Lawyers: ‘We Have Nothing To Do’ With Fundraiser for Kolodny Lawsuit

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

The attorneys who filed lawsuits against three pharmacy chains for allegedly discriminating against pain patients are disavowing any connection with efforts to raise money for a proposed lawsuit against Dr. Andrew Kolodny, a prominent anti-opioid activist.

Dr. Arnold Feldman, a retired anesthesiologist, has a GoFundMe campaign underway to raise $100,000 for a class action lawsuit targeting Kolodny, the founder and Executive Director of Physicians for Responsible Prescribing (PROP). Feldman calls Kolodny an “anti-opioid zealot” who has harmed pain patients through his advocacy against opioid prescribing.

“To be clear, we have no involvement in or with any fundraising efforts by Dr. Feldman or others who may be associated with him or a possible lawsuit against Dr. Kolodny,” attorney Robert Redfearn, Jr. said in a statement to PNN. “Our focus and involvement is on and in the two national class action lawsuits that we filed in Rhode Island and California, through which we hope to bring some relief to pain patients.  Further, we have not received or accepted any funds from Dr. Feldman or others who may be associated with him.”

Feldman and his associate, Claudia Merandi, have claimed they were instrumental in filing the lawsuits against CVS, Walgreens and Costco on behalf of two pain patients. Merandi is one of the founders of the Don’t Punish Pain rally organization.

“BIG NEWS FOR PAIN COMMUNITY: We have filed class action lawsuit against CVS/WALGREENS for DENYING to fill opioid scripts. This will set a precedent as to why you DON'T PUNISH PAIN,” Merandi posted on Twitter when the lawsuits were filed in August.

“Dr. Feldman was successful in bringing a class action lawsuit against Walgreens and CVS to fruition and he will do the same for the Kolodny lawsuit,” Merandi posted to her followers on Facebook, sharing a link to the GoFundMe campaign.

“Fact: There's only a lawsuit filed against CVS and Walgreens because of Dr Feldman,” Merandi wrote in yet another tweet.

‘We Are Litigating This on Our Own’

But the lawyers who actually filed the lawsuits say Feldman and Merandi had nothing to do with their litigation, other than providing encouragement.

“In terms of their involvement, there is none. We are litigating this on our own,” said attorney Scott Hirsch. “We obviously don’t agree with Claudia’s stance that this is her lawsuit. It’s not. We’re representing the plaintiffs and the chronic pain community.”

Hirsch began working with Edith Fuog on her lawsuit against CVS in 2018, long before Merandi and Feldman were even aware of the case. He has been working without pay, which is usually the case in class action lawsuits. Attorneys are typically not paid until damages are awarded.

“We have nothing to do with any sort of fundraising that Claudia Merandi and Dr. Feldman are doing in terms of this lawsuit. There’s no fundraising that we’re doing or they’re doing for us or this Kolodny lawsuit. We have nothing to do with that. We’re not even interested in it, to be quite frank,” Hirsch said.

Hirsch, Redfearn and four other law firms are involved in the pharmacy lawsuits, which they hope will get class action status. If successful, the suits could potentially result in millions of dollars in damages being awarded to pain patients who were unable to get their opioid prescriptions filled.

“All these people came together and brought this lawsuit. It wasn’t just Dr. Feldman, he wasn’t the savior for us all. And that’s my issue. It’s not 100 percent truthful in her (Merandi’s) statement. There’s a lot missing,” Fuog told PNN. “I don’t know anything about what they’re doing with Dr. Kolodny. I don’t know who they are hiring. I don’t know where the funds are sitting until they hire a law firm. I don’t know the basis for the lawsuit that they want to file.”

So many misleading claims have been made that the six law firms representing Fuog and Susan Smith, who filed suit against Walgreens and Costco, have posted a disclaimer on their website disavowing any association with the GoFundMe campaign and Don’t Punish Pain.

“These groups on the internet, such as Don’t Punish Pain, have posted information about our lawsuits on their websites, Facebook, Instagram and other social media. This content is not affiliated with the lawsuits or our effort on behalf of chronic pain patients.

Please understand no organization except the affiliated lawyers and law firms handling these National Class Action Lawsuits are authorized to speak for us or make any financial or informational request on our behalf. In other words, please be advised that all other individuals or groups are NOT authorized to speak on behalf of us or the named plaintiffs in the lawsuits, NOT involved in the handling or prosecuting of the lawsuits, and NOT authorized to raise money to cover expenses associated with the lawsuits.”

