Anyone that has had a loved one who is addicted to drugs understands the emotional turmoil that their addiction causes to everyone around them. The drugs affect the neurotransmitters in their brain, and they may begin to act like a completely different individual than the person you knew before the addiction.
While there are many different ways that substance addiction can grip our loved ones, addiction to prescribed painkillers can be particularly challenging. Often the person you care for is getting the prescription from a degree certified doctor. Your loved one may have been in a traumatic accident and needed the relief of medication for a short period, but then became addicted to the painkillers.
According to CBSNews.com, over two million Americans were hooked on prescription medication in 2012, and there were over two hundred and fifty million prescriptions to pain medications written in that same year. That sure is a lot of pills prescribed!
Pain medication is useful when needed of course, but over-medicating is negligent. If you have a loved one who died of prescription medication, investigating their medication – including the prescribing medical provider and clinic – is important. “Pill mills” are illegal in some states with many being closed for business by the authorities. However, some doctors have continued to distribute these pills for purely financial reasons. There have been highly profiled cases of prescription medication companies giving kickbacks to prescribing doctors like in the case against Isys Medication.
Here are some good questions to answer and clarify to determine medical malpractice or wrongful death:
-was the medication legally obtained?
-who were the prescribing doctor and the clinic your loved one frequented?
-does this clinic or doctor have any issues with the law?
-how much time did your loved one spend being evaluated by the physician?
-how frequently did the doctor increase the dosage?
-was there drug interaction issues with other medications?
If you suspect an issue with a loved one’s prescription medication addiction or death, call an experienced medical malpractice lawyer with winning results, a tenacious spirit, experience representing injured victims and the ability to offer aggressive representation to get you justice.
