Opioid Overdose Lawsuit
An opioid overdose lawsuit may be an option for Maryland residents who are grieving the loss of a loved one due to an accidental overdose on opioids. The most recent statistics available show that more people died nationally from overdosing on opioids than from car accidents. The problem has become so prevalent that the federal government has declared it a national epidemic, an epidemic that many believe was generated from the marketing tactics of pharmaceutical companies, and these allegations have been repeated in the dozens of lawsuits filed. People who have lost someone dear to them because of an addiction to opioids may be able to hold the parties financially responsible with the help of a bad drug attorney.
If your loved one died after an opioid they became addicted to, contact Attorney Group to learn about your options. We offer free, no obligation consultations. We can help answer your questions, and if you choose to pursue a claim we can connect you with an affiliated opioid overdose lawyer who can assist you throughout the legal process.
What are Opioids?
Opioids are a class of drugs that are either created from opium or within the confines of a lab, and they have been used for both recreational and medicinal purposes. Their appeal lies in their ability to do two things: they create a feeling of euphoria in those who take them and they have the power to block pain messages between the body and the brain. There are several well-known opioids available to people today and they include the following:
- Heroin
- Percocet®
- OxyContin®
- Morphine
- Vicodin®
- Fentanyl
Opium, the original opioid, was first discovered in Southeast Asia and its popularity grew as it was traded to other countries and civilizations like the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Morphine was heavily used by American doctors in the Civil War for the treatment of severe battle wounds and heroin was first introduced as a medical treatment for pain. Today, opioids are used to control pain associated with a wide assortment of medical conditions such as arthritis, degenerative disc disease, fibromyalgia, migraines and torn muscles.
Opioids and Their Addiction Risk
According to the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, more than 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016, making it the highest death toll since the epidemic first hit in the 1990s. Other facts from that same year include the following:
- The economic costs of opioid addiction reached $504 billion.
- First-time prescription opioid abuse was engaged in by 2.1 million people.
- 1 million people had a recognized addiction to opioids.
- The number of people who misused opioids was 11.5 million.
For many people who become addicted, it starts with prescription opioids and then leads them to heroin, and while heroin in itself is a dangerous drug to use, it is now being mixed with fentanyl. CNN states that fentanyl on the street is made in Chinese and Mexican labs so it is different from the fentanyl found in hospitals and it is more deadly; it is “50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin.”
Maryland is also seeing the impact of fentanyl; the most recent numbers showed that 1,173 people died accidently after taking fentanyl between January and September of 2017. Overall, opioid overdoses caused the deaths of 1,501 people in the state during the same time frame and the state will be issuing a second public warning in 2018 about fentanyl, as it expects these numbers to continue to climb.
Opioid Overdose Lawsuits
While the state of Maryland is investigating the opioid crisis, counties and jurisdictions have already filed legal action against those in the opioid industry; Baltimore filed its lawsuit in January 2018. The city states that since 2007, opioid overdoses have taken the lives of 3,000 residents and alleges in its filing that the drug companies were more focused on their monetary greed than on protecting the public from harm. The city claims that distributors failed to report suspicious opioid orders, while the manufacturers of the opioids supplied the medical community with information about their drugs that was not accurate.
Since 2004, countless lawsuits have been filed against distributors, pharmacies, doctors and the pharmaceutical companies themselves, that include the following:
- In 2004, Purdue Pharma was charged with committing fraud in the way it marketed its drug, OxyContin®. The company agreed to a settlement in which three executives pleaded guilty and the company paid $600 million in fines and to plaintiffs.
- In 2017, the Cherokee Nation filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit, alleging that distributors flooded its communities with opioid painkillers, resulting in the deaths of over 350 people.
- In 2017, West Virginia settled its lawsuit with distributor, Cardinal Health, for $20 million. The lawsuit alleged that the distributor shipped millions of pills into the state.
Additionally in 2017, McKesson Corporation, a distributor, was charged with failing to report suspicious shipments of opioids to several states. The company reached a settlement of $150 million with the U.S. Department of Justice
The Time You Have to File a Claim is Limited. Contact Us Today.
For more information, contact the Attorney Group for Maryland. You can fill out the form on this page or contact us by phone or email.
After you contact us, an attorney will follow up to answer questions that you might have. There is no cost or obligation to speak with us, and any information you provide will be kept confidential.
Please note that the law limits the time you have to pursue a claim or file a lawsuit for an injury. If you think you have a case, you should not delay taking action.