Asked to clarify what role he played in the lawsuits, Feldman told PNN he “sounded the alarm” and alerted lawyers to what was happening to pain patients. He said his wife is among those who’ve had trouble getting their opioid prescriptions filled.

“I knew some lawyers and I said, ‘Guys, this is a problem. What do you think?’ And I harangued them and harassed them and called them and screamed at them,” Feldman explained.  “But I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t write the complaint. I didn’t file the complaint.

“I had nothing to do with this litigation. Nothing. Neither does Claudia. Other than the fact that we said we’re happy this has happened. That’s the extent of it.”

Merandi says she exchanged emails and participated in Zoom calls with the lawyers. And she continues to insist that Don’t Punish Pain was the driving force behind getting the CVS lawsuit filed in her home state of Rhode Island.

“This lawsuit was born out of the Don’t Punish Pain organization,” she claimed in a Facebook video feed, not mentioning that the lawsuit was filed in Rhode Island because CVS corporate headquarters is located there.

To date, nearly $12,000 has been donated to the GoFundMe campaign, with most of the money coming from hundreds of small donors, many of them pain patients.

Feldman says he and Merandi have had discussions with several lawyers, but so far no one has been willing to take the case against Kolodny.

“I had nothing to do with this litigation. Nothing. Neither does Claudia. Other than the fact that we said we’re happy this has happened. That’s the extent of it.”

— Dr. Arnold Feldman

“No, we haven’t found a lawyer yet,” he said. “But we’re going to find somebody. We’re talking about billions of dollars in litigation.”

“We want to raise a lot of money to pay these lawyers. Lawyers need to get paid and that’s why this GoFundMe is important,” Merandi said while promoting the fundraiser in a recent radio interview. “We need an investigation done and that costs money.”

Until a law firm is found, Feldman says the donated funds will remain untouched in a bank account. “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 said.

Asked what would happen if no lawyer take the case, Feldman said the donated funds would be returned to donors. 

“It’ll be a pain in the ass, but of course. I’m not going to buy a BMW with it, I’ll tell you that much. I’m honest as the day is long. I would starve before I took that money,” Feldman said.

Lawyers May Not Expand Lawsuits Against Pharmacy Chains

By Pat Anson, Editor, PNN Editor

Lawyers involved in class action lawsuits that allege pain patients were discriminated against by three major pharmacy chains are being tight-lipped about whether the lawsuits may be expanded to include additional plaintiffs and pharmacies.

The lawsuits were filed earlier this month in California and Rhode Island against CVS, Walgreens and Costco on behalf of two women who say the pharmacies refused to fill their prescriptions for opioid pain medication.

At least six different law firms around the country are handling the cases. They’ve set up a website called Seeking Justice for Pain Patients, which invites other patients to participate in the lawsuits by sharing their personal information and experiences at pharmacies. It’s not yet clear how the information will be used or if the cases will be expanded.

“Pain patients have been contacting us in response to the lawsuits. The overall response has been very positive and happy that some action is being taken,” Robert Redfearn, a Louisiana attorney, said in an email to PNN. “Though there are no plans to do so at this time, additional individual named plaintiffs could possibly be added, but if a national class is certified, it should not be necessary.” 

Other lawyers involved in the lawsuits did not respond to requests for comment.

Redfearn represents Susan Smith, a 43-year old mother from Castro Valley, California who lives with severe chronic migraines. The only medications that give her relief from head pain are opioids. Smith says pharmacists at Walgreens and Costco refused to fill her opioid prescriptions and publicly shamed her.

“After being harassed by pharmacists [and] pharmacy staff for a number of years — being laughed at, being called names in front of my child — I really couldn’t take it anymore,” Smith told the San Francisco Examiner. “It has been really stressful, demoralizing, not to mention discriminating. On top of that, they were making it really hard for me to live a pain-free life.”

‘Find a New Pharmacy’

“There has to be a change,” says Edith Fuog, a 48-year old Tampa, Florida mother who filed the lawsuit against CVS. Fuog has lived for many years with trigeminal neuralgia, lupus, arthritis and other chronic pain conditions.

“People need to understand what is happening. Everybody in their life is going to be a pain patient at one point or another, whether it’s an accident, becoming elderly, a disease or cancer. If this is happening to people who have chronic pain, the people who are just coming in with acute pain are never going to be treated.”

Fuog told PNN she had no trouble getting her opioid prescriptions filled at a CVS pharmacy until the CDC’s controversial opioid prescribing guideline was released in 2016.

“As soon as those guidelines came out, my life changed. The manager pulled me aside and said, ‘Look, I’m not going to be able to fill these anymore. I suggest you find a new pharmacy.’” said Fuog, who then went to other CVS pharmacies in the Tampa area and was repeatedly turned down.

