Two Michigan counties sue drug companies over skyrocketing opioid deaths

[alp227]

Source: MLIVE

Wayne and Oakland counties filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against 12 drug manufacturers, claiming the companies use "deceptive marketing" of opioids that has contributed to widespread addiction.

Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson announced the lawsuit in a Thursday press conference, accusing the drug companies of shifting the way doctors and patients view pain treatment in order to encourage widespread opioid prescription, leading to the rise in opioid-related deaths in Michigan.

"This is a full-blown health crisis from which the drug companies made billions," Evans said. "People are dying and lives are being ruined by addiction as this horrible tragedy unfolds.

"We see the devastation every day in our hospitals, in our jails and at the morgue, and it's getting worse. There has to be a price to be paid when corporations show such disregard for human life."

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2017/10/wayne_oakland_county_suing_dru.html

[bucolic_frolic]

1. I don't know enough about it

but I think doctors overdose, and Big Pharma oversizes. In my view, rare, rare, rare is the patient who receives the minimum amount needed to solve his problem.

[TheFrenchRazor]

4. really? in my experience people who legitimately need pain meds can't even get any at all, much less

more than the minimum amount. but seriously, shouldn't these decisions be left to the patients and their doctors? politicians and know-nothing busy-bodies are are the last people i want making my health care decisions.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Which sort of proves half of my point

because patients don't make decisions because they have little power and inadequate knowledge. If the doctor prescribes 500mg at twice a day, does he really know at what dose the patient's pain will be relieved? It could be half that or a quarter of it. But because that's what is the standard dose and that's the size of the manufactured tablets, and the recommendation of the pharmaceutical company, that's the amount prescribed. Pharma influences medical decisions a lot. Sales reps advise what is working, what is going around.

Fortunately I take no medications at all. I was very ill from misdiagnosis and antibiotic prescriptions to the point of severe allergy from medications. I was fortunate to test new meds with half the dose. Once you're a medical problem they can't cure, they want little to do with you.

[Motownman78]

9. You have to realize though

When it comes to managing pain with opioids, the patient knows far more then the doctor will ever know when it comes to the dose needed. As a person takes opioids, they gain a tolerance, which means higher and higher doses are needed to have the same effect. That is where the patient will have more knowledge then the doctor.

[TheFrenchRazor]

11. yes, it's a little galling to have a doctor tell the patient that they're not "really" hurting, or

it isn't bad enough to justify them being allowed to have any pain relief. i disagree though that people necessarily need to increase their dose continually; maybe if they're trying to get "high," or to eliminate every single vestige of pain, but many people are able to stay on the same moderate dose for years, which at least takes the edge off their pain and allows them to function. it can mean the difference between having a life and not having a life.

[Leith]

2. Wow! That Is Most of the Detroit Area Up Past Pontiac

Except the southern and northeastern suburbs. I wonder if more counties will join the lawsuit.

[TheFrenchRazor]

3. yay!!! more War On Drugs!!!!! the only crisis is all the people truly suffering because they can no

no longer get the medication they need to be able to survive and function. i'm so sick of this hysteria.

[Hangingon]

5. Can you buy direct from drug companies?

Sounds like there is a missing link. Where are the doctors who prescribe here drugs?

[Purveyor]

7. I haven't had Vicodin in years but had surgery last Thursday and sent home with 40 of those babies.

I can see why some could get addicted to them but I can only take 1/2 a tab for pain. More than that and my mouth runs like a "clatter bone in a ducks ass" and no one can stand to be around me!

That bottle is going to last me for at least a month or so. Aleve works better for the pain anyway...

[maxsolomon]

8. Overprescription WAS a problem

Now, not so much.

My Niece had bunion surgery a year back, and got the absolute minimum of Oxys. Had to beg to have it refilled.

Whereas I've still got a bunch of them in the cabinet from 10 years back.

In Seattle, what I (literally) see is Junkies shooting up on the side of Freeway on-ramps. "Opioids" have morphed back into plain ol' Heroin.

[TheFrenchRazor]

10. true; it's a lot easier to crack down on patients with legitimate medical needs than on under-

under the radar street drug users. it makes busy-bodies feel like they're "doing something," but of course they're not doing anything that actually helps anybody.