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Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 11/27/17
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Opioid lawsuits: Berkeley hires attorney to sue pill makers
Nov 22, 2017 | APP (NJ)
By Suzanne Cervenka
Berkeley is the latest town to join the legal fray to fight opioid manufacturers. -
As opioid cases head to federal panel, two more WV counties join in
Nov 25, 2017 | Charleston Gazette Mail (WV)
By Eric Eyre
Counties in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle have joined the rush of lawsuits that seek to hold drug companies accountable for the opioid epidemic, just a week before a special panel of judges meets in St. Louis to decide whether to combine dozens of similar cases filed across the state and nation. -
2 More West Virginia Counties Sue Drug Companies
Nov 27, 2017 | Associated Press
By Staff
Two more West Virginia communities have joined others around the state in suing drug companies over the opioid epidemic. -
Grand Traverse, Leelanau Counties Eye Opioid Lawsuit
Nov 27, 2017 | The Traverse Ticker (MI)
By Beth Milligan
Grand Traverse County is joining at least 60 other counties across the U.S. in suing pharmaceutical companies for their role in the country’s opioid crisis – with Leelanau County also considering a similar lawsuit. -
Saginaw County to join lawsuit against drug companies over opioid crisis
Nov 22, 2017 | Michigan Live (MI)
By Isis Simpson-Mersha
Saginaw County has approved taking legal against pharmaceutical companies for their roles in the opioid crisis. -
Detroit hires Sam Bernstein Law Firm to sue drugmakers over opioid crisis
Nov 22, 2017 | WXYZ Detroit (MI)
By Staff
The Detroit City Council hired local law firms for an upcoming lawsuit against major pharmaceutical companies for the marketing and sale of opioid painkillers. -
Olmsted County joins efforts to sue opioid makers
Nov 22, 2017 | Post Bulletin (MN)
By Randy Peterson
Olmsted County added its name to a growing list of counties preparing to sue pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids. -
Hubbard County Board discusses lawsuit against opioid makers
Nov 25, 2017 | Park Rapids Enterprise (MN)
By Shannon Geisen
Minnesota's 87 counties are considering litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors for being complicit and complacent in the opioid addiction epidemic. -
NC COUNTY FILES LAWSUIT TO TAKE ON OPIOID MANUFACTURERS
Nov 22, 2017 | Spectrum News (NC)
By Asal Rezael
Yadkin County is joining the fight against drug companies to combat the national opioid crisis. -
Steuben County may join opioid lawsuit
Nov 24, 2017 | The Evening Tribune (NY)
By Jason Jordan
Mourning families would rather have their loved ones back, but a measure of accountability for a flood of opioids thought to be creating a generation of addicts chasing near-death highs, may be on its way. -
Brown County could sue drug companies over opioid epidemic
Nov 26, 2017 | Green Bay Press Gazette (WI)
By Jonathan Anderson
Brown County officials will consider suing the manufacturers of prescription painkillers to help recoup the costs of what experts say is a national epidemic of drug abuse and overdose deaths caused by opioid addiction. -
Houston County Commission could sue drug makers, distributors
Nov 26, 2017 | Dothan Eagle (TX)
By Jeremy Wise
The Houston County Commission may join a developing nationwide trend – local government entities suing pharmaceutical makers and distributors for their roles in the opioid crisis. -
Forsyth County considers suing opioid manufacturers
Nov 22, 2017 | Fox 5 (GA)
By Jaclyn Schultz
Forsyth County could join another metro area and a more than a hundred county governments nationwide in filing a lawsuit against big pharmaceutical companies, in response to the overwhelming opioid crisis hitting the nation. -
Big Pharma, Big Lawsuits
Nov 22, 2017 | Behavioral Healthcare Executive
By Brian Albright
Dozens of lawsuits filed by counties, cities and states against opioid manufacturers aim to hold the big drug companies accountable for the opioid crisis one way or another. The suits, citing fraud and consumer protection laws, have been filed by large cities like Chicago and smaller towns like Bridgeport, Conn.; by states led by Republican and Democratic governors; and from nearly every region of the country. -
Spoiling for an opioid fight: Lawyers lobby cities and counties to sue drugmakers
Nov 24, 2017 | Miami Herald (FL)
By Douglas Hanks
When Mike Eidson went to see Miami-Dade’s mayor about the county’s opioid crisis, the lawyer had a suggestion for some urgent action: Hire him and his legal team to sue drugmakers for costs associated with addiction to pain killers and heroin. -
Should Hospitals Be Punished For Post-Surgical Patients' Opioid Addiction?
Nov 26, 2017 | National Public Radio
By Martha Bebinger
In April this year, Katie Herzog checked into a Boston teaching hospital for what turned out to be a nine-hour-long back surgery. -
Opioid suit group arguments to be heard this week
Nov 27, 2017 | Herald Dispatch (WV)
By Courtney Hessler
Representatives of several cities and counties and businesses named in about 70 nationwide lawsuits pointing the finger at several companies accused of fueling the opioid epidemic are set to meet at a federal court in St. Louis this week to decide if the cases should be heard by one judge. -
Addiction Nation: Understanding America's Opioid Crisis (AUDIO)
Nov 24, 2017 | WNYC (NY)
By Todd Zwillich
Some 77 million Americans are personally affected in some way by the opioid epidemic, and at least 91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. During this special episode, The Takeaway dives deep into the crisis. Here’s what you’ll find: AUDIO LINK (48min): http://www.wnyc.org/story/addiction-nation-understanding-americas-opioid-crisis-rebroadcast/ -
Don’t blame opioids for the opioid crisis—doctors must become better at pain management (OPINION)
Nov 22, 2017 | Quartz
By Jay Joshi, M.D.
In the midst of a devastating opioid epidemic that has wrought addiction, despair and death in communities all over the country, the medical and scientific communities are reacting by questioning not only the prescription of opioids for treating pain, but the very treatment of pain itself. -
Ken Hall: Politicians must 'just say no' to corporate money in opioid fight (OPINION)
Nov 25, 2017 | WV Gazette Mail (WV)
By Ken Hall
If our elected officials are serious about tackling the opioid crisis, they must free themselves from the corporations that have helped fuel this epidemic. This demands rejecting and giving back political contributions from political action committees (PACs) associated with prescription opioid manufacturers, distributors and their law firms. -
Utah could have dueling lawsuits over the opioid epidemic
Nov 22, 2017 | Fox 13 Salt Lake City (UT)
By Ben Winslow
House Speaker Greg Hughes has been drafting counties across Utah to join together and sue pharmaceutical companies over the opioid epidemic. -
The County Seat
Nov 26, 2017 | KTVX (ABC)
By Salt Lake City, UT
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30948365?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0 -
Spectrum News All Morning
Nov 23, 2017 | NWS 14 (Spectrum News)
By Charlotte, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949176?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0 -
Good Morning Cleveland Sunday
Nov 27, 2017 | WEWS (ABC)
By Cleveland, OH
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30948878?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0 -
Fox13 News: Good Day Utah 8AM
Nov 23, 2017 | KSTU (FOX)
By Salt lake City, UT
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949182?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0 -
Good Day Atlanta 7:00am
Nov 23, 2017 | WAGA (FOX)
By Atlanta, GA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949230?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0 -
13abc Action News at 6:00AM
Nov 27, 2017 | WTVG (ABC)
By Toledo, OH
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949250?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0 -
West Virginia Tonight
Nov 22, 2017 | WTRF (CBS)
By Wheeling, WV
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949264?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0 -
Y-Z News at 4
Nov 22, 2017 | WDAZ (ABC)
By Fargo, ND
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949274?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
West Virginia Counties
Michigan Counties
Minnesota Counties
Other Litigation Coverage
Commentary and FYIs
Broadcast Media Coverage
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Opioid lawsuits: Berkeley hires attorney to sue pill makers
Nov 22, 2017 | APP (NJ)
By Suzanne Cervenka
Berkeley is the latest town to join the legal fray to fight opioid manufacturers.
The township council recently hired the Washington D.C.-based firm Motley Rice LLC to represent Berkeley in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies.
"Opioids are addictive. The drug makers knew it but continued to push doctors to prescribe them. This has lead to the Heroin epidemic that is plaguing our society today," Berkeley Mayor Carmen Amato said in a statement.
"Enough is enough, it's time to step in to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable."
Seven people died of drug overdoses in Berkeley so far this year, all of them with opioids in their system, according to figures from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
Last year, a record in the county for the number of drug overdose deaths, 18 people died of an overdose in Berkeley, 15 of them with opioids in their system.
The lawsuit won't cost money Berkeley upfront. Rather Motley Rice will take a percentage of any settlement the township receives.
Toms River and Brick also hired Motley Rice to represent them in lawsuits against opioid manufacturers. Watch the video at the top of the story for more on efforts to hold pill manufacturers liable for the results of the opioid epidemic.
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As opioid cases head to federal panel, two more WV counties join in
Nov 25, 2017 | Charleston Gazette Mail (WV)
By Eric Eyre
Counties in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle have joined the rush of lawsuits that seek to hold drug companies accountable for the opioid epidemic, just a week before a special panel of judges meets in St. Louis to decide whether to combine dozens of similar cases filed across the state and nation.
The Berkeley County Council and Jefferson County Commission recently filed lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors, alleging the companies illegally marketed and shipped prescription painkillers.
Berkeley and Jefferson are believed to be the first government entities in West Virginia to name both drug manufacturers and distributors as defendants in the same lawsuit.
Martinsburg lawyer Stephen Skinner, who’s representing the two counties, plans to travel to St. Louis next week to attend the judicial panel’s hearing. Numerous other West Virginia lawyers — representing both sides — also are expected to be there.
The panel will meet to hear arguments over whether dozens of lawsuits should be consolidated into a “multi-district litigation” case, or MDL. The judges will have two weeks to make a decision. If approved, the cases would likely be sent to West Virginia, Ohio or Illinois.
“We believe that an MDL is the best way to get efficient justice for West Virginia,” said Skinner, a former member of the West Virginia House of Delegates.
The drug distributors — a group that includes Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson — want the cases heard by U.S. District Judge David Faber in West Virginia. Faber already is presiding over federal lawsuits against drug distributors. He has held hearings and issued rulings in the cases.
Charleston lawyer James Peterson, who is representing Kanawha County and five other counties in West Virginia, Illinois and Ohio, along with the cities of Louisville, Cincinnati and Birmingham, has asked that the cases be heard in Ohio or Illinois, according to a brief filed in late September. Peterson suggested the cases be overseen by either Judge Edmund Sargus, Jr. in Ohio or Judge Staci Yandle in Illinois.
Sargus previously handled a multi-district litigation case against DuPont that consolidated 3,500 lawsuits that alleged the company contaminated the Ohio River with a chemical used to make Teflon, making thousands sick.
The drug manufacturers favor hearing the cases in the Chicago area.
At least eight local governments in West Virginia suing the drug companies oppose combining the lawsuits, saying it would drive up costs. Retailers such as Walgreens and Rite-Aid, which are named in some of the suits, also don’t want the cases consolidated. Retailers operate their own warehouses and drug distribution networks.
