Can You Sue Doctors for Medication Addiction?

When someone is severely injured, they will likely experience an extreme amount of pain. A doctor may prescribe opioid prescription medications during treatment. While these powerful medications may be effective in relieving pain, they come with serious consequences. Doctors must be careful when prescribing these painkillers, as they are highly addictive. The effort to keep chronic pain at bay can lead to drug abuse.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reports that more than 130 Americans die each day from opioid-related drug overdoses. The opioid epidemic has raised awareness. If you or a loved one is experiencing an opioid addiction after being prescribed medication by healthcare providers, there is the possibility of a medical malpractice claim.

Prescription Opioid Medications

Patients with acute, subacute, or chronic pain or certain medical conditions may be prescribed opioid pain medication. These drugs directly affect brain function by blocking pain signals sent to the brain. They create a sense of euphoria in the brain, which can make them highly addictive. The human body also develops a tolerance for the medication, requiring the patient to take more and more to experience the same level of pain relief. These are common opioid prescription drugs.

• Oxycodone and acetaminophen (Percocet, Roxicet, OxyContin, Oxaydo)
• Hydrocodone (Vicodin, Hysingla ER, Zohydro ER)
• Morphine (Kadian, MS Contin, Morphabond)
• Methadone (Dolophine, Methadose)
• Hydromorphone (Dilaudid, Exalgo)
• Codeine
• Fentanyl (Actiq, Duragesic, Fentora, Abstral, Onsolis)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been three major waves of opioid addiction-related deaths. The first was in the 1990s when opioids first began being used. The second was in the 2010s when people began turning to heroin when they couldn’t get their hands on prescription opioid medication. The third wave of the opioid crisis began in 2013 and continues to this day with synthetic opioids and illegal fentanyl.

Patients often assume that because a doctor prescribed the medication, they are safe to take. This can lead to patients developing a dependency on the medication. Due to the highly addictive nature of these medications, they can cause serious harm with long-term use. It can only take a few weeks for someone to become physically dependent on their medication. When they begin taking more of the medication than prescribed, some people may resort to taking illegal alternatives. This pushes them further into drug addiction.

Are Healthcare Providers Responsible for Patient Addiction?

According to the CDC, almost nine million Americans reported in 2022 that they misused their prescription opioid medication in the last year. This has become a crisis that has consequences that are farther-reaching than those of the patient. Addiction impacts the individual’s friends, family, children, and colleagues. However, a patient becoming addicted to opioids does not automatically signal medical malpractice.

Medical Malpractice

A doctor prescribing an opioid is not medical malpractice in itself. How the doctor prescribes and manages the patient’s treatment could lead to a malpractice claim. “There can be signs of medical malpractice in the way the healthcare professionals interact with [you],“ says Paul Slager, a medical malpractice attorney at Silver Golub & Teitell in Stamford, Connecticut. “If [your] questions are not getting answered or [you] feel kept in the dark about procedures and test results, this can be a sign that something questionable is happening.”

Examples of medical malpractice when prescribing opiates include unnecessarily prescribing medication, overprescribing, or continuing to prescribe medication when it is no longer needed. It could also include failing to consider the patient’s medical history and substance abuse history or educating the patient about the medication’s risks.

Even if the doctor met the standard of care when initially prescribing the medication, there could be medical practice later in treatment. The doctor could fail to maintain the patient’s records accurately. Or they could fail to effectively monitor the patient’s usage and address signs of overuse or addiction.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, only one in five adults with an opioid addiction receive the necessary medication to help treat them. “If you are unhappy [with treatment], you’ll want a second opinion,” says Emily Thomas, a birth injury and medical malpractice attorney at Birth Justice Law Firm in Royal Oak, Michigan. “You have a right to ask for those things or ask to be transferred to another institution.”

Product Liability Claim

Due to the potentially devastating consequences of taking opioid medications, pharmaceutical companies have been put in the spotlight for their contribution to the epidemic.