“They all said, ‘We’ll be happy to fill all your other meds, but we will not fill the opioids.’ And I said, ‘I take 13 other medications. Why would I come here then?’”

EDITH FUOG

Fuog eventually found a small neighborhood pharmacy that was willing to fill all of her prescriptions. She also found a lawyer to file the class action lawsuit against CVS. If her case is successful, Fuog anticipates making only a few thousand dollars in damages.

“It’s not like I’m going to make a bunch of money. The decision could come down for a hundred million dollars, but that’s for the class and the attorneys. I’ll get a ‘rep fee” being the class rep. That’s it. I don’t get anything for my damages or the stress I go through, and the fact I have severe anxiety because of this,” she said.

Fuog says she will only settle out-of-court if CVS adopts a written public policy that makes clear to its pharmacists that they should fill all legitimate prescriptions for opioids.

“My goal in this is to make change that affects the most amount of people with chronic pain. If I can get them a lot of money, I’m going to do it. Why wouldn’t I? To me, these companies deserve to pay all these people money for what they’ve been through,” she said.

Costco, CVS and Walgreens did not respond to requests for comment.  CVS, Walgreens and other large pharmacy chains have been named in lawsuits alleging they helped fuel the opioid epidemic by selling millions of pills in small communities. They’ve also been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for violating federal rules for dispensing controlled substances.

Can Pain Patients Sue the CDC?

By Carol Levy, PNN Columnist

Almost every report on the CDC opioid guideline that I’ve seen online gets this response from pain patients: “Class action lawsuit! Sue the CDC!” 

Many doctors cite the CDC’s opioid guideline when they stop writing prescriptions for opioids or reduce the amount they prescribe. Many of their patients say the tapering left them bedridden and unable to work because the pain returned to unbearable levels. Some even attempted or completed suicide as a result of no longer having the relief that opioids gave them.  

Is that enough grounds for a class action lawsuit against the CDC?  I am not an attorney, but I wondered if there is a basis for such a lawsuit.

Based on my research, the pain community does not meet the necessary legal criteria to do this.  

Aside from the difficulties of suing a federal agency, one of the many rule requirements in federal court to certify a class action lawsuit is this: “the class must show that the defendant acted in a way generally applicable to class members.” 

Few of us can point to the CDC guideline as the specific reason their doctor is no longer prescribing opioids at the same dose. It would need to be proven that all members of the class were treated in essentially the same way by the defendant CDC.

And it is doctors who changed their prescribing routines, not the CDC. Therefore, it appears we cannot form the requisite “class.” 

In addition, the CDC’s clarification of the guideline in June passed the buck by blaming individual practitioners for the guideline’s misuse:

“Unfortunately, some policies and practices purportedly derived from the guideline have in fact been inconsistent with, and often go beyond, its recommendations. A consensus panel has highlighted these inconsistencies, which include inflexible application of recommended dosage and duration thresholds and policies that encourage hard limits and abrupt tapering of drug dosages, resulting in sudden opioid discontinuation or dismissal of patients from a physician’s practice.”

So are there no actions we can take?

A recent decision by the New Hampshire Board of Medicine is one example of what happens when we do act. A patient reported his doctor to the board for refusing to continue prescribing opioids that had greatly helped his pain. As a result of the tapering, the patient’s pain became so unbearable he threatened suicide. At that point, the doctor refused to prescribe anymore opioids to the patient and dropped him. 

The board found that the doctor violated the ethical standards of professional conduct. He was fined, reprimanded, and ordered to take classes in pain management and record keeping.  

Another action is simply writing a letter, emailing or calling your federal and state representatives. Some of these people are working, intentionally or not, to hurt us.

The latest is a bill from Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana. Neither have medical degrees, yet they have introduced a bill that instructs the FDA to tell doctors that opioids are "not intended for the treatment of chronic pain" except for cancer pain, end-of-life care or when no other pain treatment is effective.  

By telling our stories, by getting the authorities and legislators to understand what chronic pain is, and how it affects not only us but our families, community and the country, we can keep up the pressure. By submitting our complaints or filing lawsuits against individual doctors, we can be the voice of change. 

Carol Jay Levy has lived with trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic facial pain disorder, for over 30 years. She is the author of “A Pained Life, A Chronic Pain Journey.”  Carol is the moderator of the Facebook support group “Women in Pain Awareness.” Her blog “The Pained Life” can be found here.

This column is for informational purposes only and represent the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.