MEDIA – In litigation from a Delaware County woman against her former doctor, a pharmacist and their pharmacy – which alleged their reckless negligence of prescribing large amounts of opioid medication led to the death of her husband – plaintiff counsel is seeking documents which detail the volume of opioids prescribed to customers over a five-year period.
Patricia Foster (individually and as administrator ad prosequendom of the Estate of Michael A. Yacovone, deceased) of Blackwood, N.J. first filed suit in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on March 26 versus Patricia L. Sutton, D.O. of Upper Chichester, Chimdimma Ilonzo, PharmD and Springfield Pharmaceuticals, LLC (doing business as “Springfield Pharmacy”) of Springfield Township, and John/Jane Does 1-3.
“Michael A. Yacovone became a patient of Dr. Sutton in approximately 2001 at her family medicine practice. In 2006, Mr. Yacovone was in an automobile accident sustaining a minor back injury, and for the next 11 years and until she was stripped of her licenses, Dr. Sutton engaged in an outrageous and reckless course of prescribing extreme amounts, dosages and combinations of Schedule II and Schedule IV Controlled Dangerous Substances, inflicting Mr. Yacovone with addiction that he was unable to overcome,” the suit stated.
“Defendant Dr. Sutton was required to perform the necessary risk assessment and screening prior to the prescribing of Schedule II Controlled Dangerous Substances and Schedule IV Controlled Dangerous Substances, which Dr. Sutton failed to perform. Defendant Dr. Sutton was required to formulate actual and specific medical diagnoses for Michael Yacovone’s medical conditions to objectively ascertain any source of pain prior to the prescribing of multiple amounts and doses of Schedule II and Schedule IV Controlled Dangerous Substances which Dr. Sutton repeatedly failed to do.”
Rather than formulate a treatment plan, the suit accused Sutton of “outrageous and reckless prescribing” on a monthly basis in the form of repeated issuance of prescriptions from 2006-2010 for pure fentanyl medications, Actiq and Fentora, medications approved only for patients suffering from breakthrough cancer pain due to malignant cancer.
While prescribing Actiq and Fentora to Michael Yacovone, Dr. Sutton also concurrently prescribed thousands of pills of Oxycontin, Xanax and Soma, what the suit refers to as “extremely dangerous and addictive Controlled Dangerous Substances.”
The decedent paid Sutton in cash rather than through health insurance, the suit alleged, so that her reckless prescribing would be undetected. Furthermore, the suit said that Sutton’s co-defendants also disregarded the law and care for the decedent by filling Sutton’s dangerous prescriptions from at least 2012 through the middle of 2017, when Sutton’s license to write prescriptions for Controlled Substances was revoked.
When Sutton lost her license in May of 2017, the suit said Michael Yacovone was already completely addicted to opioids and benzodiazepines.
“From 2017 through June of 2019, Michael Yacovone, battled against the addiction caused by defendants and he was admitted to drug treatment facilities on four separate occasions for weeks at a time. As a matter of fact, Dr. Sutton is identified in the drug treatment facility records by Mr. Yacovone as the doctor that caused him to become addicted to opioids and benzodiazepines,” per the suit.
“Michael Yacovone’s last admission for opioid and benzodiazepine addiction was from May 18, 2019 through June 1, 2019. On Sept. 6, 2019, Michael A. Yacovone succumbed to the addiction caused by defendants and died due to an accidental overdose from opioids.”
In addition to the plaintiff, Michael Yacovone is survived by their three children.
UPDATE
On Nov. 18, plaintiff counsel filed a motion to compel the defendants to provide documents and responses to key discovery information, both of which had been requested on two prior occasions. Specifically, the following materials:
• All letters, emails, search warrants and all documents that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) sent or served pertaining to the volume of controlled substances the defendants were dispensing to pharmacy customers during years 2013-2018;
• All documents regarding the scheduling of the defendants’ interview with the DEA and their interview with the DEA regarding the high volume of opioids they were dispensing to pharmacy customers during years 2013-2018;
• Provide all warning letters and other documents sent by the DEA regarding the volume of controlled substances the defendants were dispensing to pharmacy customers covering years 2013-2018;
• The Pharmaserv Patient Maintenance data and Patient Summary data for Michael Yacavone;
• Provide the Pharmaserv Clinical Information for Michael Yacovone, including patient medical conditions, patient insurance coverage information, counseling preferences and notes, and all patient notes for Michael Yacovone and into the Pharmaserv pharmacy management software system;
• Provide a copy of the Pharmaserv Patient Summary window/data field for Michael Yacovone and the Pharmaserv Prescriber database for Patricia Sutton, D.O., including all notes about Dr. Sutton contained in the Pharmaserv software database.
For counts of survival, wrongful death and negligence/recklessness, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of $50,000 and in excess of the prevailing arbitration limits under the Wrongful Death and Survival Act, exclusive of pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest, together with costs, punitive damages, interest, attorney’s fees and such other relief as permitted by law, and as the Court may deem appropriate under the circumstances.
The plaintiff is represented by Richard J. Hollawell of Richard J. Hollawell & Associates, LLC, in Woolwich Township, N.J.
The defendants are represented by Michael E. McGilvery and Denise L. Juliana of McGilvery & Juliana in King of Prussia, plus William J. Mundy, Peter A. Callahan and Amelia E. Curotto of Burns White, in West Conshohocken.
Delaware County Court of Common Pleas case CV-2021-003064
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com