Tag: Painkillers

'Kids Kick Opioids' Contest To End Friday

A contest deadline is approaching for West Virginia schoolchildren to raise awareness of prescription painkiller abuse.

The Kids Kick Opioids contest is open to elementary and middle school students. It can include poems, drawings, letters or anything that promotes awareness of painkiller abuse.  

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says the deadline to enter is Friday.

Students can work individually or in groups. The winning entry will be used in Morrisey’s next statewide newspaper public service advertisement. Regional winners will be displayed in the state Capitol. 

Entries can be mailed to the Attorney General’s Office or sent by email.

West Virginia has by far the nation’s highest death rate from drug overdoses.

West Virginia Cities Sue Accrediting Group Over Painkillers

Several West Virginia municipalities are suing The Joint Commission, claiming the Chicago-based health care accreditation group downplayed the dangers of prescription painkillers and helped fuel addictions.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the cities of Charleston, Huntington and Kenova and the town of Ceredo filed the class-action lawsuit Thursday in Charleston.

They claim the nonprofit teamed with OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and in 2001 issued pain management standards that “grossly misrepresented the addictive qualities of opioids.”

Spokeswoman Katie Looze Bronk says The Joint Commission, a nonprofit dedicated to improving patient safety, “is deeply troubled by a lawsuit that contains blatantly false accusations that have been thoroughly debunked.”

Ex-Doctor Sentenced for Writing Bogus Pain Pill Prescription

A former physician in West Virginia has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for writing a bogus prescription to get pain pills.

Fifty-two-year-old Gregory Donald Chaney was sentenced Monday in federal court in Huntington to obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

Prosecutors say Chaney owned the now-closed Tri-State Medical Center in Barboursville. In 2015, Chaney wrote a prescription for one of his employees for 120 oxycodone pills. Chaney admitted he never examined the employee and the prescription was written without medical necessity.

Chaney then instructed the employee to have the prescription filled at a particular pharmacy. The employee gave the pills to Chaney in exchange for $830 in lieu of unpaid wages.

Manchin, Colleagues Propose National Painkiller Monitoring

West Virginia’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and two colleagues have introduced legislation that would require all states getting certain federal funding to establish electronic prescription drug monitoring and share information across state lines.

In their proposed federal effort against doctor shopping for addictive painkillers, their bill would require pharmacists in affected states report any opioids they dispense within 24 hours.

It would require doctors consult the database before writing opioid prescriptions.

Manchin says 91 people are dying daily from opioid overdoses in the national epidemic that has hit West Virginia.

Other sponsors are Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican.

W.Va. Gets $36M to End Suit Against 2 Drug Companies

Two major prescription drug distributors have agreed to pay $36 million to settle a West Virginia lawsuit alleging they fueled West Virginia’s opioid epidemic with excessively large shipments of painkillers into the state over several years.

State officials on Monday say Cardinal Health will pay $20 million and AmerisourceBergen will pay $16 million under the terms that have now been filed with Boone County Circuit Court.

The companies have denied any wrongdoing.

Judge William Thompson disclosed the proposed settlements two weeks ago with no details.

The state has settled similar claims against other wholesalers for another $11 million.

A Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation found drug wholesalers shipped 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia in six years, a period when 1,728 people statewide fatally overdosed.

State Sues 3rd Pharmacy Over Painkillers

West Virginia’s attorney general has sued a third pharmacy alleging it dispensed too many prescription painkillers and violated state consumer protection laws.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says Crab Orchard Pharmacy Inc. dispensed 4.6 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone over seven years in Raleigh County, despite the presence of 32 competing pharmacies and eight medical facilities. The Raleigh County town has less than 3,000 residents.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Raleigh County Circuit Court suit seeks unspecified penalties, punitive damages and an injunction.

Kathlyn Sallaz says she and her husband, Richard, have owned the pharmacy since 2012 and have worked to reduce the number of narcotics dispensed. She says that number has gone down every year.

Morrisey filed similar lawsuits last month against pharmacies in Boone and Grant counties.

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