The federal and state governments have filed lawsuits on behalf of American citizens for deceitful sales strategies. These lawsuits hold the companies making and marketing the opioids liable for false advertising by overstating the drug’s benefits, understating the risks, and intentionally encouraging doctors to increase prescriptions to increase profits. Many lawsuits have already been filed and gone through the legal process. They have deadlines for those harmed by the pharmaceutical company’s medication.

The most famous of these cases is the Purdue Pharma civil settlement. The company was accused of knowingly promoting opioid drugs that were unsafe, ineffective, and not medically necessary. A $750 million pool was established for those harmed. However, victims have a limited amount of time to file their claims.

Distributor Negligence

Some cases do not involve the prescribing doctor by the organization further up the medication chain. Federal and state laws require opioid distributors to take an active role in preventing controlled substances from being put to illicit use. They are required to report suspicious behavioral and prescribing patterns of medical professionals. If a patient believes that the medication distributor failed this duty, they may have a claim.

Statute of Limitations

A statute of limitations is the amount of time someone has to file a lawsuit. This timeline can vary significantly based on the claims made and the state in which they are filed. Product liability, negligence, personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death claims can all have different statutes of limitations. They can be as short as one year and up to six years.

Generally, this timeline begins to run when the injury was discovered or should have been discovered. Speaking with a lawyer sooner rather than later is essential for ensuring you do not fail to meet the statute of limitations.

Proving Medical Malpractice for Medication Addiction

To prove medication addiction is a result of medical malpractice, four elements must be proven in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

1. A professional duty owed to the patient;
2. There was a breach of the duty;
3. There was an injury caused by the breach; and
4. Resulting damages

To prove that the doctor breached their duty of care, the accepted standard of care in the medical field is considered. Expert witnesses may testify to this standard and compare it to the doctor’s actions. If the doctor broke the law, there is an assumption of negligence per se.

A doctor prescribing opioid pain medication should look at the patient’s medical history, level of pain, pain history, and frequency of discomfort. They should consider the cause of the pain and any history of substance abuse. When determining the medical standard of care, the doctor’s experience with prescribing these medications will be considered. The doctor’s actions will be compared to the current accepted medical standards and actions for the patient’s condition.

A medical professional may commit several common areas of medical negligence when breaching their duty of care. These medical errors breach the duty of care by not meeting the standard of care.

Potential Compensation Available

The amount of compensation awarded will depend on the severity of the injury and the damages experienced. Damages can also vary based on how severe the addiction becomes. There are also possible damages when a family files a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the patient who died of an opioid overdose.

Possible damages in a medical malpractice addiction claim could include:

• Medical expenses
• Medical transport
• Hospitalizations
• Substance dependency treatments
• Rehabilitation treatment
• Treatment medications like Narcan
• Legal expenses related to criminal arrests related to opioid addiction
• Lost wages as a result of hospitalization, prison, or rehab
• Future lost wages
• Pain and suffering
• Funeral expenses

Challenges in Medication Addiction Cases

Several challenges can make it difficult for plaintiffs to bring their medical malpractice claim based on addiction. Primarily, it can be challenging to connect the doctor to the addiction. Second, the statute of limitations could have passed before the individual or family decides to pursue a lawsuit. There are also several defenses that a doctor or the doctor’s medical malpractice insurance can raise. One would be the role of the patient in the situation.

Some of these challenges can be overcome with a strong case supported by medical records, expert testimony, and documentation of the addiction progression. These records can help show where the doctor’s negligence took place and that the patient experienced side effects that the doctor should have noted and addressed.

Other challenges can frustrate a patient’s ability to make a successful claim. For example, the medical office where the patient received treatment could be closed. The medical records could have been destroyed in accordance with state regulations.

Finding Experienced Legal Help in Your Medical Malpractice Case

If you or a loved one is experiencing opioid addiction as a result of pain management medication, there could be cause for a medical malpractice claim. Consulting a medical malpractice attorney for a case evaluation can be the next step.

An experienced attorney will discuss the details of the situation and determine if a medical malpractice claim is possible. During the consultation, the lawyer will discuss the strength of the case, potential outcomes, and the lawsuit timeline. They will also discuss fees. Generally, personal injury lawyers will represent clients on a contingency fee basis with no upfront fees for the client.

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