By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Pain patients and their supporters are planning to rally Wednesday at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, a protest against Dr. Andrew Kolodny, a senior scientist at Brandeis who co-directs opioid research at the Heller School for Policy and Management.

Kolodny is the founder and Executive Director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP), an influential anti-opioid activist group that has led efforts to reduce opioid prescribing in the U.S. Many patients blame PROP for their poorly treated or untreated pain, as well as increased suicides in the pain community. The so-called “Killer Kolodny Rally” is being organized by Claudia Merandi of the Don’t Punish Pain rally organization.

“If we in the pain community want to make changes, we have a lot of work to do. We have been damaged severely. And Kolodny’s largely responsible,” says Dr. Arnold Feldman, a retired anesthesiologist who is working with Merandi to raise money for a possible class action lawsuit against Kolodny,

As PNN first reported, Kolodny and PROP played influential roles in drafting the CDC’s controversial 2016 opioid prescribing guideline. Kolodny is also a well-paid expert witness in opioid litigation cases.

“Kolodny is enriching himself to a very large degree,” Feldman told PNN. “Every day I am finding weblike connections between Kolodny and pharmaceutical manufacturers.”

Feldman and some patient advocates have claimed — without offering any proof — that Kolodny has benefited financially from promoting addiction treatment drugs like Suboxone.

The allegation led Kolodny to ask for and receive a letter from Indivior, Suboxone’s manufacturer, stating that he does not have a financial interest in the company and has received no payments from it as a consultant, speaker or in any other capacity.    

Nevertheless, Feldman claims that he has evidence of Kolodny’s culpability and will be able to uncover more once a class action lawsuit is filed.  He and Merandi have not been able to find a law firm willing to take the case.

“I’ve got lots of evidence. I’m not going to put it out in public because we’re going to need this in our case,” Feldman said. “Unfortunately, I’m not a stranger to lawyers.”

Medical License Suspended

Feldman has indeed fought and lost a number of legal battles, including an unsuccessful effort to get his medical license back after it was suspended in 2016 by Louisiana’s Board of Medical Examiners. The disciplinary action came after a patient died three years earlier while getting an epidural steroid injection at Feldman’s surgery clinic in Baton Rouge.

Feldman was charged with seven counts of negligence and unprofessional conduct, such as allowing an unlicensed and unsupervised employee to insert an IV into the patient and give him medication. The patient went into cardiac arrest during the procedure and Feldman was unable to revive him. 

“I had a patient who passed away. Not from anything I did. He had a cardiomyopathy and passed away. They tried to get me for that. But they couldn’t because the autopsy said he died from natural causes,” Feldman told PNN.

The state medical board felt otherwise and accused Feldman of a coverup, saying he gave investigators a “quite staggering” amount of false records and testimony about what happened.

“Dr. Feldman failed to adequately monitor the patient, exercised poor management or care of the patient after complications arose, and all of his resuscitation attempts were contributing factors to the patient’s death,” the board said in its ruling.

Feldman’s clinic had previously been cited in 2010, 2011 and 2013 for not following safety standards, putting patients in “immediate jeopardy” of injury and death.

Investigators also said Feldman allowed his employees to forge his signature and sign opioid prescriptions, and that he gave pre-signed prescriptions to patients without seeing them.

Feldman says he was denied due process by the medical board and appealed his suspension twice in court, but it was upheld both times.

Because of the disciplinary action in Louisiana, Feldman’s medical licenses were also suspended in California, Alabama and Mississippi. Feldman had previously been reprimanded and put on probation by Mississippi’s medical board in 2000 after he “violated numerous laws and regulations” involving the prescribing, dispensing and administration of controlled substances.

In 2017, the Drug Enforcement Administration effectively ended Feldman’s career by revoking his DEA license to prescribe opioids and other controlled substances.   

No longer able to practice medicine, Feldman lost his home, car and clinic, and for a time lived in a motor-home, according to testimony he gave at a legislative hearing. He now lives in Florida. Feldman says he could have his medical license reinstated in Louisiana, but it would cost $460,000 that he doesn’t have.

‘I Know Pain Management Better Than Anyone’

Although he hasn’t practiced medicine in years, Feldman still considers himself an expert in pain management because he “learned skills that nobody else had.”

“I know this business, meaning pain management, better than anyone living. I’m a surgeon. I’ve done disc surgery. I’ve done pain pumps, (spinal cord) stimulators, and 100-thousand nerve blocks. I know what’s going on,” he said. “Most of these pain conditions are incurable, and I’ll tell you what, half of them are created by the medical profession.”

Since his forced retirement, Feldman has become something of a gadfly in the pain and legal communities, joining with another doctor whose medical license was revoked in filing a $28,000 trillion lawsuit against the Federation of State Medical Boards, the American Medical Association and other entities.

Feldman and Merandi have established a non-profit called The Doctor Patient Forum to advocate for doctors in legal jeopardy and pain patients who can’t get proper treatment. “He is brilliant. We work well together,” says Merandi.

The two have raised nearly $12,000 for the lawsuit against Kolodny, with most of the money coming in small donations from pain patients who know little or nothing about Feldman or how the money will be spent. 

“It’s in a bank account. I don’t touch it. I haven’t taken a dime. Nor will I ever. When we have enough money and find a law firm, that’s where the money will go,” he promised. 

“The only way to bring awareness to this is with litigation,” Merandi said in a recent radio interview. “We believe we have to bring Andrew Kolodny before a court of law. We have to bring the others before a court of law. We need an investigation done and that costs money.”

Legal experts say attorneys in class action lawsuits are typically not paid for their services and expenses unless they prevail in court. All payments have to be approved by a judge, with the money coming from the award or settlement — not the plaintiffs. Legitimate attorneys will not ask for upfront money in a class action case, according to consumer advocate Ron Burley.