The Berkeley County and Jefferson County lawsuits target OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, alleging the company led a campaign to convince doctors and patients that the drug had a low risk of addiction. The suits also name other manufacturers: Teva Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrodt, Actavis Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Allergen.
Purdue is proposing a global settlement in an attempt to end state investigations and lawsuits, Bloomberg reported this week.
The Eastern Panhandle lawsuits accuse distributors — Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, H.D. Smith Wholesale and McKesson — of “negligent and illegal actions.” Walmart, Rite-Aid, Walgreens and CVS also are listed as defendants.
Berkeley County had the second-highest drug overdose death rate in West Virginia last year.
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2 More West Virginia Counties Sue Drug Companies
Nov 27, 2017 | Associated Press
By Staff
Two more West Virginia communities have joined others around the state in suing drug companies over the opioid epidemic.
Media report the Berkeley County Council and the Jefferson County Commission filed lawsuits recently against drug manufacturers and distributors, accusing them of fueling the local opioid epidemic by shipping too many pain pills. The companies have denied wrongdoing.
The move comes shortly before a hearing where a panel of judges will decide whether to consolidate dozens of similar lawsuits filed across West Virginia and other states.
Martinsburg lawyer Stephen Skinner, who's representing the two counties, says he favors consolidating the cases to get efficient justice. Media report at least eight local governments in West Virginia oppose combining the lawsuits, saying it would drive up costs.
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Grand Traverse, Leelanau Counties Eye Opioid Lawsuit
Nov 27, 2017 | The Traverse Ticker (MI)
By Beth Milligan
Grand Traverse County is joining at least 60 other counties across the U.S. in suing pharmaceutical companies for their role in the country’s opioid crisis – with Leelanau County also considering a similar lawsuit.
A legal team comprised of local, state and national attorneys – including Traverse City-based Smith Johnson, Farmington Hills’ Bernstein Law Firm and New York City’s Weitz and Luxemberg – has offered to represent both Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties in suing pharmaceutical companies who have manufactured or sold prescription opioid drugs. The counties do not have to pay any legal costs unless the lawsuit is successful. In the event of a win in the court, the legal team would keep 30 percent of recovered damages as a fee.
Grand Traverse County commissioners approved entering the lawsuit at their November 15 meeting. Attorney Mark Bernstein of Bernstein Law Firm told commissioners the lawsuit was “similar to the tobacco litigation that played out 20 years ago” in which more than 40 states sued tobacco companies to recover costs for Medicaid and other public health expenses caused by smoking-related diseases. “This is litigation that has deep personal implications for virtually every community we speak with,” Bernstein said of the dozens of counties stepping forward to seek repayment for costs incurred by the opioid epidemic. “It has societal implications, and it clearly has enormous financial implications.”
Paul Pennock of Weitz and Luxemberg detailed a range of costs for which Grand Traverse County could seek recovery from drug manufacturers, including overdose-related autopsies, government-funded addiction treatment programs, prosecutorial and court fees for opioid cases, and drug enforcement costs. He cited as an example the cost for police departments in stocking Narcan – an overdose-reversal drug – at an estimated $700 to $1,000 per dose.
“This epidemic has impacted virtually every area of government and governance,” Pennock said. “The cost of that has been enormous, and obviously the tragedies that have occurred can never be taken back. There has additionally been significant cost to communities across the nation….what has happened with this opioid epidemic is stunning.”
Calling Michigan “one of the worst-hit states in the country,” Pennock said “the evidence has been clear” that drug manufacturers deliberately mislead doctors and patients about the danger and addictiveness of drugs like fentanyl and oxycodone and pushed physicians to routinely over-prescribe medication that should have been reserved exclusively for end-of-life or post-surgical care. “This has been a concentrated effort to sell massive amounts of very dangerous medication that should been restricted...but instead was being sold through the efforts of these companies for many, many months of treatment and leaving people addicted,” Pennock said. “These opioids are very insidious. They say that addiction can happen inside of eight days. It’s very clear that the companies have had tremendous responsibility in pushing these drugs out there.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1,000 people are treated every day in emergency rooms for misusing prescription opioids. Nearly half of all U.S. opioid deaths involve a prescription opioid, with many patients also turning to illegal opioids – such as heroin – as a cheaper and more accessible alternative after initially being prescribed a legal opioid drug. “Reasonable and good doctors were prescribing these with the belief they were safe and not addictive,” said Pennock, “and that’s why we’ve had over 200,000 opioid deaths in the last 17 years.”
Grand Traverse County Deputy Civil Counsel Christopher Forsyth told commissioners he believed it would be “worthwhile for the county to join in the litigation,” calling the lawsuit “an important tool…in law enforcement’s toolbox in dealing with this crisis that we’re facing.” Referencing a number of overdose deaths in Traverse City in recent weeks, Commissioner Sonny Wheelock pointed out that recent county budget discussions included talk on the “overwhelming need for additional drug enforcement for our sheriff’s department.”
“This is an absolute crisis in our community,” Wheelock said. “If this (litigation) process does nothing but bring that to the forefront and allow the public to understand it or at least recognize it, I’m all in favor of anything we can do to bring this out because we…cannot by ourselves cure this problem.”
Pennock told commissioners he expected dozens of counties across Michigan and hundreds across the country will eventually join the litigation. Though not a class-action lawsuit, all the individual county lawsuits – each filed in their own court system and seeking their own individual damages – are expected to eventually be assigned to one federal judge. Pennock estimated the process could take four years from filing to a decision for Grand Traverse County.
Meanwhile, Leelanau County commissioners are also considering filing a similar lawsuit. The board discussed the same proposal that was made to Grand Traverse County commissioners by Smith Johnson, Bernstein Law Firm and Weitz and Luxemberg at their Tuesday meeting. County Administrator Chet Janik says commissioners are “interested in proceeding with” litigation against opioid manufacturers. However, since other law firms have also made overtures to represent Leelanau County in such a case, commissioners directed staff to compile a list of proposals for future consideration of the board.
“We’ll be bringing that to them and discussing it at their December (19) meeting,” Janik says.
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Saginaw County to join lawsuit against drug companies over opioid crisis
Nov 22, 2017 | Michigan Live (MI)
By Isis Simpson-Mersha
Saginaw County has approved taking legal against pharmaceutical companies for their roles in the opioid crisis.
Saginaw County Board of Commissioners approved a motion to authorize a retainer for several law firms to file a suit against pharmaceutical companies related to the opioid crisis in Saginaw County.
The drug court, Saginaw County Mental Health Authority, Community Corrections, MMR and Saginaw County medical examiners, each provided background information to build the case.
"It's a lot like the tobacco suit that came to the state of Michigan 10 years ago and the state of Michigan recouped a lot of money from the tobacco industry," Commissioner Cheryl Hadsall said. "But we never saw it at the county level. It all stayed in Lansing. But now they're doing specific counties and what our needs are."
Commissioners Jim Theisen, Kyle Harris, Dennis Kraft, Kathy Dwan and Kirk Kilpatrick voted no against the motion.
"I'm not in favor of solving what I believe is a social ill and culture ill in our society through litigation. I also have a concern, if we were to enter into this and say they do win against the pharmaceutical companies ... what kind of Pandora's box and what kind of situation will we be in as a county now that we actually agreed that's the pharmaceuticals' fault," Dwan asked."We win the suit and now we still have people who are still hooked on drugs."
Dwan said she's a firm believer of personal responsibilities and choices and she thinks that the suit will open the county up to further litigation.
Theisen said he was confused on why the pharmaceutical companies were the target and not doctors.
"I don't know that a specific physician sitting in Saginaw or Detroit or somewhere else in Michigan would be the appropriate defendant in a multidistrict litigation case that ultimately may be consolidated down in Columbus, Ohio, or the southern district of Illinois," attorney Paul Novak of Weitz and Luxemberg said. "That's not to say that there aren't appropriate remedies against those individuals."
Theisen replied to Novak saying that his explanation was the best description of "what we're looking at that I've heard so far."
"National litigation is being filed by counties and cities throughout the country and those actions will be the subject of a motion to consolidate that will be before the judicial panel on multidistrict litigation at the end of the month, and they will select a certain court where jurisdiction will be asserted over some of the manufacturers, jurisdiction will be asserted over some of the distributors," Novak said.
According to a document from the Saginaw County Office of Community Corrections, over the course of the year, the county has had contact with over 750 offenders. Of those offenders, 120 disclosed opiate use or addiction and were provided with services such as case management, drug testing and risk/needs assessments.
The opiate population attributes to 19 percent of the total serviced population and attributes to 25 percent of the total operating budget, according to the document.
The firms on retainer include Weitz and Luxenberg, Sam Bernstein and Behm and Behm.
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Detroit hires Sam Bernstein Law Firm to sue drugmakers over opioid crisis
Nov 22, 2017 | WXYZ Detroit (MI)
By Staff
The Detroit City Council hired local law firms for an upcoming lawsuit against major pharmaceutical companies for the marketing and sale of opioid painkillers.
The council approved hiring the Sam Bernstein Law Firm in Farmington Hills and the Detroit office of Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. to represent the city in the upcoming lawsuit.
The lawsuit will reportedly be filed by the end of the year.
Last month, Wayne and Oakland Counties announced a joint lawsuit against multiple drug manufacturers and distributors alleging the deceptive marketing and sale of opioids.
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Olmsted County joins efforts to sue opioid makers
Nov 22, 2017 | Post Bulletin (MN)
By Randy Peterson
Olmsted County added its name to a growing list of counties preparing to sue pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
"It's one thing we can do to join our voice with others across the nation," Olmsted County Commissioner Sheila Kiscaden said after the county board voted 5-2 to authorize the legal action.
County Attorney Mark Ostrem said the planned lawsuit aims to address the aftermath of a flood of opioids in the community that has increases costs for the county, from the rising expense of treatment to added services provided to families in the wake of addiction.
"It's a huge impact on our community from that perspective," he said, noting it stretches across many county services and costs continue to rise.
The lawsuit, he said, seeks to put some of those costs at the feet of the companies that helped contribute to the problem.
Ostrem said the state saw 153 accidental opioid-related deaths in 2016, compared to 97 the year before. While Olmsted County has seen a lower rate than other counties, he said the impact is still felt.
Earlier this year, County Medical Examiner Ross Reichard said local opioid-related deaths spiked at 17 in 2014 and dropped to 11 in each of the next two years.
Kiscaden said the county faces good news and bad news amid the nation's opioid epidemic.
"We're having fewer prescriptions being prescribed than most other places around the state," she said. "We don't have the levels of addiction that the state averages show, yet we know we have a serious problem that needs attention and that will take multiple ways to address."
She said the lawsuit will at least call attention to the issue.
Commissioner Matt Flynn said it sends the wrong message.
"Our society has turned into always blaming someone for someone else's problem," he said.
Citing concerns about the growing impact of opioids, he said undue blame is being put on pharmaceutical companies by a legal system that is driving the lawsuits.
"I think the county is being drawn into a game where we are going to be a pawn in this legal issue for years to come," said Flynn, who was joined by Commissioner Jim Bier in opposing the lawsuit.
