We have documented many ethical aspects of the rampant opioid crisis including the ways in which pharmaceutical companies and their sales reps influenced physicians and the entire medical community. Now, hospitals in opioid battle turn on parmaceutical companies. Though “Big Pharma” has pushed back against the accusations of how they added to painkiller addiction, it cannot be denied that opioid addiction has caused a catastrophic crisis.
In 2017 alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim opioids were involved in about 48,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of addictions. It has been estimated that every time an opioid overdose is wheeled into an emergency room, it will ultimately cost the hospital about $95,000 as most of those they treat are uninsured.
Surprising Epicenter
The Appalachians have not been spared from opioids, and in fact, this economically depressed region, often a place of helplessness, has been overrun with addiction. In fact, West Virginia has the nation’s highest overdose rates. The question becomes one of “Who pays the cost?”
Ronald Pellegrino, chief operating officer at West Virginia University Hospitals
Hospitals in West Virginia, claims his hospitals “are at the front line of the opioid epidemic, and our ability to deliver care has been compromised because of the enormous amount of resources we have had to dedicate to treating those affected by it.”
For the most part, Big Pharma and pharmacies themselves have escaped scrutiny and often, law enforcement. It is being reported that 30 West Virginia hospitals including Pellegrino’s and 10 affiliated medical centers in Kentucky have filed a massive lawsuit to charge the drug companies for part of the cost of ministering to the needs of addicted individuals whose lives were saved by the staffs at the hospital facilities. This is the first case of its type and it may bring about serious ramifications for the drug industry though are at least two-thousand lawsuits pending from government to American Indian tribes.
The specific target of the lawsuit is OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and its distributors such as AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health, among others.
Pushback – Hospitals in Opioid Battle turn on Pharmaceutical Companies
One of the major distributors of opioids, AmerisourceBergen, has strongly pushed back against the lawsuit “A significant number of these doctors – 38 percent in the U.S. – are employed by hospitals, which is where in many cases they prescribe, fulfill through distributors, and then dispense medications to patients. This is why hospitals pursuing legal action related to opioid abuse against other members of the supply chain is counterproductive and ignores the facts.”
However, the pushback seems to omit certain problems including a failure to control the opioid samples freely given out to providers, the frequency of bribes and kickbacks, the unnecessary prescription writing and the failure to convey the highly addictive nature of these drugs. A huge black market was created for opioids and unethical pharmacies and physicians cashed in on the easy money.
Purdue Pharma saw a major opportunity with OxyContin and they capitalized on the market. Millions became addicted, hundreds of thousands died, all to fulfill the need to satisfy an insatiable bottom line. The rationalization they used was similar to the statement provided by AmerisourceBergen. However, the rationalization ignores the failures of the supply chain, the samples, bribes and relatively easy access to powerful drugs to create an illegal market and unethical healthcare providers.
The emergency departments of the hospitals are at the front lines. Without them, the 48,000 annual deaths might have doubled, tripled, or more. They deserve compensation, even if only to cause Big Pharma to completely change the way in which they do business. That’s why hospitals in opioid battle turn on pharmaceutical companies.
