CVS, Walgreens, others sue doctors over opioid crisis role
A handful of major drugstore retailers are suing Ohio doctors over their role in the national opioid abuse and overdose epidemic, The Washington Post reported. The lawsuit comes at a time when the drugstore chains are facing a huge trial in October for their roles in distributing opioids in the state. Opioids overdoses claimed 68,000 lives in 2018.
The pharmacy chains, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and others, claim physicians are responsible for the opioid crisis. However, doctors aren’t facing monumental litigation like drugstores. Drugmakers are also facing an onslaught of litigation against them for their role in manufacturing and marketing opioids. Settlements have reached hundreds of millions of dollars and, for Purdue Pharma, billions.
According to drugstores, physicians and prescribers “should have to pay some of the penalty if the drugstore chains are found liable at trial,” The Washington Post reported. However, the doctors aren’t named in the lawsuit.
“We strongly believe that the overwhelming majority of prescriptions dispensed were properly prescribed by doctors to meet the legitimate needs of their patients,” Phil Caruso, a spokesman for Walgreens,” told The Post.
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Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."