At least six other Minnesota counties, including Mower County, are preparing similar lawsuits.
Ostrem said each claim, and potential damages, would depend on the circumstances of individual counties. He said generally two things are being sought: damages for costs connected to the opioid epidemic and funding for costs associated with battling related addiction.
Among expenses covered could be naloxone, the opioid antidote carried by county deputies. Sheriff Kevin Torgerson said deputies have responded to four calls where the drug was used to save a life.
While current kits have been supplied through a grant, he said they could cost $42 per squad car if the grant is discontinued.
Additionally, he has cited costs related to the county's opioid collection site at the front door of the Adult Detention Center, which allows anyone to drop off unwanted opioids for disposal. He told county commissioners that following protocol to dispose of the drugs comes at the expense of staff time.
Ostrem said the county's lawsuit is likely to end up in federal court, which would make it part of consolidated litigation before a single judge. To help handle the litigation, county commissioners backed hiring three law firms — Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP, Gustafson Gluek PLLC and JF Henderson Law PLLC.
Ostrem said county staff will assist the outside attorneys gather needed documents to support the case being filed, but the local expense hasn't been determined.
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Hubbard County Board discusses lawsuit against opioid makers
Nov 25, 2017 | Park Rapids Enterprise (MN)
By Shannon Geisen
Minnesota's 87 counties are considering litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors for being complicit and complacent in the opioid addiction epidemic.
Hubbard County will likely become one of them.
County Attorney Jonathan Frieden shared information about the lawsuit to county commissioners at their Nov. 21 meeting.
"There has been discussion by all the county attorneys regarding the possibility to be a plaintiff in opioid litigation and taking action to hold accountable the distributors and manufacturers," he said. "The basic legal premise behind it is that Vicodin, Oxycontin — opiods — should be used for short-term, post-surgical pain. They have not been marketed or distributed for short-time pain solely. They've been marketed and distributed by certain companies for long-term chronic pain."
The lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that make synthetic opioids is an effort to recover some of the social and public costs from the drug addiction crisis that is rocking the nation.
Opioids and related drugs killed more than 52,000 people across the U.S. in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the deaths involved common prescription opioids such as OxyContin or Vicodin, or related drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. People with addictions often take whichever of the drugs they can get cheapest and easiest.
In recent months news reports have surfaced that appear to show pharmaceutical manufacturers knew of the addiction potential and still relentlessly marketed their products despite the dangers.
"There's a number of firms that are pursuing this," Frieden said. "My office received information from a New York firm. Nobody in the state is going with that firm. It looks like Hennepin County, at this point, had a meeting with four different firms and voted to go with Briol & Benson, a firm out of Minneapolis. They're a great firm."
Dakota County selected a different law firm, as did Ramsey and Washington counties, he continued.
Frieden would like to speak with the firms to "ultimately see what my opinion is."
"Up here, outstate, most counties have not made a decision and I don't foresee that being a major issue given that some of the bigger counties of the state have jumped into this litigation," he said.
There is an ongoing federal lawsuit as well.
The only downside to not making a decision by the end of November is that the county will not have a seat at an upcoming federal conference, Frieden noted; however, some of the larger counties will be representing Minnesota at that meeting.
"Basically, I wanted to put this on your radar that this is going on. It's pretty unanimous by county attorneys that this is a good idea. It's not going to be out-of-pocket for us. All of these firms have the same fee agreement, which is 25 percent of any recovery. They will front all of the costs for disclosure, discovery, which is not a small amount of money, obviously," Frieden said. "What it would cost us, potentially, is if we got to the damages part and some of our employees would need to meet with attorneys and articulate where our damages are as a county. That's going to be Social Services and our treatment costs and out-of-home placement costs for kids because parents are addicted to opioids. It's going to be the county sheriff and costs to incarcerate individuals who are addicted."
The county might lose some productivity, but not have out-of-pocket expenses, he said.
County Commissioner Cal Johannsen reported that Sanford Health in Bemidji has stated that 10 percent of the babies born at the hospital are addicted to opioid.
"That's pretty huge and Social Services are paying the bills because those babies are taken away from mom when they're born," Johannsen said. "You take Hennepin and Ramsey, I can't imagine how many babies they've having born addicted."
Since 1999, opioid prescriptions have increased four times and the cost eight times, Frieden said.
"I can tell you from a criminal prosecution standpoint we can be as tough as we want to be on street dealers and the people who are using, but if nothing is done about manufacturing and distribution, it's just not making an impact," Frieden.
County Commissioner Char Christianson inquired if Hubbard County would band forces with neighboring counties, like Beltrami County.
Yes, Frieden said, adding he has already spoken with Cass and Clearwater counties.
The lawyers "must have a pretty good feeling they're going to win," Johannsen observed.
"It's litigation, so you never know, but there's obviously a lot of firms jumping into this and there's a reason why," Frieden said.
County Commissioner Ed Smith asked if money won in the lawsuit would be given directly to the county departments
"If there were dollars realized and they came back to the county, would they come back to the various departments affected?" asked
"That's a great question," Frieden replied, adding it has been suggested to use the funds to set up statewide treatment facilities. All counties would have to agree.
The other option is that the funds return directly to each county.
The county board took no action taken at this time.
In other business, the county board did the following:
• Tabled discussion on a recycling center contract with the Hubbard County Developmental Achievement Center.
• Agreed to be a sponsoring agency for Hendrickson Township's application to the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Local Road Improvement Program. The township seeks state funding assistance for an improvement project on Old Cemetery Road.
• Approved a final payment of $87,244 to Tri-City Paving for overlay, reclamation and paving projects on CSAH 14 and 48.
• Granted to permission to sell a .68-acre strip of county-owned land through direct sale to people who purchased neighboring tax-forfeited land (TFL). A shed on the TFL encroached both parcels, explained County Land Commissioner Chip Lohmeier. The party purchased the TFL at the Oct. 13 county auction.
• Approved the low quote of $2,458 from ByteSpeed for the purchase of two switches and authorized Alpha Video to troubleshoot the board room's audio system as recommended by the Technology Committee.
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NC COUNTY FILES LAWSUIT TO TAKE ON OPIOID MANUFACTURERS
Nov 22, 2017 | Spectrum News (NC)
By Asal Rezael
Yadkin County is joining the fight against drug companies to combat the national opioid crisis.
In a meeting Monday night, county commissioners declared the opioid crisis a public nuisance. They've hired multiple law firms to take on some of the top opioid manufacturers in country.
In filing the lawsuit, county leaders are hoping to get back some of the money the epidemic has drained out of their economy.
"As it continued to grow and become more and more of an issue for the families and the people of our county, we decided the time for talk was over, the time for action was now," one officials said.
The suit claims the companies may have mislead doctors about how dangerous and addictive the opioids are which led to the crisis.
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Steuben County may join opioid lawsuit
Nov 24, 2017 | The Evening Tribune (NY)
By Jason Jordan
Mourning families would rather have their loved ones back, but a measure of accountability for a flood of opioids thought to be creating a generation of addicts chasing near-death highs, may be on its way.
Steuben County is expected to join the mounting legal battle against opioid addiction when the county Legislature meets for a rare 3 p.m. regular session on Monday, Nov. 27 at the County Office Building, 3 E. Pulteney Square, Bath.
Legislators will consider a resolution to join a class action lawsuit seeking payment of damages from any and all persons or entities responsible for creating the opioid addiction epidemic currently sweeping the nation, resulting in the deaths of more than 20,000 people in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s database.
“Municipalities are the ones who have to take the lead to have standing in courts to hold those that are responsible for proliferation of opioids across the country responsible,” said Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler.
Some 20 other counties in New York have engaged legal counsel with the intention of curtailing opioid addiction and recovering the soaring local costs in law enforcement, mental health and social services caused by substance abuse.
Quarterly reports issued by the New York State Health Department indicated that there were 14 confirmed opioid overdose deaths in 2016, accompanied by 25 outpatient hospital visits and 9 long term hospitalizations. In the same year, 419 unique clients were admitted to state certified treatment programs for opioid use, and the life-saving overdose antidote Naloxone was administered a reported 53 times by EMS and law enforcement agencies in hopes of preventing overdose deaths.
The opioid crisis has created an additional burden on counties, who funds and operates Medicaid programs that include treatment of most addicts.
“On Medicaid, part of the deal is that you pay for drugs of patients, and when there’s an overprescribing of opiates, it certainly is our concern,” Wheeler detailed.
County lawmakers will also look for legal standing in the lawsuit expected to be filed by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The action is similar to a lawsuit filed in 1998 against four major tobacco growers in the U.S. and resulted in a decline in production, compensation and funding for campaigns designed to curtail tobacco use.
“I don’t think we have anything to lose. There is no cost for litigation if there is no award,” Wheeler said.
Steuben County has been active in fighting substance abuse for years, with several agencies and county personnel working to help victims overcome addictions. Most recently, the county hosted three substance abuse forums in Bath, Hornell and Corning to inform the public about the devastating impact of opioids and other addictive substances. The forums also included information on ways to help victims and their loved ones through local agencies.
The recommendations join the lawsuit is rooted in more than a year’s worth of consultation with the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC), was made by executive staff including Wheeler, and won unanimous consent at the legislature’s committee level.
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Brown County could sue drug companies over opioid epidemic
Nov 26, 2017 | Green Bay Press Gazette (WI)
By Jonathan Anderson
Brown County officials will consider suing the manufacturers of prescription painkillers to help recoup the costs of what experts say is a national epidemic of drug abuse and overdose deaths caused by opioid addiction.
Supervisors this week will discuss whether to join numerous other states and communities across the country, including 28 Wisconsin counties, that have already filed such lawsuits.
The legal actions claim that drug companies and doctors misled the public about the safety of opioid-based drugs and that the manufacturers should be required to defray costs for public services that are taxed by the crisis, such as police, courts, social services and emergency responders.
In Wisconsin, opioid-related overdose deaths tripled in a little more than a decade, from 194 deaths in 2003 to 622 in 2014, a state task force found last year. More than six out of 10 overdose deaths in the nation involve an opioid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Counties in northeastern Wisconsin that have already sued include Oconto, Door and Shawano.
Brown County's Public Safety and Administration committees will discuss the issue at public meetings on Wednesday.
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Houston County Commission could sue drug makers, distributors
Nov 26, 2017 | Dothan Eagle (TX)
By Jeremy Wise
The Houston County Commission may join a developing nationwide trend – local government entities suing pharmaceutical makers and distributors for their roles in the opioid crisis.
Cliff Mendheim, a managing partner in the Dothan law firm Prim & Mendheim, said some pharmaceutical companies have already admitted wrongdoing in the sale and labeling of their products – specifically about their addicting tendencies. Mendheim also noted there could be evidence that distributors did not report disturbing trends they noticed, something that is required by law.
“The theory behind these cases are that the major drug manufacturers and distributors, either potentially fraudulently or negligently, flooded the market – trying to say opioids weren’t addictive, or as a distributor, had a responsibility to report any suspicious activity,” Mendheim said before addressing the commission at Wednesday’s administrative meeting.
