States hit by the opioid epidemic are struggling to account for all the opioid painkiller drug overdoses in their communities as the scope of the crisis continues to grow. While many of us are familiar with the staggering 63,000 drug overdoses reported last year, we still cannot say for certain just how many are truly attributed to painkiller drug overdoses.
The reason, according to analysis by FiveThirtyEight, has to do with the way many municipalities conduct their investigation into the passing of those who succumb to drug overdoses. For example, many small towns and counties do not require their coroners, which work with police, to have formal medical training.
As a result, a substantial number of painkiller drug overdoses may go unreported and thus mask the true cost of the crisis in our communities, both urban and rural. Without a clear idea of just how many lives the opioid epidemic touches, state and federal agencies cannot set benchmarks for funding or the response necessary to help communities in crisis.
America’s opioid crisis has been a long time in the making. Since days of Nancy Reagan's “Just Say No” campaign, drug manufacturers began to market their prescription opioids as less addictive than alternatives. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, went as far as to grossly misstate the potential for patient addiction and aggressively marketed the synthetic opioid painkiller to doctors as a long term pain management system.
Unfortunately, these claims turned out to be nothing more than a marketing ploy to take in tens of billion of dollars at the expense of innocent people. As a result, hundreds of thousands of patients became addicted to prescription opioids their doctors assured them would manage their chronic pain without producing a high or placing them at risk for addiction.
Recently, plaintiffs have begun filing opioid addiction lawsuits against the drug companies to recover compensation for the damages suffered while they struggled with the consequences of the drug companies malice. Lawsuits against drug companies can help victims recover their damages for lost wages, drug rehabilitation treatment, and the pain and suffering of going through addiction brought on by the pharmaceutical company’s greed.
The painkiller drug overdose lawyers of The Cochran Firm, DC understand the hardships families go through when they lose a loved one to addiction. People who were once loving and hardworking turn to a life of feeding their drug habits after becoming addicted to prescription opioids following surgery.
In addition to helping those who are recovering from addiction to prescription painkillers, The opioid overdose lawyers of The Cochran Firm, DC may also be able to help surviving family members of drug overdose victims recover their own compensation. If you or a loved one suffered from opioid addiction after being prescribed OxyContin or other painkillers, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries.
Fill out an online contact form or call 1-800-THE FIRM (843-3476) to discuss the details of your case and speak to a lawyer for free. Our Painkiller drug overdose lawyers do not charge any upfront fees to litigate your case and do not collect any legal fees unless we in.
