https://www.cbs.com/shows/video/xVWlsc4Lk2pmULPIyri9PWdcNuUiCOpJ/

The story Ligation Funding Burford Capital starts at abt TWO MINUTES.

There is no mention of them funding class action lawsuits.

HOWEVER, if one of the major wholesalers or major chain pharmacies are taken to court and the chronic pain pt and/or community prevails.  That would suggest that a lot of other class action law firms would be lining up to sue these large healthcare corporations.

According to this article, this “finance” company has a 95% success rate, but of course they are fairly selective in what cases they will finance, and if/when they win.. they want TWICE the money they put out for the lawsuit back, but if the case is a LOSER…the plaintiff owes nothing.

Of course, I am sure that most chronic pain pts would be happy to get little money from a lawsuit, if they could get their pain management therapy back.  I suspect that a sizeable award from one of these large healthcare companies, many other law firms that will take a class action law suit on a contingency basis.  I would think that to get these large healthcare corporations to redirect their lobbying dollars to lobbying for a change in how DOJ/DEA are going after those in the legal opioid distribution system and let doctors to be more free to prescribe control meds to legit chronic pain pts and other dealing with subjective diseases and in need of controlled meds.  Perhaps even taken the production quotas off of the pharmas that produce controlled meds

Obviously, It is going to take one or more in the community to make some phone calls. Apparently Burford Capital is just one of several companies that are in this business of backing lawsuits.

Normally, it only takes 1-2 plaintiffs in a class action case, I am not an attorney, but in this particular case, I think that it would need a plaintiff from every decade of age. To demonstrate to the court that chronic pain, has nothing to do with a certain age. Preteen pts can be dealing with numerous disease issues that generate pain, including terminal cancer among other health issues.

Here is a link to national class action law firms  https://usalegal.com/20-class-action-law-firms-nationwide/

https://bestlawfirms.usnews.com/civil-rights-law/overview

https://www.bestlawyers.com/united-states/civil-rights-law

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This is the second night in a row that this FOX channel in Louisville, KY has done a report of pts in the Louisville, KY market is dealing with failed pain management  https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/pharmacists-said-they-arent-accepting-new-prescriptions-for-oxycodone/

In Louisville,KY there is FOUR MAJOR HOSPITALS in the downtown area within adjacent blocks of one another and there is a Major pediatric  PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL affiliated with Kosair charities.  I wonder why a 8 y/o was not being treated at that hospital?

8-year-old with failing heart ‘dies in agony’ while in care of Norton Children’s Hospital, lawsuit claims

https://www.wdrb.com/news/8-year-old-with-failing-heart-dies-in-agony-while-in-care-of-norton-childrens/article_aee81c32-28e3-11ee-937c-e772ed724f74.html

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — An 8-year-old New Albany boy in need of a heart transplant died in agony with his parents by his side while in the care of Norton Healthcare, a wrongful death lawsuit claims.

Finnley McCullum was born with a congenital heart defect and had been in and out of the hospital for most of his life. He underwent a heart transplant last summer, but the transplant was rejected within hours of the procedure. 

While Finnley and his parents, Chris and Sally, waited for another heart transplant, he was kept alive with an artificial heart and other life-sustaining treatment. Despite his medical issues, the only child was known for being a vibrant child with an infectious spirit.

In early April, his parents were told by Norton Healthcare the child was no longer a candidate for another heart transplant and he would be removed from the life-sustaining treatment, a lawsuit claims. The lawsuit states Norton didn’t ask for his parent’s approval or consent on a decision that would end his life.

Finnley was conscious and cognitively aware when the decision to end his life was made, according to the lawsuit. Norton Healthcare officials told his parents they’d never before removed life-sustaining treatment from a conscious and cognitively aware child like Finnley before. 

The lawsuit claims Norton Healthcare told the boy’s parents that he wouldn’t experience any fear, anxiety or pain once his life-sustaining treatment was removed. But no physicians were present during the procedure and Finnley was conscious and awake as his life was ending.