Mendheim told the commission that Alabama ranks the highest in the nation in the rate of opioid prescription issuances. A report from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama in June supports Mendheim’s statement, noting state physicians wrote 5.8 million prescriptions in 2015 – more than the state’s total population.
The opioid crisis, which is a national health concern, has several underlying costs to communities and their governments. Mendheim said hospitalizations rise as do incarcerations and incidents that require law enforcement and emergency personnel response.
As a result, a few counties and municipalities have begun to file lawsuits against the pharmaceutical companies and distributors in order to recoup some of the costs. District 2 Commission Doug Sinquefield, who recently attended an Association of County Commissioners of Alabama meeting, noted that about 100 counties nationally have already filed suit.
“We’re hoping we’re getting ahead of the game,” Mendheim said. “I think you will hear more about this moving forward in the next year.”
Mendheim said his firm will be partnering with the Beasley Allen firm of Montgomery to perform the work locally. He said cases that become national issues – ones he term “multi-district litigation – are eventually rolled into one large class-action lawsuit.
Commission chairman Mark Culver compared the case to the one several cities and counties near the Gulf Coast filed against BP following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
The commission could vote Monday to hire Prim & Mendheim and join the lawsuit. Mendheim said the lawsuit will not cost the county anything unless a judge rewards the entity money.
District 4 Commissioner Brandon Shoupe thanked Mendheim for his presentation.
“I appreciate you bringing this to our attention. This is a problem that has flown under the radar,” he said. “Many people who use opioids don’t think they have a problem or consider themselves to be drug addicts.”
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Forsyth County considers suing opioid manufacturers
Nov 22, 2017 | Fox 5 (GA)
By Jaclyn Schultz
Forsyth County could join another metro area and a more than a hundred county governments nationwide in filing a lawsuit against big pharmaceutical companies, in response to the overwhelming opioid crisis hitting the nation.
Nearby, Fulton County announced their lawsuit against drug manufacturers in October.
Forsyth County officials said its attorneys are reviewing the options for the lawsuit, which could include demanding companies modify their warning labels, fund anti-addiction education campaigns, and even paying for the overwhelming costs facing county first responders who rush to overdose calls.
"These lawsuits are sort of a desperation-- they're a reaction to how critical and tragic a problem that we're facing," said Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills.
County officials said deputies and firefighters have responded to more than 30 overdose calls in one year; 22 of those people have died from a drug overdose or suicide by taking drugs, said Commissioner Mills.
"Pharmaceutical companies and the doctors that are overprescribing should be held responsible to some level," said Board Chairman Todd Levent, comparing the legal action nationwide to similar action decades ago against tobacco companies.
Levent said the county could possibly take some sort of legal action by the end of the year.
Legal experts nationwide debate the effectiveness of the lawsuits, which some say place blame on companies abiding by current federal and state laws for manufacturing and distributing medication.
Purdue Pharma, one of the companies named in multiple suits that are known for manufacturing OxyContin, released the following statement
“We are deeply troubled by the opioid crisis and we are dedicated to being part of the solution. As a company grounded in science, we must balance patient access to FDA-approved medicines, while working collaboratively to solve this public health challenge. Although our products account for approximately 2 percent of the total opioid prescriptions, as a company, we’ve distributed the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, developed the first FDA-approved opioid medication with abuse-deterrent properties and partner with law enforcement to ensure access to naloxone. We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”
The Board of Commissioners plans to meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the issue and attorney recommendations.
“We are deeply troubled by the opioid crisis and we are dedicated to being part of the solution. As a company grounded in science, we must balance patient access to FDA-approved medicines, while working collaboratively to solve this public health challenge. Although our products account for approximately 2 percent of the total opioid prescriptions, as a company, we’ve distributed the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, developed the first FDA-approved opioid medication with abuse-deterrent properties and partner with law enforcement to ensure access to naloxone. We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”
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Nov 22, 2017 | Behavioral Healthcare Executive
By Brian Albright
Dozens of lawsuits filed by counties, cities and states against opioid manufacturers aim to hold the big drug companies accountable for the opioid crisis one way or another. The suits, citing fraud and consumer protection laws, have been filed by large cities like Chicago and smaller towns like Bridgeport, Conn.; by states led by Republican and Democratic governors; and from nearly every region of the country.
“Almost all of [the lawsuits] are claiming that the marketing of the products was fraudulent and misrepresented to the general public and to the physician constituency,” says Chip Babcock, an attorney with the Austin, Texas-based law firm Jackson Walker L.L.P.
In Florida, former Representative Gwen Graham has made a potential lawsuit against pharma companies part of her platform as she runs for governor. In other states, people affected by addiction have begun suing drug manufacturers as well as individual physicians. Thirty-six states have also filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the makers of Suboxone (buprenorphine naloxone).
In Ohio, the suit filed by Attorney General Mike DeWine is considered one of the strongest and exemplifies the types of charges made by other claimants. Ohio alleges that drug company efforts to overstate the benefits of prescription opioids while downplaying addiction risks directly led to the current addiction and overdose crisis. The suit claims that the drug companies have triggered a public nuisance under the Ohio Product Liability Act and that marketing practices violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, the state’s Medicaid fraud statute and the Corrupt Practices Act.
“The United States is the largest consumer of painkillers by far,” says Matthew Chase, executive director of the National Association of Counties (NACo). “There were aggressive attempts to push out these pharmaceuticals.”
In September, a West Virginia attorney filed to have 66 similar cases consolidated. In addition, 41 state attorneys general have teamed up to investigate drug company marketing and sales practices, issuing subpoenas to Endo, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, Teva, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson and Purdue Pharma. These could be the first steps toward a universal settlement, similar to the $206 billion agreement reach by 46 states and “Big Tobacco” in 1998.
The claimants in most of the prescription-opioid cases want to see an end to what they characterize as aggressive and misleading opioid marketing as well as help in shouldering the enormous cost to states, counties and cities now dealing with rising levels of addiction and overdose deaths. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the economic burden of overdose, abuse and dependence in the United States topped $78.5 billion in 2013.
Even if the Big Tobacco settlement serves as a precedent, communities will continue to wonder if the legal action will make any impact on the opioid crisis.
Decades of aggressive marketing
“This is an epidemic that began in 1996, and the CDC has been very clear about why,” says Andrew Kolodny, MD, co-director of the Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, and executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. “As the medical community began to prescribe opioids more aggressively, the rates of addiction and overdose deaths went up.”
Just as the lawsuits assert, Kolodny says that drug company marketing practices drove a rapid increase in prescriptions.
“The messaging—and most of it came from the drug companies—was that patients were suffering needlessly, the risk of addiction had been overblown, opioids were safe and effective for long-term use, and we should be using them for many more people with pain,” he says.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers funded professional societies, specialists within their own speaker’s bureaus and even programs for the Joint Commission in order to push the message that more patients needed lengthier prescriptions for opioids in order to handle pain that had previously been treated using alternative methods.
In 2001, the Joint Commission rolled out a program to declare pain as “the fifth vital sign,” but as addiction to prescription opioids grew, that concept was abandoned by healthcare experts in favor of more balanced approaches. By June 2016, the American Medical Association made it clear that pain is a symptom rather than a vital sign.
Another Big Tobacco?
Babcock says that while the scope of the lawsuits and the speed at which they are proliferating are similar to the landmark case against Big Tobacco, there are some details that make the Big Pharma cases unique.
“Tobacco never enjoyed a government endorsement, and in fact, the government actively warned that tobacco was harmful to human health,” Babcock says. “In contrast, the FDA has approved opioid drugs as safe, and highly trained medical professionals have prescribed the drugs for their patients. Because there is a federal regulatory scheme in place, the pharmaceutical companies are claiming that federal law pre-empts the state laws. These consumer protection statutes would have to give way to federal interests in regulating the sale, marketing and supply of drugs.”
In addition to the FDA’s authority providing some defense to pharma companies, there are also other stakeholders in the healthcare system that are culpable. State pharmaceutical boards, distributors, hospitals, large pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens, and individual physicians have also played a role, and in some cases have already been held liable and fined by the federal government.
Few changes
This is not the first time manufacturers have faced off against states over opioids. A decade ago, Purdue was sued over its aggressive marketing of OxyContin, but very little changed after the company settled.
“The settlements weren’t significant enough,” Chase says. “It didn’t change the behavior. In fact, these issues accelerated after that round of litigation.”
In that case, the lawsuits focused on Purdue’s branding of OxyContin as a less-addictive alternative because of its extended release formulation.
“But that was the least of what Purdue did,” Kolodny says. “What caused the epidemic was the campaign to change the culture of opioid prescribing. The settlement didn’t focus on what they had really done, so they were able to keep doing it.”
Purdue and three executives paid more than $630 million in federal fines, and the executives were convicted of criminal charges—each sentenced to three years probation and 400 hours of community service. It is estimated that Purdue’s OxyContin business has generated more than $31 billion in revenue.
There are already other settlements in the works, but most of these lawsuits have only been filed within the past few months.
“The problem is that there are so many lawsuits with such big exposure, the cases aren’t easily settled,” Babcock says. “That’s especially true with companies like Purdue, whose whole settlement posture is in a great deal of flux.”
Galen BioPharma recently agreed to pay $7.55 million to resolve federal claims that it had paid kickbacks to doctors to increase prescribing of its fentanyl-based Abstral product. The company also used a patient registry study to induce additional prescribing. McKesson, a drug distributor, paid $150 million penalty to the federal government after being accused of violating federal drug law related after failing to report suspicious orders in Kentucky.
Suits could generate changes
While a settlement might help counties cover the cost of services related to treating a staggering number of individuals with opioid addiction—including those who have turned to illegal substances such as heroin—advocates hope to see comprehensive changes as a result of the lawsuits.
“From a county official perspective, these lawsuits are less about money and more about behavioral change,” says NACO’s Chase. “We’re seeing through our jails, through child protective services and through foster care, dramatic increases in our caseloads. And ultimately we’re seeing huge increases in the workload of our coroners. Our number-one priority is behavioral change around the way these drugs are prescribed.”
Kolodny says the best result might be an end to what he calls the false marketing of opioids as safe and effective for long-term use. For example, Pfizer settled in two instances by agreeing to stop funding advocacy groups that promote the use of opioids. Pfizer also agreed to provide other documents and evidence to the city of Chicago that might be helpful in its suit against other manufacturers.
It’s important because some of the manufacturers are continuing to fund groups that block efforts to change prescription practices. The American Pain Foundation, the Pain Care Forum and the American Academy of Pain Management (now the Academy of Integrative Pain Management), for example, received millions in contributions from drug makers and have been accused of presenting deceptive information to physicians.
In addition, the Associated Press and Center for Public Integrity found that drug makers and allied advocacy groups were bankrolling an average of 1,350 lobbyists annually across the country from 2006 to 2015 to delay state efforts to limit opioid prescriptions.
Chase says counties want to see a change in federal policy that alters incentives for physicians, accelerates education for providers, and reaches out to consumers so that they are better aware of the risks of the medication.
