Community Chat

[Mz iMac]

Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $572 Million in Landmark Opioid Trial

The first case against a drug manufacturer for the national public health disaster may indicate what lies ahead in 2,000 more lawsuits.

A judge in Oklahoma on Monday ruled against Johnson & Johnson, the deep-pocketed corporate giant, and ordered it to pay the state $572 million in the first trial of an opioid manufacturer for the destruction wrought by prescription painkillers.

Johnson & Johnson, which contracted with poppy growers in Tasmania, supplied 60 percent of the opiate ingredients that drug companies used for opioids like oxycodone, the state had argued, and aggressively marketed opioids to doctors and patients as safe and effective. A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, made its own opioids — a pill whose rights it sold in 2015, and a fentanyl patch that it still produces.

copy/paste link---> (FULL ARTICLE) nytimes.com/2019/08/26/health/oklahoma-opioids-johnson-and-johnson.html

[ECBG]

WOW!

[Still Raining]

But where are the jail terms for prescribing MDs.  The whistle blowers at the pharmacies?  The personal responsibility of the addicts?

[Love my grandkids]

As a former legal secretary, I'd bet money that the appeal was prepared for filing before the ruling ever came down.

[Mz iMac]

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@Still Raining wrote:

But where are the jail terms for prescribing MDs.  The whistle blowers at the pharmacies?  The personal responsibility of the addicts?

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According to the lawsuit paperwork, J&J were only charged w/"creating “a public nuisance.”

[Still Raining]

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@Mz iMac wrote:

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@Still Raining wrote:

But where are the jail terms for prescribing MDs.  The whistle blowers at the pharmacies?  The personal responsibility of the addicts?

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According to the lawsuit paperwork, J&J were only charged w/"creating “a public nuisance.”

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Well at least I edited my reply before I hit post.  My eyes are rolling back into my ears.

Remember Flip Wilson and his the devil made me do it?  

[CLHS68]

People need to accept some responsibility as no one forced them to take them. My doctor perscribed some for me several years ago & I told him I would not take them as perscribed as I did not want to get addicted. So I just suffered with the pain.

[NicksmomESQ]

  There is enough blame here to go around. However, doctors being paid off to prescribe meds when they know the harmful effects is just plain criminal IMHO.

[Annabellethecat66]

My arthritis Dr gave me a prescription for Cymbalta for my fibromyalgia.

Then I talked to my Dr that I see every 3 weeks for my back and knee pain.  She said I should take the Cymbalta.

I got it filled and took one.....one pill.  I got sick as a dog.  I mean really sick.  

I read the white information packet that comes with the prescription.  It said it could become addictive, it will make you feel tired and on and on.

I said, "Forget it.  I'm already tired, I don't need this".  So I went back to the Dr Orthopedic surgeon that treats me and told her about getting so sick.  She said sometimes it takes a week or two to get your body used to it.  I told her I wasn't going to take it.  She said it was up to me.

I figured if I was going to be in such terrible pain with my back, I'd live with the Fibromyalgia pain.

While talking to the Ortho Dr I told her about the white pamphlet saying it could become addictive and it advised to not just stop taking it suddenly, bla bla.

She said that it is very addictive.  She told me it is one of the most difficult medicines there is to get a patient off of.  She said it's more difficult to get a patient off of Cymbalta than Oxycodone or many other pain medications.

These are Drs who deal every day with people and their pain.  They know everything there is to know about pain.  When I had my knees both replaced at the same time, instead of the Orthopedic Dr who replaced the knees (different group of Drs) this Dr controlled the pain medicine for me.

Anyway, my point is there are many medicines which are addictive.  I think it's really, really important for people to read every bit of information that comes with these medicines.

I think it's very important to go back to your Dr AFTER you read everything about it AND BEFORE you take the medicine to talk frankly and openly with them.

I've never seen or read anything about Cymbalta being addictive, but.....obviously it is.

The FDA approves so many medicines that, I think might have more of a warning on them.

It's the same thing with pot.  You really realize how crazy this country is with pot being legal or illegal (depending on the state) when you watch that police show "Live PD".  It's crazy to think (depending on the state) people can be locked up for possessing pot while other's can't.

We all have our ideas about Pot but one day we'll be treating people for lung cancer or other diseases from smoking pot.

It's as if these people who make our laws never learn.  But, as always, it's about the Almighty dollar!

[alicedee]

The company who makes these pain killers....I’m grateful they do.  Anyone who has suffered or watched a loved one suffer with horrible pain knows they are sometimes needed, and no one should have to suffer needlessly.

I fault the doctors who prescribed these like aspirin in a lot of cases, and the people who took them without even trying something less strong first.  Through the years I had several doctors and a couple dentists prescribe opioids without hesitation, and offer refills without hesitation.  I seldom took them....but when pain was severe, was glad I had them.

Nobody was forced to take them.  

Now people who truly need pain meds have a terrible time getting a doctor to prescribe them.  

Why does everything have to go from one extreme to another?