Senator Tick Segerblom (D) – Las Vegas, says that doctors should be aware of the risks associated with addiction from prescription drugs and should be responsible for adverse effects. Under Senate Bill 75, a patient would be able to recover both actual and punitive damages, including rehabilitation and attorney fees.
A portion of the bill reads:
This bill provides that a person who suffers injuries as a result of an addiction to a prescription drug may bring a civil action against: (1) the manufacturer of the prescription drug; and (2) the provider of medical care who prescribed the prescription drug, if the provider of medical care knew or should have known of the person’s addiction to the prescription drug.
Does the problem arise because patients think prescription drugs are harmless if prescribed by doctors? Segerblom says our culture teaches us, at a young age, to do what the doctor says.
Over the past decade, medical malpractice lawsuits have been brought against doctors who have over-prescribed highly addictive prescription painkillers to their patients. These lawsuits have held doctors accountable, but some states still have seen little reduction in prescription drug abuse.
Do you think that there is a prescription drug “epidemic” in this country? Would this legislation make it easier to hold doctors accountable for their prescribing methods? Do you think it’s fair to hold a doctor responsible for an addiction that he/she may not know about? It seems to me that a doctor would, in caution, not prescribe and that would create a world of alternative problems for the patients. Doesn’t this put doctors in a catch-22 situation?
To read more about SB75, click here.
Mark Bello has thirty-six years experience as a trial lawyer and fourteen years as an underwriter and situational analyst in the lawsuit funding industry. He is the owner and founder of Lawsuit Financial Corporation which helps provide cash flow solutions and consulting when necessities of life litigation funding is needed by a plaintiff involved in pending, personal injury, litigation. Bello is a Justice Pac member of the American Association for Justice, Sustaining and Justice Pac member of the Michigan Association for Justice, Member of Public Justice, Public Citizen, the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan and the Injury Board.