“We can reduce demand and change incentives,” Chase says. “That’s really the key, in addition to penalties. If pharmaceutical companies are still making tremendous profits off of this, they are going to keep flooding the market.”
Funding treatment:
If there are substantial settlement funds available, the experts have a number of ideas for the best use of that money. Treatment is at the top of the list.
“We have a significant backlog and a lack of professional treatment options, particularly in rural areas,” Chase says. “There’s an enormous demand for treatment. As law enforcement officials say, there’s no way we’re going to arrest our way out of this crisis. These pain pills are so addictive that it takes professional abuse counseling to get folks off of them.”
The approach to the crisis should also be smarter.
Eric Sun, MD, PhD, of the Department of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, has conducted a number of studies on the distribution of chronic opioid users. According to a recent study his team conducted, published online September 12 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, three-quarters of all opioid prescriptions are prescribed to 10% of patients, and 59% of all prescriptions go to just 5% of patients. Broad approaches that make it harder for all patients to obtain painkillers penalize some while not effectively addressing the minority of chronic users.
“Opioids are not effective for long-term treatment of pain with the exception of cancer,” Sun says. “What can we do to address [patients] where they are and reduce what they are taking? That’s a clinical issue, not a legislative one. We can identify those patients and reduce their opioid use.”
Prescriber practices also need to be improved, Kolodny says.
“We are still massively overprescribing,” he says. “Doctors have had this drilled into them for more than a decade that they need to prescribe these drugs more frequently.”
Millions of patients have come to rely on long-term opioids for issues like back pain, and it’s difficult to change that trajectory, especially when millions of pain patients are dependent on opioids.
“Even for people who don’t become clearly addicted, the physiological dependence makes it hard to come off of them,” he says.
Kolodny also says that there should be funding for programs directed at correcting the misinformation that led to overprescribing in the first place. He advocates for easier access to treatment with buprenorphine, with a payment system that supports that access.
Costs mount in the meantime:
In the meantime, Babcock says that pharmacies may shoulder some liability, as will hospitals and physicians who prescribe opioids.
“This case cuts across almost every layer of delivery of medical services,” Babcock says. “It continues to escalate in its expense for states and municipalities in order to take care of people who have now become addicted. It is one of the biggest medical crises outside of tobacco we’ve ever faced.”
And the answers can’t come too soon for most communities.
“The private sector is enjoying the profits, and the taxpayers are suffering all of the costs, both in terms of loss of family, loss of communities, and the financial cost,” Kolodny says. “This epidemic has cost counties a tremendous amount of money.”
Behavioral Healthcare Executive reached out to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America for comment on this story. While they declined to comment on legal activities involving specific companies, a spokesperson noted that the industry announced in October a public-private partnership with federal agencies to develop non-addictive pain medicines and create new formulations that support long-term addiction recovery.
Plaintiffs pile on:
Below is a list of some of the states, counties, and municipalities that have filed lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and other entities related to the opioid crisis. In addition, a coalition of 41 states attorneys general have also issued joint subpoenas. While this list is not comprehensive, it does reflect the scope of the legal challenges currently underway.
STATES
· Arizona
· Illinois
· Kentucky*
· Louisiana
· Mississippi
· Missouri
· New Hampshire
· New Jersey
· New Mexico
· Ohio
· Oklahoma
· South Carolina
· Washington
· West Virginia*
· The Cherokee Nation
COUNTIES
· California: Orange, Santa Clara
· Kentucky: Boyle, Franklin
· Michigan: Ingham, Oakland, Wayne
· New York: Broome, Dutchess, Erie, Niagara, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster
· North Carolina: Buncombe
· Ohio: Belmont, Brown, Clermont, Cuyahoga, Jackson, Licking, Ross, Summit, Vinton
· Oregon: Multnomah
· Pennsylvania: Beaver, Delaware
· Texas: Bowie, Marion, Upshur
· West Virginia: Cabel, Kanawha
· Wisconsin: Eau Claire, Marthon, Sauk
CITIES
· Birmingham and Gadsden, Ala.
· Phoenix, Ariz.
· Bristol, Bridgeport, New Milford, Naugatuck, Oxford, Roxbury, Waterbury and Wolcott, Conn.
· Miami, Fla.
· Chicago, Ill.
· Indianapolis and Kokomo, Ind.
· Louisville, Ky.
· Portland, Maine
· Greenfield, Mass.
· Newark and Toms River, N.J.
· Cincinnati, Dayton, Elyria, Lorain and Portsmouth, Ohio
· Everett, Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.
· Princeton, W.V.
*Have reached a settlement
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Spoiling for an opioid fight: Lawyers lobby cities and counties to sue drugmakers
Nov 24, 2017 | Miami Herald (FL)
By Douglas Hanks
When Mike Eidson went to see Miami-Dade’s mayor about the county’s opioid crisis, the lawyer had a suggestion for some urgent action: Hire him and his legal team to sue drugmakers for costs associated with addiction to pain killers and heroin.
“My message really was you need to put some process in place to select someone to represent you, and you need to do something now,” the Coral Gables lawyer said of his recent meeting with Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Abigail Price, the county attorney. “It’s an urgent situation.”
Eidson’s pitch captures the scramble under way in Miami and across the country by lawyers to lock down local governments as clients in the widening legal battle against the pharmaceutical industry for its role in a nationwide epidemic of opioid addiction that adds to local costs for police, paramedics, anti-overdose drugs and other expenses.
It’s a high-profile effort: Among the lawyers spoiling to represent local governments with Eidson is Dan Gelber, Miami Beach’s new mayor and a longtime lawyer. Gelber declined to be interviewed, beyond saying he would not be able to represent Miami Beach as a lawyer.
The umbrella term for addictive pain killers that are often seen as a gateway to heroin use, opioids are at the heart of what medical leaders and elected officials say is a public-health emergency across the country. Lawsuits by Chicago, Ohio and other governments allege drugmakers were complicit in the crisis by misleading doctors about the addiction risks of the prescription painkillers and marketing the drugs to an unsuspecting public.
With some cities and states already in the lead in suing Big Pharma, lawyers are urging other governments to get into the action or risk being left out of the kind of landmark settlement that saw cigarette companies in 1998 agree to pay out $250 billion to states.
Melissa Emert, a New York lawyer representing Osceola County in what she said was Florida’s first county-level opioid suit, told Miami-Dade commissioners at a meeting this week that they needed a firm to get them a seat at the settlement table.
“We think it’s very important for the counties and other municipalities to get in before the states may take over these actions through the attorneys general,” Emert said Tuesday, when commissioners instructed county lawyers to explore hiring outside attorneys for an opioid case. “The firm I’m working with [Stull, Stull and Brody] has been retained by over 50 municipalities across the country, and they have filed to date over 30 actions of behalf of municipalities.”
Eidson, of Colson Hicks Eidson, spoke earlier in the meeting, publicly joining him and Emert in a competition to shepherd Miami-Dade into the opioid legal wars. Representing Miami-Dade could mean a significant windfall for Eidson or any of the rival legal groups competing for the county’s potential payout, which could run into the millions.
Through a spokesman, Gimenez said he was interested in the litigation but does not have a pick for which law firm the county should hire. Eidson and his firm gave more than $40,000 to Gimenez’s 2016 reelection effort.
Gimenez told Eidson “You need to discuss that with Abi,” spokesman Michael Hernández said, referring to the county attorney and Eidson’s interest in taking on the county as a client. “Would the mayor [want to] join a lawsuit? Probably.”
In a statement, Purdue Pharma communications chief Bob Josephson criticized governments for trying to outsource legal work to law firms eager to reap profits from an addiction crisis.
“We share public officials’ concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions,” he said. “The delegation of law enforcement authority to a private law firm with a financial interest in the outcome creates serious public policy concerns and presents a clear conflict of interest.”
Firms typically work for free in exchange for keeping at least 20 percent of any future payout. Eidson, who is allied with a Washington, D.C. lawyer considered a pioneer in the opioid suits, Linda Singer, said he would offer the county a 25 percent contingency fee.
“That’s more or less what I’ve seen from anyone trying to get this business,” Eidson said. He said that he pitched his legal group’s expertise to the mayor and Price, the county attorney, but thinks Miami-Dade should select an outside firm through a competitive process decided by the County Commission.
Eidson has already pursued Miami as a client, and in September the City Commission voted to authorize hiring an outside firm for opioid litigation. No firm has been selected. Eidson said he and Gelber and the other affiliated firms are also hoping to represent Broward in a similar suit.
Local governments have a long list of expenses they can link to opioid abuse. With addiction to prescription painkillers leading to heroin addiction when the medicine runs out, local officials say the opioid crisis has been a drain on police costs, paramedic staffing, anti-overdose drugs like Narcan, and administrative costs tied to drug courts and other narcotics-related services.
A presentation Emert handed out to Miami-Dade commissioners at the meeting said governments can also seek opioid-related damages for budgets tied to foster care, lost workforce productivity, and even “body storage.”
Richard Ausness, a University of Kentucky law professor, said litigation shouldn’t be considered a way to tackle a public health crisis, since settlement dollars tend to mean windfalls for cash-strapped governments but don’t bring more resources to the root problem.
“If these government entities get any money out of the drug companies, there’s no assurance they’re going to spend it on drug treatment. They could build roads with it,” he said.
Still, Ausness said he didn’t see a problem with law firms seeking governments out as clients for a share of any settlement proceeds. “There’s nothing unethical about it,” he said. “It’s a no-lose situation for the government. If the cases don’t go anywhere, they’re not out anything.”
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Should Hospitals Be Punished For Post-Surgical Patients' Opioid Addiction?
Nov 26, 2017 | National Public Radio
By Martha Bebinger
In April this year, Katie Herzog checked into a Boston teaching hospital for what turned out to be a nine-hour-long back surgery.
The 68-year-old consulting firm president left the hospital with a prescription for Dilaudid, an opioid used to treat severe pain, and instructions to take two pills every four hours as needed. Herzog took close to the full dose for about two weeks.
Then, worried about addiction, she began asking questions. "I said, 'How do I taper off this? I don't want to stay on this drug forever, you know? What do I do?' " Herzog says, recalling conversations with her various providers.
She never got a clear answer.
When none of her providers explained to Herzog how to wean herself off the Dilaudid, she turned to Google. She eventually found a Canadian Medical Association guide to tapering opioids.
"So I started tapering from 28 [milligrams], to 24 to 16," Herzog says, scrolling through a pocket diary with red cardinals on the cover that she used to keep track.
About a month after surgery, she had a follow-up visit with her surgeon. She had reached the end of her self-imposed tapering path the day before and at the doctor's, she recalls feeling quite sick.
"I was teary, I had diarrhea, I was vomiting a lot, I had muscle pains, headache, I had a low-grade fever," Herzog says.
The surgeon thought she had a virus and told her to see her internist. Her internist came to the same conclusion.
She went home and suffered through five days of what she came to realize was acute withdrawal, and two more weeks of fatigue, nausea and diarrhea.
"I had every single symptom in the book," Herzog says. "And there was no recognition by these really professional, senior, seasoned doctors at Boston's finest hospitals that I was going through withdrawal."
