Several medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed against an Iowa doctor who helped run a pain management clinic in Des Moines. The lawsuits allege that the doctor prescribed large amounts of narcotic painkillers to patients who overdosed.
The Des Moines Register has reported that the family of a 39-year-old man who died a year ago of an oxycodone overdose has filed the fifth malpractice lawsuit against this doctor. The complaint alleges that the doctor was “grossly negligent” when he prescribed the highly addictive narcotic without properly assessing the victim’s medical needs or tracking his narcotic use through a drug monitoring system. This victim’s obituary said his survivors included both an 11 and 12-year-old child.
The doctor has denied the allegations but claims that the victim saw other medical providers both before and after his interaction with him.
The families of three other patients who died of overdoses have filed lawsuits against this doctor, as well as a patient who said the doctor botched the insertion of a pain-medicine pump. One of the wrongful death lawsuits has been settled for an undisclosed sum.
The Register also reported that prosecutors cited the death of eight patients, when criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter were filed against the doctor. Prosecutors claim that this doctor prescribed large amounts of painkillers to patients, which resulted in several overdoses. Included in the eight victims, a bassist and co-founder of a heavy metal band died from an overdose of prescribed narcotics.
The Iowa Board of Medicine, which licenses physicians, has also filed administrative charges against the doctor, alleging that he failed to take precautions against the abuse of the narcotics.
Although the doctor has denied all wrongdoing, he has agreed not to practice medicine while the criminal case is being heard, according to the Register. In return, the medical board agreed to put this case on hold.
Do you think that the doctor who prescribed the narcotics is negligent? Feel free to comment on this blog post. Contact one of our Gacovino Lake attorneys at 1-800-246-HURT (4878).
