The pharmacy chains maintained they had policies to stem the flow of pills when their pharmacists had concerns and would notify authorities about suspicious orders from doctors. 'The jury sounded a bell that should be heard through all pharmacies in America,' Lanier said. Walmart said in a statement that the counties' attorneys sued 'in search of deep pockets while ignoring the real causes of the opioid crisis - such as pill mill doctors, illegal drugs, and regulators asleep at the switch - and they wrongly claimed pharmacists must second-guess doctors in a way the law never intended and many federal and state health regulators say interferes with the doctor-patient relationship.' This case should be a wake-up call that failure will not be accepted,' said Mark Lanier, an attorney for the counties. 'The law requires pharmacies to be diligent in dealing drugs. The counties convinced the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities. Other cases are moving ahead in state courts.
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The trial before US District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland was part of a broader constellation of about 3,000 federal opioid lawsuits consolidated under the judge's supervision. Lake and Trumbull counties blamed the three chain pharmacies for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1 billion, said their attorney. Roughly 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone between 20 - equivalent to 400 for every resident In Lake County, some 61 million pills were distributed during that period to its 700,000 residents.Ĭities such as Warren, Niles, Churchill and Cortland in Trumbull and Madison, Perry and Timberlake in Lake County have been deeply affected by the crisis, prosecutors argued.
Roughly 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone between 20 - equivalent to 400 for each one of the county's just over 200,000 residents. Lake and Trumbull counties blamed the three chain pharmacies for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1 billion, said their attorney, who in court compared the pharmacies' dispensing to a gumball machine. How much the pharmacies must pay in damages will be decided in the spring by a federal judge. CVS Health, Walgreen Co. The three companies acted illegally in filling significant opioid prescriptions in Lake and Trumbull counties, creating an 'oversupply' of the drugs and a 'public nuisance,' a jury in a federal court in Cleveland found Tuesday. The case marks the first time in which pharmacy chains - rather than manufacturers -have been found liable for the health crisis that has claimed more than 500,000 lives in the United States over the last two decades and 100,306 just in the past year. Published: 17:15 GMT, 24 November 2021 | Updated: 18:05 GMT, 24 November 2021Ī milestone legal ruling might set the tone for a change in the opioid crisis debate nationally, after an Ohio court found that Walgreens, Walmart and CVS 'recklessly distributed painkillers like they were a gumball machine' in two counties. US annual drug overdose deaths surged to more than 100,000 for the first time during the Covid-19 pandemicīy Andrea Blanco For Dailymail.Com and Associated Press.Roughly 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone between 20 - equivalent to 400 for every resident.The companies acted illegally in filling significant opioid prescriptions in Lake and Trumbull counties, creating an 'oversupply' and a 'public nuisance'.
How much the pharmacies must pay in damages will be decided in the spring by a federal judge.It's the first time pharmacy chains - rather than manufacturers -have been found liable for the health crisis that has claimed more than 500,000 lives in the US.Walmart and CVS 'recklessly distributed painkillers like they were a gumball machine' in two counties in Ohio, a Cleveland jury found on Tuesday.Walgreens, Walmart and CVS pharmacies DID contribute to opioid epidemic, Ohio jury finds, in landmark ruling