Memphis Looks to Join the Fight Against Opioid Addiction, with the help of Attorney Thomas Greer

There is no doubt that opioid addiction is a clear and present danger. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that more than 30,000 people died in 2015 as a result of opioid overdoses – and more than half of those deaths were from prescription drugs.

The problem is especially bad here in Tennessee. As partner Thomas Greer explained in a piece for The Commercial Appeal, “Tennessee Department of Health statistics show that 7.8 million opioid prescriptions were written in 2015, a year when 1,451 Tennesseans died of drug overdoses. About 72 percent of those overdose deaths were opioid-related.” In that piece, Mr. Greer made a passionate plea for Tennessee to join the ranks of Ohio, New York, Mississippi, California and additional municipalities and cities around the country, in holding the pharmaceutical companies accountable for their role in the opioid crisis.

We are proud to report that the city of Memphis has taken notice. News Channel 3 reports that “Memphis could be the next city to sue the pharmaceutical industry over costs related to the opioid epidemic,” and that the city would “consider joining Shelby County in a joint lawsuit.” The city council spoke with Mr. Greer and attorney Michael Working about what it would take to launch a successful action against the pharmaceutical companies.

You can watch the video here.

The time has come to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable

One of the most common questions we hear is, “Why the pharmaceutical companies? Why not the prescribing doctors?”

The truth is, doctors around the country were told that opioid-based painkillers were safe for patients. They were told not to worry about addictive qualities. As Mr. Greer told News Channel 3, “There was a clear, aggressive campaign to mislead doctors into prescribing opioids for chronic pain, and they told doctors it wasn’t addictive.”

The pharmaceutical companies also changed the narrative about pain management. This is how Quartz explains it:

“In the first five years that OxyContin was on the market, [manufacturer] Purdue Frederick… conducted over forty national pain management and speaker training conferences…. [I]n record time, ordinary musculoskeletal pain, long understood to be a normal part of life, was recast as an enemy to be battled and subdued.

For decades, physicians had recognized that opioids were highly addictive drugs, and that to prescribe them to any patients other than those who suffered from terminal cancer was illegal. But with Oxy, the tide had turned: suddenly, physicians who allowed patients to ‘suffer needlessly’ from back pain were labeled as lacking in compassion. For general practitioners, who found themselves with ’failed’ back surgery patients entrusted to their care, OxyContin offered an answer to their prayers.

Purdue marketed the drug aggressively, producing videotapes narrated by a distinguished physician-spokesman that were distributed among 15,000 doctors across the US.”

This is why Memphis must stand up to Big Pharma and demand accountability for the role these companies played in the untimely deaths of tens of thousands of people. We are proud of Thomas Greer for joining in that fight.

Bailey & Greer, PLLC, is a premier personal injury law firm serving clients throughout Tennessee. To make an appointment with a member of our team or to work with an experienced lawyer in Memphis or Jackson, please call 901-680-9777 or complete our contact form.