The boy cried out for help, but his parents had to falsely assure him that everything would be all right, according to the lawsuit. He died after hours of pain and suffering on April 19.

“He knew what was happening as his life support was shut off, his parents stood bedside and they were helpless to do anything to stop it as he looked at them and said ‘help me,'” said Ann B. Oldfather, the lawyer representing the family.

“It was a disaster,” Oldfather said. “Finnley said ‘what’s happening, why is my monitor off,’ his parents had to say, ‘oh they just lost some power, you are going to be okay.'”

Norton Healthcare called the death of Finnley heartbreaking.

“Norton Children’s Hospital cares for our community’s youngest patients, and we serve all families, including those in very difficult situations,” said Renee Murphy, a spokesperson for Norton Healthcare. “Our clinical teams meet with families regularly to review care plans and medical options, and we work to maintain an open dialogue. Our priority is to provide quality care to all those we serve. Unfortunately, not every medical intervention is successful.”

Another claim in the lawsuit said the McCullums were told the life-sustaining treatment could only be continued with a court order.

“He was not going to spend the last 40 hours he had with his son trying to find an attorney, they begged for extensions,” Oldfather said.

According to the family, Norton engaged in several actions intended to pressure and manipulate them during the process.

“They were at times put against each other,” Oldfather said. “One of the caretakers expressed her opinion that if this had been her child, she would have let him go.”

The McCullums claim they’ve experienced severe physical mental and emotional pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

“They counted on that when they said goodbye to Finnley, it would be filled with peace and love and joy, and he would be in Sally’s arms as he passed away,” Oldfather said.

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This is from the Fox channel in Louisville,KY. Louisville is the largest city in the state of KY and and covers some 8-12 counties in Southern Indiana.  I have reached out to the new desk at WDRB and the person I talked to was going to pass my name and phone to the reporter.  Click on the hyperlink below to see the 1+ minute piece on the 6PM news cast

https://www.wdrb.com/news/southern-indiana-pharmacies-struggling-to-fill-oxycodone-as-patients-fear-whats-next/article_8d68b0d8-27fa-11ee-a937-ff7e08b66f00.html

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — More than a dozen pharmacies in southern Indiana said this week they aren’t accepting new prescriptions for Oxycodone due to supply issues. Most said they don’t even have enough medication to fill the prescriptions that have already been written, an issue leaving patients scrambling and in pain.

The cause, pharmacists said, is unclear. Some outright said it isn’t a manufacturer issue but rather a problem with “doctors over-prescribing it”. Others said it’s not a shortage of Oxycodone itself, instead blaming the caps put in place to limit how many Oxycodone pills pharmacies can give out due to its addictive nature.

Deborah Wininger, who takes 11 medications per day after breaking her back and suffering disc and nerve damage, is running out of what she desperately needs.

“I can barely walk without pain medication,” Wininger, who lives in southern Indiana, said. “I’ve got a lot of reasons to hurt.”

Shortages of several prescription drugs are growing in the United States, and experts see no clear path to resolving them. For patients, that can mean treatment delays, medication switches and other hassles filling a prescription.

“I was really frustrated,” Wininger said. “This isn’t fair.”

In recent months, unexpected demand spikes, manufacturing problems and tight ingredient supplies have contributed to shortages that stress patients, parents and doctors. For some drugs, such as stimulants that treat ADHD, several factors fueled a shortage and make it hard to predict when it will end.

“I called about every pharmacy in southern Indiana, and nobody had (oxycodone),” Wininger said. “I started getting worried because I thought ‘This is gonna affect a lot of people.'”

Norton Pharmacy said it hasn’t experienced a shortage yet.

Shortages, particularly of generic drugs, have been a longstanding problem. The industry has consolidated and some manufacturers have little incentive to solve shortages because cheap generics generate thin profits.

