According to recent medical reports, a jury in Maine has awarded a Portland woman $244,000 in damages from a methadone clinic that she claims repeatedly gave her high doses of methadone. Reports detail that the woman filed a civil lawsuit against a doctor for allegedly giving her "her high doses of methadone although she had overdosed several times and other doctors had warned the clinic to lower her prescription." According to various sources, Methadone is a "synthetic drug that's prescribed to wean addicts off heroin, OxyContin, Dilaudid and other opiates."
As a result of the medical malpractice case, a jury found that the doctor was at fault for the woman's overdoses. However, the jury also found that the woman was also at fault but the doctor's negligence outweighed the woman's. "The woman was being treated with methadone in 2001 and 2002 for her addiction to painkillers, which she had taken during years of cancer treatment." This civil trial case began on January 31st and the jury in the medical malpractice case returned the verdict on Tuesday afternoon last week after about three hours of deliberations. "The jury found that both Keefe and Pratt were at fault for Pratt's overdoses, two car crashes and multiple hospital visits from October 2001 to June 2002."
Following the woman's last overdose, she was entered into the Mercy Recovery Center for detox of methadone.
Source: Portland Press "Jury finds doctor at fault for methadone overdoses" 2/10/2011
