Medical Malpractice/Wrongful Death of a 47-year-old wife and mother who died from mixed drug toxicity as a result of a long-term prescription of dangerous drugs including oxycodone, lorazepam, bupropion, tramadol, venlafaxine, zolpidem, mirtazapine, cyclobenzaprine by her primary care physician. She was being treated for various medical issues with no attempt to diagnose the source of pain or determine that the opiate prescribing was effective in any way for her complaints. She became addicted to the medications. Despite showing signs of being out of control and taking too much of her prescribed medications, the doctor did not intervene and refer her for detoxification and rehabilitation to get her off of the medications or keep her on a lower dose by working with a team of specialists, including an addictionologist. The combination of multiple medications that the doctor prescribed depressed the body’s ability to control breathing. Breathing slowed to the point not enough oxygen was getting to the heart which fell out of rhythm, resulting in an overdose death.

 Medical Malpractice/Wrongful Death of a 41-year-old wife and mother who died from the improper prescribing and induction of methadone by her primary care physician. Methadone stays in the body for several days before being excreted while the effects only last for 4-6 hours. When starting the patient on methadone, the risk of death is increased because she unknowingly takes more of the medication to offset the pain, not knowing that it is building up to toxic levels in the body, which caused her death.

Medical Malpractice for a 41-year-old wife and mother for improperly being weaned off of Xanax, causing a brain injury. Her primary care physician prescribed high doses of Xanax for antianxiety for several years. Xanax can cause seizures if discontinued abruptly. The doctor weaned her too quickly, resulting in seizures, which in turn caused lack of oxygen to the brain.

Settlement for 51-year-old mother who died as a result of a multi-drug overdose after long term prescribing of dangerous drugs (Vicodin, Oxycontin, Valium, Diazepam, Lorazepam, Ambien, estazolam) by her primary care physician for low back pain. The decedent was arrested for OVI and ordered into treatment with the primary care physician responsible for conducting urine drug screens, which he never did until just before her death. Both of those urine drug screens were failed and the primary care did nothing and continued to prescribe. She should have been referred for intervention with detoxification and rehabilitation carried out by a team with pain management and addiction specialists.

Medical Malpractice/Wrongful Death of a 48-year-old husband and father who died as a result of negligent prescribing of Oxycontin, Valium and Ambien over a prolonged period of time by his primary care physician as well as inappropriate dispensing of these medications by various pharmacies. The combination of multiple medications that the doctor prescribed depressed the central nervous system’s ability to control breathing. Breathing slowed to the point not enough oxygen was getting to the heart which fell out of rhythm, causing overdose death.

Medical Malpractice/Wrongful Death of a 58-year-old mother who died as a result of multiple drug toxicity, including opiates, alprazolam, phenobarbital, ethanol and acetaminophen. Her primary care physician negligently prescribed controlled substances, including narcotic pain relievers and benzodiazepine antianxiety pills in high doses despite knowledge of decedent’s substance abuse history, drug seeking behavior and addiction. Every bottle of opiate and benzodiazepine medications in the United States has an imprinted warning that says to healthcare prescribers and pharmacists that prescribing these two classes of drugs together can cause coma and death. These warnings were ignored as were the red flags of addiction, resulting in her overdose death.