Factories in China and India supply most of the raw materials used in American medicines. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, India restricted exports of 13 active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished drugs made from those chemicals, to protect its domestic drug supply.

And during the pandemic, prescriptions climbed as regulators started allowing doctors to prescribe the drug without first seeing a patient in person. For example, prescriptions for Adderall and its generic equivalents jumped 20% between February 2020 and the end of last year, according to IQVIA.

Wininger is still trying to make sure she’s covered, and she fears what’s next.

“If I can’t find it anywhere, I’m going to see withdrawals,” Wininger said. “I’m going to be really sick, and I’m going to be in a lot of pain.”

Once shortages develop, they can last years. And it can be tough for patients to get reliable information. University of Utah Health researcher Erin Fox said there is no legal requirement for drugmakers to update the public.

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Revolving Door: DEA’s No.2 quits amid reports of previous consulting work for Big Pharma

https://apnews.com/article/opioids-oxycontin-fentanyl-purdue-pharma-dea-72726613cd30be246905fe1f171c2ed8

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s second-in-command has quietly stepped down amid reporting by The Associated Press that he once consulted for a pharmaceutical distributor sanctioned for a deluge of suspicious painkiller shipments and did similar work for the drugmaker that became the face of the opioid epidemic: Purdue Pharma.

Louis Milione’s four years of consulting for Big Pharma preceded his 2021 return to the DEA to serve as Administrator Anne Milgram’s top deputy, renewing concerns in the agency and beyond about the revolving door between government and industry and its potential impact on the DEA’s mission to police drug companies blamed for tens of thousands of American overdose deaths.

“Working for Purdue Pharma should not help you get a higher job in government,” said Jeff Hauser, the executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a watchdog for corporate influence in the federal government. “Too much collegiality is a problem. It’s hard to view your past and potentially future colleagues as scofflaws. Any independent person would find this abhorrent.”

Milione initially left the DEA in 2017 after a 21-year career that included a two-year stint leading the division that controls the sale of highly addictive narcotics. Like dozens of colleagues in the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control, he went to work as a consultant for some of the same companies he had been tasked with regulating.

New reporting has found that during his time in the private sector, Milione also served as a $600-per-hour expert for Purdue Pharma as it fought legal challenges from Ohio to Oklahoma over its aggressive marketing of OxyContin and other highly addictive painkillers. Milione left the DEA again in late June just four days after AP sought comment from the Justice Department about his prior work for Purdue.

Milione said in a statement this week that he stepped down for personal reasons unrelated to AP’s reporting. Both he and the Justice Department said he recused himself at the DEA from all matters involving his private-sector work where there was even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Milione added that his consulting stint helped drug companies comply with DEA rules, just as his return to government gave the DEA insight into how business decisions are made in the real world.

“I care deeply about the DEA, its mission and the brave men and women that sacrifice so much to protect the American public,” he said.

But Milione never faced scrutiny from lawmakers over his consulting before taking the DEA’s No. 2 position because the DEA has for more than a decade not filled the job of deputy administrator that requires a presidential appointment and Senate confirmation. Instead, the DEA directly hired Milione to fill a career position with essentially the same duties but a slightly different title – “principal deputy administrator” – that requires no such oversight.

“DEA has demonstrated a willingness to take painstaking measures to avoid the Senate’s watchful eye – including by potentially using a technicality to shirk Senate confirmation of a key agency decision maker,” said U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Avoiding congressional oversight is a tired game the DEA can’t stop playing. It begs the question: What else is the DEA trying to hide?”

John Coleman, who was head of operations for the DEA in the 1990s, said the Biden administration likely never nominated Milione to serve as deputy administrator, despite his many qualifications, because his conflicts would have surely raised questions.

“Someone at the agency had to be aware of the implications of bringing someone back who was employed in the industry regulated by the agency,” Coleman said. “It was an obvious and classic conflict.”