Herzog did not name any of the providers who had something to do with her pain management or missed signs of withdrawal. She said she sees this as a system-wide problem. Herzog did share medical records that support her story. After the withdrawal, she did not crave Dilaudid and she manages any lingering pain with Tylenol. She has since returned to her providers, who've acknowledged that she was in withdrawal.
Not an isolated incident
Herzog's story is one doctors are hearing more and more. "We have many clinicians prescribing opioids without any understanding of opioid withdrawal symptoms," says Dr. Andrew Kolodny, director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing and co-director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University's Heller School. One reason, Kolodny says, is that doctors don't realize how quickly a patient can become dependent on drugs like Dilaudid.
Sometimes that dependence leads to full-blown addiction. The majority of street drug users say they switched to heroin after prescribed painkillers became too expensive.
Now, a handful of doctors and hospital administrators are asking, if an opioid addiction starts with a prescription after surgery or some other hospital-based care, should the hospital be penalized? As in: Is addiction a medical error along the lines of some hospital-acquired infections?
Writing for the blog and journal Health Affairs, three physician-executives with the Hospital Corporation of America argue for calling it just that.
"It arises during a hospitalization, is a high-cost and high-volume condition, and could reasonably have been prevented through the application of evidence-based guidelines," write Drs. Michael Schlosser, Ravi Chari and Jonathan Perlin.
The authors admit it would be hard for hospitals to monitor all patients given an opioid prescription in the weeks and months after surgery, but they say hospitals need to try.
"Addressing long-term opioid use as a hospital-acquired condition will draw a clear line between appropriate and inappropriate use, and will empower hospitals to develop evidenced-based standards of care for managing post-operative pain adequately while also helping protect the patient from future harm," said Schlosser in an emailed response to questions.
Kolodny said it's an idea worth considering.
"We're in the midst of a severe opioid epidemic, caused by the over-prescribing of opioids," Kolodny says. "Putting hospitals on the hook for the consequences of aggressive opioid prescribing makes sense to me."
Potential addiction vs. pain management awareness
But penalizing hospitals for patients who become addicted to opioids conflicts with payments tied to patient satisfaction surveys. Hospitals that do not adequately address patients' pain may lose money for low patient satisfaction scores. In response to the opioid epidemic, patient surveys are shifting from questions like, "Did the hospital staff do everything they could to help you with your pain?" to questions that emphasize talking to patients about their pain. But physicians may still prescribe more, rather than fewer, opioids to avoid retribution from dissatisfied patients.
"This is a real concern that patients who may feel that their pain is under-managed may take that out in these patient report cards," says Dr. Gabriel Brat, a trauma surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who studies the use of opioids after surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Most patients leave the hospital with more pain meds than they need. Studies showthat between 67 and 92 percent of patients have opioid pills left over after common surgical procedures.
One reason that may contribute to over-prescribing is that patients vary a lot. Brat said about 10 percent of patients need intense pain management, while the others, not so much, but it's difficult to identify that 10 percent.
"Many surgeons are still prescribing opioids for the subset of patients that have higher requirements, as opposed to for the majority of patients who are taking a very small percentage of the pills that they are prescribed," Brat explains.
There are no firm guidelines for which opioids to prescribe after surgery, at what dose or for how long. The CDC released opioid prescribing guidelines for chronic pain in 2016, but it included only brief references to acute pain.
Some opioid prescribing guidance for surgeons is emerging. A study published in September reviewed surgical records for 215,140 patients. It found that the optimal opioid prescription following general surgery is between four to nine days.
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Opioid suit group arguments to be heard this week
Nov 27, 2017 | Herald Dispatch (WV)
By Courtney Hessler
Representatives of several cities and counties and businesses named in about 70 nationwide lawsuits pointing the finger at several companies accused of fueling the opioid epidemic are set to meet at a federal court in St. Louis this week to decide if the cases should be heard by one judge.
Dozens of attorneys will meet before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in St. Louis on Thursday to make arguments for and against the cases, which have been filed in at least 11 federal districts in nine states, to be grouped together and ruled on by a single judge and jury. Arguments will also be made on which federal district the cases should be heard if they are grouped together.
A Charleston attorney representing a majority of the lawsuits made the request to create better cohesion and efficiency as the cases move forward. The lawsuits have grown to include 13 governments in the Tri-State, including Scioto, Gallia and Lawrence counties and the city of Portsmouth in Ohio, and McDowell, Kanawha, Boone, Wyoming, Logan, Lincoln, Cabell and Wayne counties and the city of Huntington in West Virginia.
The "Big Three" distributors - McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. - who are named in dozens of the lawsuits said the move would be ideal and streamline the process.
But other pharmaceutical distribution businesses - including Walgreens, Kroger, Walmart, CVS and Rite Aid - who are named in just a handful of lawsuits opposed the consolidation and taking the lawsuits out of their area.
The original allegations made against the wholesale distributors were made in West Virginia after a Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation revealed that between 2007 and 2012, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen shipped 423 million pain pills to West Virginia, which has about 1.8 million citizens, before the number of pills started to decrease.
The plaintiffs allege drug firms breached their duty to monitor, detect, investigate, refuse and report suspicious orders of prescription opiates coming into the states over the past several years - a duty the lawsuits claim companies have under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.
Each seeks damages and reimbursement for "the costs associated with past efforts to eliminate the hazards to public health and safety" the plaintiffs claim were created by the defendants' alleged negligence and corrupt practices.
The "Big Three" want the cases to be heard by Southern District of West Virginia Judge David A. Faber, where the first lawsuits were filed against opioid distributors, but Charleston attorney James C. Peterson, who requested the grouping, said the best location for the cases would be Ohio because of its central and easily accessible location.
Smaller pharmacy distributors named in local lawsuits oppose the centralization of dozens of cases they are not named in. The move would be unfair and dramatically increase burdens and costs associated with the move, several claimed.
If the panel finds the lawsuit grouping to be the proper move, some of the pharmacy distributors requested the actions against them be separated from those against the "Big Three" to allow their cases to stay in West Virginia, where the claims involve smaller areas as opposed to identical claims made nationwide against the "Big Three."
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Addiction Nation: Understanding America's Opioid Crisis (AUDIO)
Nov 24, 2017 | WNYC (NY)
By Todd Zwillich
Some 77 million Americans are personally affected in some way by the opioid epidemic, and at least 91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. During this special episode, The Takeaway dives deep into the crisis. Here’s what you’ll find:
AUDIO LINK (48min): http://www.wnyc.org/story/addiction-nation-understanding-americas-opioid-crisis-rebroadcast/
An estimated 50 million people in the United States suffer from chronic pain, and as doctors struggle to figure out how to treat it, the opioid epidemic has grown in its wake. Keith Wailoo, an expert on pain and author of “Pain: A Political History,” explains.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid policy research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, says America is in the throes of an enormous crisis of addiction, and at the heart of this crisis lies the medical industry and pharmaceutical companies. He talks about the pressure he and other doctors felt in the ‘90s to turn to prescribing opioids, arguing that many medical professionals have been duped by marketing campaigns that actually drive addiction and death.
From the pain pills that someone is prescribed, to the heroin that can be bought on the street, where do these drugs come from and how are they made? Darren Foster, co-founder of Muck Media and a Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker who has focused on the opioid epidemic, answers.
Kimber is a 26-year-old woman from Lynn, Massachusetts. She first used opioids for pleasure at age 13 or 14 after undergoing dental surgery, but became addicted to percocet and then heroin in her early 20s. After many tries at beating her addiction, she’s now more than 80 days clean, and tells us about what being an addict feels like, what she had to do to support her habit, and the moment she says changed her perspective.
When it comes to tackling the opioid crisis in America, people in recovery are the missing link, according to Ryan Hampton, a national addiction recovery activist and a recovering heroin addict. He says we need a movement like the one we saw during the AIDS epidemic, arguing that recovery activists need a seat at the table with politicians in order to properly address this crisis.
Beth Kane-Davidson is the director of the Johns Hopkins Suburban Hospital addiction treatment center. She’s been treating addicts for more than 30 years. She sits down with Jessica Jeffery, an addict in recovery, and Deborah Gafner, a mother of son who died of a heroin overdose. Together, they reflect on their experiences, and the importance of confronting this epidemic head on with treatment and prevention.
From September 26-28, 2017, The Takeaway and The Harris Poll surveyed 2,261 U.S. adults ages 18 and older to gain insight into the American opioid epidemic. Here’s what we found:
Nearly half of Americans report to have taken prescription-based opioids, and about 1 in 3 Americans (31 percent) has personally experienced opioid dependency or abuse, whether it be themselves, a friend or family member who has or is currently struggling.
About 77 million Americans are personally affected in some way by the opioid epidemic.
About 1 in 10 Americans (9 percent) knows someone who has died as a result of opioid addiction.Nearly half of Americans (47 percent) feel the opioid epidemic can affect them personally and the majority (52 percent) of Americans feel that opioid overdoses and deaths are a far bigger crisis in America than reported on by the media. 62 percent agree that police are not doctors and that the opioid crisis cannot be solved in the streets of America.
Nearly half of Americans saying they feel prescription opioids are the same as heroin. Additionally, the majority (57 percent) of Americans feel that opioids are as big of a problem as heroin and (54 percent) feel that opioid abusers deserve to be treated the same as heroin users.
There is still a lack of knowledge regarding opioids and heroin -- 49 percent do not know if opioids and heroin are similar or different, and 11 percent believe the two to be different.
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Don’t blame opioids for the opioid crisis—doctors must become better at pain management (OPINION)
Nov 22, 2017 | Quartz
By Jay Joshi, M.D.
In the midst of a devastating opioid epidemic that has wrought addiction, despair and death in communities all over the country, the medical and scientific communities are reacting by questioning not only the prescription of opioids for treating pain, but the very treatment of pain itself.
This deeply misguided, if predictable, response threatens to deprive relief millions of Americans of relief from persistent, even debilitating pain. Instead of retreating from treating their pain altogether, we should focus on educating doctors on the multitude of safe, effective methods for treating pain in its various forms.
We should start by creating a set of standard guidelines or recommendations (a framework), like the compendiums that exist in every medical specialty, for pain treatment. Guidelines and recommendations have been published for opioid treatment. While they are a start, they are far our ultimate goals.
The lack of any such a framework is largely responsible for creating the opioid crisis. Lacking a useful set of standards for treating pain, and under pressure to treat pain byfederal standards, insurers and professional associations, physicians over-prescribed the only treatment they understood. Some drug companies exploited that knowledge gap, convincing lazy or unsophisticated physicians that opioids were the answer for all kinds of pain–and even, in some cases, that opiates weren’t addictive.
Now comes the predictable backlash. With vast populations of rural and urban Americans hooked on all types of opioids, but mainly heroin, Oxycontin/oxycodone, and methadone, attorneys general are suing certain pharmaceutical companies for illegal marketing practices. The American Medical Association is reversing more than a decade of policyof treating pain as the “fifth vital sign,” requiring the same sort of aggressive interventions as cancer or heart disease. That reversal would abandon legitimate chronic-pain patients, who shouldn’t suffer because of an incoherent policy toward pain management.
