Posted on Jul 1, 2019
Politicians, Government Agencies Feud Over Payouts Tied To Opioid Epidemic
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Government officials are bickering over hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements paid by Big Pharma, stemming from the nation's deadly opioid epidemic.
The pharmaceutical industry paid out more than half a billion dollars over the last year alone. All sides expect the scale of settlements to grow fast as more cases go to trial.
Drug companies are accused of kick-starting the addiction crisis by aggressively marketing opioid pain medications over the past two decades. During the epidemic, roughly 218,000 Americans have died from overdoses tied to prescription pain pills, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal, state and local officials have filed hundreds of lawsuits against drug companies, using different teams of lawyers, while often making substantially different claims and legal arguments.
A growing number of sources have told NPR they're concerned that the effort to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable could unravel into a legal fight between governments.
There's no agreement in place for how payouts will be distributed. In recent days, feuding between local, state and federal agencies has begun to spill into the open.
The pharmaceutical industry paid out more than half a billion dollars over the last year alone. All sides expect the scale of settlements to grow fast as more cases go to trial.
Drug companies are accused of kick-starting the addiction crisis by aggressively marketing opioid pain medications over the past two decades. During the epidemic, roughly 218,000 Americans have died from overdoses tied to prescription pain pills, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal, state and local officials have filed hundreds of lawsuits against drug companies, using different teams of lawyers, while often making substantially different claims and legal arguments.
A growing number of sources have told NPR they're concerned that the effort to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable could unravel into a legal fight between governments.
There's no agreement in place for how payouts will be distributed. In recent days, feuding between local, state and federal agencies has begun to spill into the open.
Politicians, Government Agencies Feud Over Payouts Tied To Opioid Epidemic
Posted from npr.org
Government
Drugs
Pharmaceuticals
Substance Use
Lawsuit
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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I take issue with this because, aggressive marketing or not, it is the doctors who prescribe the drugs. Where is the doctors responsibility in all this. I mean, unless you have evidence that the drug manufactures themselves are selling these on the streets (interesting thought but I try to avoid conspiracies), there is only two paths to them getting out to the public; one is theft, the other is doctors.
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Is it the phamacuetical companies' fault that legal controlled narcotics were prescribed for various maladies? Or is it more accurate to say that the doctors were negligent in oversight on their patients and dosage, that the patients in many (but not all cases) chose to abuse to the point of addiction, and that HMOs and not least VA hospitals determined that "pain management" was cheaper than other options like surgery.
It is easy to pin blame on an entity that makes a legal product, like tobacco, alcohol, guns, or drugs. Yet we all too easily turn against these companies when working to assign blame elsewhere than where it belongs. The drug companies did market their products, and pay doctors kickback for prescribing their products over a competitor's. But the dangers of opium-based narcotics is hardly something that was unknown, indeed for centuries.
I think these lawsuits serve a dual purpose: to reassign blame and to be a lottery ticket for those who have lost family members. Both are ignoble and immoral.
It is easy to pin blame on an entity that makes a legal product, like tobacco, alcohol, guns, or drugs. Yet we all too easily turn against these companies when working to assign blame elsewhere than where it belongs. The drug companies did market their products, and pay doctors kickback for prescribing their products over a competitor's. But the dangers of opium-based narcotics is hardly something that was unknown, indeed for centuries.
I think these lawsuits serve a dual purpose: to reassign blame and to be a lottery ticket for those who have lost family members. Both are ignoble and immoral.
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