By The Book

Say No To Drugs

It is not news that another person has died from a prescription drug overdose. What is news is the fact that the family is crying fowl and seeking a wrongful death lawsuit against the prescribing doctor.

The attorney for the doctor claims that the doctor did everything “by the book”. Perhaps this is the case, but is time to rewrite “the book”. Freely prescribing Oxycodone and Xanax, may be lawful, but is not always ethical. It is good to see that this family is getting the law involved, even if it is civil.

Perhaps it will prompt some of these feel good doctors to at least prescribe effective addiction treatment when they have created an addicted monster.

“A Fort Lauderdale doctor who advertises as both a pain and addiction specialist is facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of a former patient who allegedly became addicted to drugs while under the doctor’s care before committing suicide.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 22 in Broward County Circuit Court, says Dr. Michael Lazzopina turned Benjamin Eiseman into a drug addict through a regular regimen of addictive painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs between 2005 and July 2008, when the 30-year-old Coral Springs electrician killed himself with an overdose of pills prescribed from the pain clinic where Lazzopina works.
Lazzopina first treated Eiseman for back pain, and prescribed the painkiller oxycodone months before receiving MRI results confirming an injury, the suit says. The suit also says Lazzopina failed to reduce the oxycodone dosage after Eiseman’s back ailment improved, and “never referred Benjamin Eiseman to a drug addiction specialist.””
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