba WISH-TV and its reporter Karen Hensel defamed CanaRx Services, a Canadian pharmacy benefits manager that does business over the Internet, by accusing it of providing U.S. consumers with "fake drugs," "counterfeit drugs," "wrong dosages," and drugs containing strychnine and crushed concrete, CanaRx claims in Federal Court.

CanaRx claims WISH defamed it in a two-art series called "Bad Medicine," broadcast on Nov. 1 and 2, and posted on the WISH Web site thereafter.

CanaRx claims it was the only "Canadian Internet pharmacy" the series referred to by name. It claims Hensel and WISH defamed it by scurrilous allegations, such as, "FDA officials say they're concerned drugs found in the packages could be sugar pills, could have stricnine [sic] or ground-up concrete, which was found in some tablets. But some cities are encouraging employees to buy their drugs from the internet to save money. Muncie is one of them. City employees and retirees are required to buy long term meds through mail order. But for bigger savings, munciemeds.com touts Canarx.com, a Canadian [sic] internet pharmacy."

CanaRx claims the statements are false: that no such contaminants "have ever been found in any prescription ever filled through CanaRx." It also says it is "not a pharmacy, but a pharmacy benefits manager".

CanaRx also claims WISH broadcast this defamatory statement: "The FDA calls CanaRx 'Illegal and dangerous.'"

It claims Hensel and WISH lied by stating, "CanaRx did not return I-Team 8's calls for comment." CanaRx claims Hensel did not make "calls," that she made one call to it, after Part 1 had been broadcast, at 4:03 p.m. on Nov. 2, shortly before Part 2 was broadcast.

CanaRx demands a retraction and punitive damages. It is represented by Joseph Morris with Morris & De La Rosa of Chicago. See complaint.

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