The DEA didn’t respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department told the AP that Milione disclosed his potential conflicts when he returned to the DEA and that the principal deputy administrator’s position was created before Milgram’s tenure. It said the process for filling the confirmed deputy administrator position is ongoing and referred further questions to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment.

The DEA made no announcement of Milione’s most recent retirement but removed his bio from the agency’s website over the July 4 holiday and replaced it with that of his successor, career DEA official George Papadopoulos. But in an internal email to staff, Milgram hailed the 60-year-old Milione as a “DEA legend” best known for leading the overseas sting that in 2008 nabbed Russia’s notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

“I was thrilled that he agreed to come back home to DEA,” she wrote in a June 26 email obtained by AP. “Lou has used his skills as a master case maker to help us bring cases against entire criminal networks and to investigate the entire globally fentanyl supply chain.”

Milione’s exit adds to the turmoil at the top of the DEA following a number of other high-level departures, misconduct scandals and the launch of federal watchdog investigation into millions in no-bid contracts awarded to past associates of Milgram.

Mostly Republican members of Congress grilled Milgram during a routine budget request in April, and the administrator also is expected to testify later this month in a House oversight hearing looking into the DEA’s operations and effectiveness combating the flood of fentanyl into the U.S. from Mexico.

Since Milgram took the reins of the DEA two years ago, she has cycled through almost three dozen senior aides, many of them veteran agents who were pushed out or quit due to differences with Milgram. That includes the heads of all of the DEA’s principal divisions as well as the DEA’s chief counsel, its congressional affairs liaison and the top agent in Mexico.

Milgram’s defenders say that house cleaning is part of an agency-wide reset to combat the fentanyl crisis. She’s also exhibited a zero tolerance for racism and sexism that has festered inside the old-boy network that has long shaped personnel decisions inside the DEA.

“Change is hard and some people don’t like it,” Chuck Rosenberg, a former DEA administrator, told AP this spring. “Time will tell whether she was right or wrong, but my money is on Anne.”

Most of Milione’s consulting work was done as a senior managing director of Guidepost Solutions, a private investigative firm based in New York. Under his watch, Guidepost expanded its DEA compliance practice, which now includes nine former DEA employees.

Guidepost declined to comment. Purdue said in a statement that its retention of Milione as an expert on DEA compliance issues ended when the Connecticut-based company filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2019. “To the best of our knowledge, no one at Purdue had any business communications with Mr. Milione after he returned to government,” it said.

For Purdue, which has twice pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for its role in fueling the opioid crisis and last year reached a $6 billion nationwide settlement aimed at staunching a flood of lawsuits from states, Milione produced a 16-page expert report in 2019 that was never introduced into evidence. That report, obtained by the AP, praises Purdue’s efforts going back to 2000 to track the illegal sale of opioids by rogue pharmacies and “pill mill” doctors.

“These are the kinds of programs DEA encourages and supports manufacturers in undertaking,” Milione wrote, “as it considers them a valuable part of diversion control efforts.”

Former DEA official Coleman questioned why Milgram chose Milione as her No. 2 despite his corporate entanglements and whether it was ever realistic for him to be walled off from many of the position’s leadership functions.

“There’s no way to isolate that person from the day-to-day business of the agency, which includes regulating companies that make and distribute controlled substances,” said Coleman, who is now president of Drug Watch International, a not-for-profit that seeks to reduce drug abuse. “I don’t see how that’s possible.”

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This could prove to be interesting. It has been reported that the PBM industry will extract a discount/rebate/kickback of up to 75% of AWP (Average Wholesale Price) to put a pharma med on the PBM’s approved formulary – NO PRIOR AUTHORIZATION NEEDED. I suspect that the price that the FEDS are demanding will not change AWP… and the pharma has an agreement with the PBM industry that the agreed upon rebate/kickback/discount is based on AWP and not the FED’S SO CALLED negotiated price. In the end, the pharma could end up getting less $$$ per bottle than it cost the pharma to make the med.