Pain medicine is seeing tremendous innovation currently, much of it led by options that aim to reverse the disease process. For example, combining specially derived stem cells with Clarix FLO Regenerative Matrix for pain, understanding the relationship central sensitization and pain, advancing on the relationship between the Stellate Ganglion and hot flashes, PTSD, CRPS, and other central pain conditions, new uses for radiofrequency ablation, and utilizing ketamine infusions to reverse negative neuroplastic changes. I have helped spearhead all of these amazing scientific advances, but have found that our progress has been obscured by confusion over opioids.How we got here
The medical profession elevated pain to the status of life-threatening conditions in the early 1990s, but never followed up with the education and rigorous controls necessary to treat it. Every other medical specialty has detailed guidelines on how to treat diseases, based on hard science and clinical data to determine the proper balance of risk and reward for a given pharmaceutical or course of treatment. A cardiologist can read an electrocardiogram, consult practice guidelines, and come up with a treatment program that includes the proper medications in the correct doses for that individual patient. It’s relatively simple once you understand the algorithm, and if you don’t follow the guidelines you’re likely not considered a very good physician. Creativity is shunned in our profession.
Pain management isn’t nearly that simple. In fact, some would say that pain management is the most difficult specialty in medicine, especially if it is done correctly. First of all, pain can rarely be assessed empirically. Take a patient who says “my back’s been hurting for a few years, especially when I sit.” She has an office job, so that’s a problem. What’s the solution? There is no machine or blood test to tell the practitioner how much pain she’s in or what treatment would most effectively relieve it.
Without any objective guide, the treatment our patient receives will depend mostly on a proper history, physical, and patient feedback after treatments. An internal medicine physician might prescribe anti-inflammatories or a opioid like Norco. A surgeon might order an MRI and depending on the results, may recommend surgery. A rheumatologist might order an array of labs and give the patient an immunosuppresant. A Interventional Spine and Pain Management specialist, such as myself, might perform diagnostic procedures to isolate the pain and may offer any of the above options, interventional procedures for the treatment of pain, or an advanced treatment like ketamine infusions and stem-cell therapy.
All of these approaches could be valid, but not all of them are always valid for any individual patient. For example, opioids may be an option for a legitimate patient with chronic, debilitating pain that has failed to resolve with conservative or even aggressive treatment options. However, not all opioids are the same and they are certainly not a good idea for someone who has substance abuse issues.
Another big contributor to the problem is training, or the lack of it. There are no residencies in pain management, and while anesthesiologists can pursue a subspeciality fellowship in pain, few do. As a result, it is estimated that 90% of the “pain specialists” in America have no formal, accredited fellowship training in pain management. To put that in perspective, virtually all, if not all, cardiologists in America have completed an accredited cardiology fellowship.
It is hardly surprising certain pharmaceutical companies filled the educational void with false marketing. Some of these companies knowingly sold us products that released the medication to quickly, giving the patients a “high” that created cravings and addiction. Insurance companies still pay for these dangerous medications manufactured by these companies that made those false statements. There are pharmaceutical companies that have made a conscious effort in factual education and safer products. Ironically, insurance companies do not want to pay for their products and those company’s voices are rarely heard. Even worse though, insurance coverage for disease modifying options, such as stem cells and ketamine infusions, are slim.
What, and who, to blame for the opioid crisis
So don’t blame opiates for the opiate crisis. Stupidity and laziness among my fellow physicians play a role, as does opportunism by certain opioid manufacturers. I recently spoke to a local primary care physician who has been practicing for more than 25 years. He said he does not believe in pain management, diagnostic procedures, therapeutic interventional pain management, stem cells, or anything else because he refers to one pain management group (which he admitted was bad) and he hasn’t seen great results. Thus, he believes opioids are the best answer to pain management. I spent 45 minutes on the phone educating him about some of the facts and science and hopefully I helped him open his eyes. In any case, make no mistake, there is an absolute systemic failure with pain management education and delivery.
We can reverse the damage, and prevent the further spread of addiction. But we must educate doctors on the array of available avenues for treating pain, and provide them with a clear framework for which avenue work best for which ailments.
Before prescribing any treatment for pain, doctors must ask the following questions:Is this a legitimate pain patient?Am I prescribing legitimate pain treatment?Am I a legitimate pain management provider and if not, who is a legitimate pain management provider in my area?Have the medications been legitimately manufactured?Have I considered all the possible modes of pain treatment?
Several years ago, regenerative medicine based on stem cells went through a backlash similar to the anti-opiate crusade today. The problem wasn’t bad therapies, but inappropriate uses and flat-out misinformation by physicians, many of them non-medical physicians such as chiropractors, hustling for a buck. Insurers backed away from a promising field because of the charlatans who were giving it a bad name.
Pain management is facing a similar crisis. It would be cruel and unnecessary for patients to pay the price, however. Chronic pain is torture and it terrorizes the patient’s brain. We know how to treat it, the challenge is spreading that knowledge across the medical profession.
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Ken Hall: Politicians must 'just say no' to corporate money in opioid fight (OPINION)
Nov 25, 2017 | WV Gazette Mail (WV)
By Ken Hall
If our elected officials are serious about tackling the opioid crisis, they must free themselves from the corporations that have helped fuel this epidemic. This demands rejecting and giving back political contributions from political action committees (PACs) associated with prescription opioid manufacturers, distributors and their law firms.
It also means having a backbone when corporate lobbyists come knocking with so-called business friendly proposals to weaken enforcement oversight or limit corporate liability for wrongdoing.
With West Virginians dying from opioid-related overdoses at a rate three and a half times the national average and the epidemic costing our state’s economy up to as much as $1 billion a year according to recent studies — we need the unadulterated attention of our politicians focused on protecting citizens who are battling this epidemic. The same, of course, should be demanded of local and national politicians across the country.
As “60 Minutes” and The Washington Post’s recent, explosive investigative report documented, fierce lobbying and political support from industry participants eased passage of the Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, an industry-friendly law that stripped the federal Drug Enforcement Administration of critical powers to hold large drug distributors accountable for flooding our communities with prescription opioids. This includes distributors like Cardinal Health, which pumped more than 240 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone into West Virginia communities in just six years.
Earlier this month, at the annual shareholder meeting of Cardinal Health, the company’s outgoing CEO continued to defend the law as “productive,” even as 44 attorneys general have called for its repeal. Like oil and water, corporate money interests and the opioid crisis don’t coalesce into a solution.
On the local level, out-of-state business groups and a Republican-controlled West Virginia Legislature were also behind so-called tort reform in 2015, which may have gutted critical legal tools available to West Virginia communities to hold the big drug distributors liable for flooding our communities with 780 million doses of prescription opioids between 2007 and 2012. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent over $29 million in the 2016 Federal Elections, welcomed the reform as a “great benefit [to] West Virginia families and businesses.” The reality is that our communities and families may get left holding the bag.
Just saying “no” to corporate influence also requires closing the “revolving door” between the industry and our political leaders. Before becoming Attorney General, Patrick Morrisey was a highly-paid lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry and his wife was, until recently, a paid lobbyist for Cardinal Health for 17 years.
Moreover, as this newspaper has reported, Morrisey’s attorney general re-election campaign benefited — both directly and indirectly — from lawyers and political action committees, or PACs, that have profited from the state’s prescription drug epidemic. Little wonder, then, that our state has so far settled lawsuits with the big drug distributors for only a fraction of the billions of dollars this crisis has cost our state. Morrisey is simply not the individual to lead our state against the corporations fueling this epidemic.
West Virginians are also left wondering whether those financial links to the industry will continue to be the ties that bind as Morrisey seeks to represent our opioid-ravaged communities in the U.S. Senate. For that reason, Morrisey — and indeed all, congressional candidates — must return any 2017 money received from the industry, such as from company PACs.
Our small state has suffered the highest death rate in the country associated with opioid overdoses. Our communities are being crushed and our public services overwhelmed. There is no question that the influence of corporate money interests in our political system is undermining our efforts to combat this public health emergency. We just can’t afford for our representatives to have divided loyalties: they must learn to “just say no” to the opioid industry’s money.
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Utah could have dueling lawsuits over the opioid epidemic
Nov 22, 2017 | Fox 13 Salt Lake City (UT)
By Ben Winslow
House Speaker Greg Hughes has been drafting counties across Utah to join together and sue pharmaceutical companies over the opioid epidemic.
But the effort might be stepping on the toes of the Utah Attorney General's Office, which is taking a different tactic on potential litigation.
Speaker Hughes, R-Draper, said in a recent interview with FOX 13 that he has seen the impact of the opioid epidemic as "Operation Rio Grande" is carried out.
"The fountainhead of so much of this addiction, so much of this open-air drug market and drug trafficking started with prescription painkillers," he said.
The Utah Dept. of Health has reported as many as 30 people die every month in the state from heroin or opioid overdoses. Stunned by those numbers, the House Speaker has been working to get counties across Utah together to sue "Big Pharma" over it.
"I'm too impatient to move the way government typically moves and that is at a glacial pace," Hughes said. "I really think we should know enough that we should be taking that next step forward."
Recently, Salt Lake and Utah counties announced plans to pursue litigation. The move bypasses Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, whose office has been pursuing a potential lawsuit alongside 41 other states.
"We've spoken privately and publicly and have a different idea on how to approach this," Hughes told FOX 13. "I just think it's time to act right now."
Spencer Austin, the chief deputy of the Utah Attorney General's Office, said Speaker Hughes can take whatever position he wants. However, the office believes its approach will yield a better result.
Austin said suing alone costs more money, the counties would likely have to hire outside counsel, and the payout may not be as large as it would be in a multi-state settlement.
"Utah has notoriously given low jury verdicts," Austin said Wednesday. "It's not California. It's not Texas."
The multi-state approach has resulted in lower legal costs and the pharmaceutical companies have already approached the idea of settling before any lawsuit is even filed, Austin said.
"The state's going to be far better off from a perspective of what we're going to recover on behalf of the state and the residents of the state," he said.
Both sides agreed they are working for the same goal which is to crack down on the opioid epidemic. They just have different ideas of how to get money for it and ensure change.
Hughes said he believes getting discovery through the course of a lawsuit would yield more information about opioid prescribing and marketing practices, and result in behavioral changes.
"If you're consolidating it into one case and one settlement, I think Utah's circumstances are lost in that effort," the Speaker said. "I think we have a far better way of holding the manufacturers accountable."
