Thousand of lawsuits filed across the U.S. against drug distributors relating to opioid epidemic
A trial in West Virginia is underway
and last updated 2021-05-11 18:10:17-04
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against drug distributors seeking accountability in the opioid epidemic. A trial currently underway in West Virginia could set the tone for other cases moving forward.
âWe have been ground zero. Itâs no secret weâre number one in overdose deaths, and recent reports from the National Office of Drug Control Policy indicate that overdose deaths are up across the country. But in West Virginia, they re up by 45 percent just in this last year,â Dr. Susan Bissett, President of the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute, said.
This story was originally published by ProPublica.
Ashley Lamendola was still a teen when medical staff at St. Petersburg General Hospital delivered the awful news that would change her life forever: Her newborn son, Hunter, had suffered profound brain damage and would do little more than breathe without help.
“It was like an atomic bomb went off in my life,” she said.
Lamendola believed the hospital was partly responsible for Hunter’s birth injuries. But Florida is one of two states that shield doctors and hospitals from most legal actions arising from births that go catastrophically wrong. Lamendola filed a lawsuit against St. Petersburg General anyway, and when it appeared she was gaining traction, the hospital advanced an extraordinary argument.