December 20, 1999



Abbott Laboratories
100 Abbott Park Road
Abbott Park, Illinois 60064-6400

Gentlemen:

I am Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of Abbott
Laboratories, an Illinois corporation, and have advised Abbott Laboratories
in connection with the proposed offering of 10,612,444 shares of the common
stock, without par value, of Abbott Laboratories (the "Shares") pursuant to
the Abbott Laboratories 1996 Incentive Stock Program (the "Program"), which
Program is more fully described in the Registration Statement on Form S-8 to
which this is an exhibit (the "Registration Statement"). The Registration
Statement is being filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. In connection with the proposed
offering and registration, I, or members of my staff, have examined or are
otherwise familiar with:

     (i)   the Registration Statement,

    (ii)   the Restated Articles of Incorporation of Abbott Laboratories,

   (iii)   the By-laws of Abbott Laboratories,

    (iv)   the Program, and

     (v)   the minutes of all of the meetings of the board of directors of
           Abbott Laboratories and of the shareholders of Abbott Laboratories
           relating to the establishment of the Program or the award of
           benefits under the Program.

In addition, I have made such other examinations and have ascertained or
verified to my satisfaction such additional facts as I deem pertinent under
the circumstances.




On the basis of such examinations, I am of the opinion that:

1.   Abbott Laboratories is a corporation duly organized and validly existing
     under the laws of the State of Illinois with full corporate power and
     authority to issue the Shares and having authorized capital of
     2,400,000,000 common shares, of which 1,546,612,254 were outstanding on
     November 30, 1999 and 1,000,000 cumulative preferred shares, par value
     $1.00 per share, none of which are outstanding.

2.   As of November 30, 1999 51,702,648 additional shares of Common Stock were
     reserved for issuance upon the exercise of options or the grant of
     benefits under the Abbott Laboratories 1996 Incentive Stock Program.

3.   All of the legal and corporate proceedings that are necessary in
     connection with the grant of benefits under the Programs and the
     authorization and issuance of the Shares pursuant thereto has been duly
     taken and, after those Shares have been issued in accordance with the
     provisions of the Programs, will be legally issued, fully paid and
     nonassessable outstanding common shares of Abbott Laboratories.

I hereby consent to the use of this legal opinion as an exhibit to the
Registration Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Jose M. de Lasa

Jose M. de Lasa
Senior Vice President,
Secretary and General Counsel


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