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Nov 26, 2017 | KTVX (ABC)
By Salt Lake City, UT
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30948365?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
Rough Transcript: as elected officials we have taken an sworn oath to protect and defend and that means to the citizens of o counties as well as we look at that in a realistic manner we have to stand up to some of these issues and say here we are we are going to make a stand on it is not something we are just going to hide behind and 10:47 AMsay maybe some other day. that is a big point. want to jump to that quickly. they are saying out there that opioidsare safe and effective that they treat chronic and non-cancer pain. they also say that the existence of scientific evidence that opioids are affective for long term use. it is a narrative that is not correct and as elected officials and as we are looking at this it does not just affect the people we have it within our sheriff's department where we are looking at the jails we deal with it on a regular basis. our wasatch mental health issues the drug and alcohol abuse all of the substance that we are trying to alleviate they e their constantly. it affects the county on its bottom line with the budgeting because we have to go after and deal with these issues. there are in our emergency rooms we have every day more than 1000 people treated in the emergency rooms for misuse of prescription drugs. not for 10:48 AMthe proper use but misuse of prescription drugs. these need to be addressed we are not necessarily going out there and saying we want to have everybody always feel pain all the time but it's the misuse and then the leading as it gets into the drug abuses and the drug overdoses that are a big concern for us and we have that standing in the county where we are directly affected by that and we are leading out and we are saying we need to pursue leg actions to turn the tide of this or to at least address it. so you are saying that basically you are going to seek a legal remedy and not wait for the legislative remedy and that legal remedy is based not only on harm to individuals within your county but actual harm to the county and its resources. exactly. harm to the county and its resources, we have put millions of dollars to fight against this and to offset it so yes it is a legal action that would say that the county is at risk here. 10:49 AMi think this is a very noble thing that utah county is undertaken but do you think it will be enough to turn the edge of conversation? utah county alone, no way. it has to be a whole bunch of counties and states and others that come intolay to make it happen. chad, here is what is important. you 12 states who on their own, not collectively or in coalition of states, but 12 states that have stepped forward and said we are going to litigate with big pharma because you are producing a product that is turning heroin addicts out of patients within ten days. so within 30 to 60 days people can within the prescription they have been prescribed become addicted. dangerously or even fatally addicted. we want to see states and counties we have four republican countiesn the state of tennessee a good republic red state like tennessee you have got over 30 counties some of the largest counties in the united states who 10:50 AMhave to again at the bottom of the cliff try to help people who have fallen. trying to help with behavioral health and trying to keep the wolves and the heroin dealers away from them we are going up to the top of this cliff and we want there to be an enormity of counties and of states and even cities that go to the big pharma and litigate until the point where the manufactures of these drugs the liability is too great. we have to change practice we have to change behavior. that is what i am after there are settlements and dollars to be retrieved to reimburse operation rio grande all the costs that counties and the states have incurred but until we get this multi prong attack until there is again an enormity of law suits and accountability brought upon those who are bringing these drugs into the market i do t think you will get the change in behavior. let me ask you bill has there been push back from what utah county is setting out to do. there have been some emails that have started 10:51 AMand i am sure there will be push back for it and litigation is always counted in dollars but in this case sometimes it's the people that are more important for us to be looking at not necessarily the dollars win loss when it comes to dollars that is not necessarily why i am involved but that is how we keep score and in this case it is trying to say enough is enough when it comes to this and we need to turn that tide and it is more important for us to get our people in the safe places and the marketing done appropriately. would the litigation direct a different prescribing method or at a court level or a labeling thing what are you hoping for as a remedy? well stop this false marketing for one and turn it around so we don't have this kind of marketing going on that allows for these drugs to be out there and in a sense they are dangerous it's a dangerous drug and yet they are sitting on our shelves. they are sitting in our closets they are there all the time and it's almost like sitting on the edge of a line at the freeway where we are saying well we have all this right here and we can have a camp right there and not knowing that the cars are going past 100 miles an hour and we say we are okay because we are on this side of the line but what don't know is that our kids and others can cross that line so quickly that they are gone in seconds. let's drive this home for victims that cannot speak for themselves. right now in america every 25 minutes a by is born suffering from opiate withdrawal every 25 minutes one baby that is one out of every 200 babies born is born suffering from some type of opioid withdrawal that is staggering to me because those are little individuals, little victims that cannot even speak for themselves.
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Nov 23, 2017 | NWS 14 (Spectrum News)
By Charlotte, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949176?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
Rough Transcript: yadkin county is taking a stand against the national opioid crisis. county commissioners are hiring lawyers to take on big manufacturers they say are responsible for the opioid epidemic. spectrum news the opioid epidemic. spectrum news reporter reporter asal rezaei has more from yadkin county leaders and how they plan to take on big-name with the country in a major opioid crisis-- small counties in north carolina trying to deal with big problem. yadkin county board of commissioners chair kevin austin says even young children like his nine year 11:46 AMold son are like his nine year old son are worried about an epidemic that's spiraling out of control. kevin austin "he turned to me and said every family, every individual."3 an issue, county leaders are now doing something about. an issue, county leaders are now doing something about. kevin austin "we decided the time fo talk was over, the time for action was now."1 in meeting monday night-- yadkin county commissioners declared the opioid crisis a public nuisance. they've contracted with multiple law firms to take on some of the top contracted with multiple ed powell "there three distrubtors in the country that do 85 percent of all distrubtion of opioids-- last year they had total revnues of 450 billion dollars"4 and they aren't the only ones taking a stand against the and they aren't the only ones taking a stand against the cris-- buncombe county in asheville-- officially filed a lawsuit against multiple pharma companies just over a week ago. ed powell 11:47 AM"for the last six months th north carolina association of county commissioners has had forums going on in various parts of the state, educating in various parts of the state, educating commissioners on the opioid cris" in filing the lawsuit-- yadkin county is hoping to get back some of the money the opioid epidemic has drained out of their economy. kevin austin "a lot of law enforcement mental treatment, emergency services, ems "a lot of law enforcement mental treatment, emergency services, ems responses to overdoses "2 ed powe "they've created a situatio in this country over the last 20 years that has grown, and just blooms and expands like a cancer." lik a cancer." the initia complaint will be filed in the middle district federal court in winston-salem. in yadkin county. asal rezathe national institute of drug abuse says at least ninety americans die of an opioid overdose every single day.
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Nov 27, 2017 | WEWS (ABC)
By Cleveland, OH
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30948878?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
Rough Transcript: campbell and other families are chipping away at the nationwide epidemic, drugmakers have been proposing their own solution. harder to immediately pain pills and opioids they claim are harder to crush, snort, or inject. >> there are billions of dollars involved in this. way more than we could ever make a impact. we need sweeping change. >> reporter: several ohio politicians, including sherrod brown and rob portman and mike dewine come out in support of creating the so-called, abuse deterrent opioids but in the recently filed lawsuit against five drugmakers, the wine claims companies like phrma exaggerated the effectiveness of the new drugs. >> i find it amazing that after having caused this problem to a great extent, they are not trying to help people who are addicted. that drug is still the same drug. it is still as highly addictive. >> reporter: campbell says it is not a nether or be all but a change in the top-down. >> everyone has subjects to run on. this is one of them. why don't we do something about it?
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Nov 23, 2017 | KSTU (FOX)
By Salt lake City, UT
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949182?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
Rough Transcript: the opioid epidemic is reaching it's peak and utah could see dueling lawsuits against big pharma when it comes to the issue. utah house speaker greg hughes is persuading counties across the state to push a lawsuit ainst pharmaceutical companies. the isue is focused on how they market prescription opioids... and how it affects people. he's bypassing utah attorney general sean reyes... who's working on a potential lawsuit with 41 other states. "the state's going to be fa better of on what we're going to recoveon behalf of the state and residents of the state." the utah atorney general's ofice says going it alone costs more money. they don't believe it would get a big payout if the case went to trial here.
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Nov 23, 2017 | WAGA (FOX)
By Atlanta, GA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949230?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
Rough Transcript: forsyth county officials they've seen too many families in north georgia destroyed by opioid addiction and may want to fight back with legal action. following fulton county and more than 100 other counties nationwide in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies. >> this is video of forsyth county deputies saving a woman who overdosed on heroin. firefighters say they were called to more than 30 overdoses in the past year. commissioner mills says 22 died or committed suicide by drugs. >> pharmaceutical companies and the doctors that are over prescribing should be held responsible to some level. >> reporter: county chairman todd leavens says any lawsuit similar to lawsuits against tobacco companies could demand stronger warning labels, more anti-addiction campaigns and even asks manufacturers to pay for the rising costs of first responders saving lives. legal experts nationwide question whether these counties have a case, assigning blame to companies following the law. large drug companies like the manufacturer of oxy oxycodone tells fox 5 it will fight the county lawsuits and says we must balance patient access to f.d.a. -approved medicines while working collaborate e-- collaboratively to solve this public health challenge. >> they're primarily responsible they're the ones that got all this started.
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Nov 27, 2017 | WTVG (ABC)
By Toledo, OH
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949250?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
Rough Transcript: michigan counties are planning to sue prescription pain-killing distributors. the monroe news reports that the lawsuit is against those drug making companies for deceptively marketing opioids and downplaying their addictiveness. the c-d-c says opioids have accounted for more than 60- percent of the overdose deaths in the u-s. that number has quadrupled over the past two decades.
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Nov 22, 2017 | WTRF (CBS)
By Wheeling, WV
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949264?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
Rough Transcript: the berkeley county council... and the jefferson county commission... each file law-suits... accusing opioid manufacturers and distributors... of illegally marketing and distributing opioids. the counties are joing other areas throughout the state in taking legal action against these companies... aaliyah williams has more from the eastern panhandle... sot aliah williamson two 5:39 PMcounties in the eastern panhandle have filed lawsuits against opioidmanufacturers and distributors..a first for west virginia aliah wiliamson reporting: tuesday, november 21st, lawsuits were filed by berkeley and jefferson county against several pharmaceutical companies. sot stephen skinner: skinner law firm attorney this is asking the big pharmaceutical companies who marketed and manufactured opioids to be responsible for what they did aliah williamson reporting: stephen skinner was hired by both counties to handle the litigation. aliah williamson reporting: skinner says he has experience with these kinds of lawsuits but this case is unique sot stephen skinner: skinner law firm attorney the fact that there are at this point over 100 municipalities and counties across the country that have filed suit, that is unique that the governments...the smaller governments are getting involved aliah williamson reporting: skinner explained that the opioid crisis has taken a toll on these smaller governments, causing them to take action. sot stephen skiner: skinner law firm attorney we need to get compensation for what the counties have spend on law enforcement, on rehab, in dealing with the increased levels of crime increased levels of incarceration...someone's got to pay for that and right now the tax payers of both counties are paying for it. aliah wiliamson reporting: the hope is also that the lawsuits wil open the eyes of pharmaceutical companies to the impact of opioids sot stephen skiner: skiner law firm atorney i would certainly welcome the pharmaceutical companies and distributors to come into the eastern panhandle and understand what the opioid epidimic has done here. sot aliah wiliamson skiner says he will travel to st. louis missouri next wek ere the courts will decide what will hapen
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Nov 22, 2017 | WDAZ (ABC)
By Fargo, ND
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30949274?token=e4465e24-adce-49cf-ba40-9a443eae13d0
Rough Transcript: douglas county will follow suit with more than 60 other state, county and city governments around the u-s by suing opioid drug manufacturers and distributors. you can read about it on the echo press. the suit alleges the companies are marketing their medications inapporpriately to physicians. douglas county ranks 2nd in minnesota for retail opioid prescriptions per 100 residents.
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