Johnson & Johnson sues Biden administration over Medicare drug price negotiations

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/18/jj-sues-biden-administration-over-medicare-drug-negotiations.html

on Tuesday sued the Biden administration over Medicare’s new powers to slash drug prices, making it the third pharmaceutical company to challenge the controversial provision of the Inflation Reduction Act.  

The lawsuit filed in federal district court in New Jersey argues the Medicare negotiations violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Earlier suits brought separately by drugmakers Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s largest lobbying group, made similar arguments.

J&J’s complaint asks a judge to block the U.S. Health and Human Services Department from compelling the drugmaker to participate in the program.

The company said its suit aims to stop the “innovation-damaging congressional overreach that threatens the United States’ primacy in developing transformative therapies and in patients’ access to those treatments.”

President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022 by a narrow party-line vote, empowered Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time in the program’s six-decade history. 

The provision aims to make drugs more affordable for older Americans but will likely reduce pharmaceutical industry profits. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will publish a list of which drugs were selected for a first cycle of negotiations on Sept. 1, with prices taking effect in 2026. The companies that make those drugs face an October deadline to sign agreements to participate in those negotiations.

J&J said its patented drug Xarelto, which treats blood clots and reduces the risk of stroke, will be subject to price negotiations in 2023 because it is among the 10 most widely reimbursed drugs for Medicare Part D patients.

J&J argues that Medicare negotiations “inflict an uncompensated physical taking” of the company’s drug and essentially force J&J to provide access to Xarelto on terms set by the government that the company “would never voluntarily” agree to.

The company claims this violates Fifth Amendment protections against the government seizing private property without just compensation.

J&J last year booked $2.47 billion in revenue from Xarelto.

J&J also argues that the new provision forces the company to agree that the federal government is negotiating fair drug prices. That compels J&J to make “false and misleading statements” in violation of the First Amendment, according to the complaint.

The company believes the provision doesn’t involve true negotiations since the government “unilaterally dictates” drug prices. 

Real negotiation involves finding a way for both parties to freely agree on terms, J&J said.

“While the Government may choose to deceptively describe the Program as involving an ‘agreement’ to ‘negotiate’ a ‘fair’ price, it cannot force manufacturers to echo its misleading messaging,” J&J said in the complaint. 

HHS said in a statement it will “vigorously defend the President’s drug price negotiation law, which is already helping to lower health care costs for seniors and people with disabilities.”

“The law is on our side,” the agency added, reiterating previous remarks made by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

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My, how times have changed at the “Pharmacy America Trusts” ?  Walgreen states that they are “invested in your safety and wellness”, but we are refusing to fill the controlled meds that your prescriber has deemed are medically necessary for treating your specific health issues.  This IN NO WAY IMPACTS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH WALGREENS and WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE. On Walgreens you can find any medicine you need like for example if you are having prostate problems  and you are looking for a medicine like prostadine you can go there and I’m pretty sure you will find them.

So one of the basic functions of the practice of medicine is the starting, changing, stopping a pt’s therapy. So if this pt can’t find another pharmacy to fill her controlled med Rxs… could Walgreen be considered the genesis of this pt’s medications being stopped ? They clearly state in the letter that the pharmacists at her local Walgreens had no involvement with this decision, which would imply that it was done by someone or some computer algorithm at Walgreen’s corporate HQ.  NOTHING PERSONAL !

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I have not seen anything that would suggest that the controlled meds allocated to this drug wholesaler – 4th largest in the country.. will be divided among the existing drug wholesalers across our country, or will what has been allocated to them JUST DISAPPEAR ?

But here is a settlement between 50 state AG’s and others that got the THREE LARGEST WHOLESALERS to agree to reduce the number of controls that they sell to ALL PHARMACIES.

Here is the SMOKING GUN to prove civil rights violations – could support a class action lawsuit – but the community needs to stand up

So now the DOJ/DEA & our judicial system has got three largest drug wholesalers to sell less controls to all pharmacies and may be cutting the controls that were being sold by the 4th largest drug wholesaler. I just wonder how many of these pharmacies that are going to find themselves without access to their normal purchases of controls are long term nursing home providers?

