Opioid Addiction Suit Puts Workers Comp Payers On Alert

Experts urge workers compensation payers to take steps to avoid overprescribing or doctor shopping following a state Supreme Court’s decision allowing patients to sue physicians and pharmacies for contributing to their addiction to opioids.
Nearly 30 people filed eight civil actions in Mingo County, West Virginia, Circuit Court between 2010 and 2012 that alleged a medical center, three physicians and four medical centers “negligently prescribed and dispensed” drugs that led them to abuse and become addicted to opioids, court records show.