Morris & Dickson’s Controlled Substance License Revoked

https://www.policymed.com/2023/07/morris-dicksons-controlled-substance-license-revoked.html

Recently, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that, barring a settlement, it will revoke Morris & Dickson’s license to sell and ship opioid medications and other controlled substances as of August 28, 2023. In the decision and order published in the Federal Register on May 30, 2023, the DEA affirmed a 2019 Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ’s) decision to revoke DEA registrations held by Morris & Dickson, the United States’ fourth largest wholesale drug distributor.

Background

Morris & Dickson was accused of failing to accept responsibility for its prior actions, including shipping 12,000 unusually large orders of opioids to pharmacies and hospitals from 2014 to 2018. The DEA notes that Morris & Dickson received purchases from “high-volume independent pharmacies” in Louisiana that were “purchasing quantities which were not indicative of the pharmaceutical market” and some were purchasing more Oxycodone and Hydrocodone than the larger chain pharmacies – sometimes more than 10 times the amount of narcotics the average Louisiana pharmacy purchased per month. Despite the large number of unusual orders, the company only filed three suspicious order reports with the DEA during that time frame, an indication that the company did not have a suspicious order monitoring system in place. Additionally, the company failed to maintain effective controls against diversion of drugs by distributing controlled substances without performing adequate customer due diligence.

On May 4, 2018, the DEA announced an Immediate Suspension Order on Morris & Dickson, immediately suspending the DEA Certificate of Registration issued to the company as the DEA felt that “the continued registration of this company constitutes a substantial likelihood of imminent danger to public health and safety.”

Morris & Dickson appealed that decision, and an administrative hearing was held on the matter in May 2019. After that administrative hearing, that suspension was recommended to become a revocation by ALJ Charles W. Dorman in November 2019. According to the Associated Press, the 2019 ALJ decision noted that while Morris & Dickson may have made some revisions to their procedures, anything less than revocation of the license “would communicate to DEA registrants that despite their transgressions, no matter how egregious, they will get a mere slap on the wrist and a second chance so long as they acknowledge their sins and vow to sin no more.” The judge went on to note that “allowing [Morris & Dickson] to keep its registration would tell distributors that it is acceptable to take a relaxed approach to DEA regulations until they are caught, at which point they only need to throw millions of dollars at the problem to make the DEA go away.”

However, instead of issuing a decision and order shortly after the ALJ decision, the DEA took several years. During that time, Morris & Dickson was still able to distribute controlled substances, despite the strong words in the ALJ’s decision – and the DEA’s strong words in the final decision and order. The decision and order took “longer than typical for the agency” in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken by the company.

Complicating matters – and frustrating some – was an Associated Press investigation that found that a top DEA official previously served as a consultant for Morris & Dickson as part of the company’s attempt to avoid revocation or other punishment. The DEA says after the individual returned to work for the DEA, they were recused from any participation in the Morris & Dickson matter.

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Kaiser Permanente  Whistleblower Reveals that the story was fabricated.

The person who published this came out on Twitter,  who claims that he has FOUR DIFFERENT TWITTER ID’s and also penned this article under an assumed name ( George Bailey).  On Twitter, his tweets seem to follow a pattern one would expect from a TROLL or a SPAMMER. So I have taken this article down…

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If a person is stable on long term low-dose opioid therapy AND shows no signs of addiction, abuse or serious side effects: 1. WHY have Medical Authorities chosen to taper chronic pain patients from their mobility-restoring opioids, without supports in place? 2. WHY are chronic pain patients being advised they will experience “no long-term side effects from tapering”, yet many suffer from a life-changing condition known as Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome? 3. WHY have demonstrably flawed and “one-size-fits-all” Guidelines for Deprescribing Opioid Analgesics been released in Australia on 26-5-23?

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