Three regional providers of mental health, addiction and disability-related services plan to file a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Northeast Kingdom Human Services, Health Care and Rehabilitation Services in southeastern Vermont and Counseling Services of Addison County have partnered in the suit, with each agency describing “significant losses” amid Vermont’s opioid crisis.
“All of us are really struggling with it, and because we reach such a wide range of ages in the treatment that we offer, this issue has become something of increasing importance,” said Tomasz Jankowski, CEO of Northeast Kingdom Human Services. “We, in our conversations, realized action has to be taken.”
The agencies have seen an increase in unreimbursed costs related to addiction and heightened pressures from providing substance abuse services, according to a joint Dec. 17 press release.
“We are challenged to support clients and families because of the large financial losses in our substance use and other programs,” said Rachel Lee Cummings, CEO of the Addison group, in the statement.
Within Jankowski’s organization, the increasing patient load led to creating four new treatment positions in the last three years.
The number of opioid-related deaths among Vermonters nearly tripled between 2010 and 2018, state data shows, going from 37 to 110 accidental or undetermined deaths.
The state Department of Health examines those types of deaths, rather than ones related to suicide, because they’re more likely linked to abuse or dependency.
Jankowski said the suit hasn’t yet been filed, and many of the details — such as a potential figure for damages — are still in progress. He could not say which manufacturers and distributors might be named in the legal action.
But it’s clear the suit’s eventual targets will be companies the agencies believe caused or exacerbated the state’s spike in opioid abuse.
“The manufacturers and distributors of opioids have misled health care professionals and the public regarding the addictive nature of these drugs,” George Karabakakis, CEO of Health Care and Rehabilitation Services, said in the press release. “We feel it’s time for these companies to be held accountable.”
Each of the organizations is a nonprofit, state-designated provider of mental health and other services. The Department of Mental Health specifies one agency for each of the state’s geographic regions.
The three suing agencies represent six counties: Addison, Caledonia, Essex, Orleans, Windham and Windsor. Those counties have experienced some of the highest rates of accidental and undetermined opioid-related deaths per 100,000 people in the last five years.
If the agencies had acted alone, launching a suit would have been more difficult, Jankowski said.
“Our resources and the likelihood of success would have been somewhat diminished,” he said. “This is what led to a couple of organizations to come together and decide that, indeed, working in tandem, our voices might be louder and our efforts might be more effective.”
The trio is working with the same legal team, he said.
And perhaps unlike the national litigation against opioid companies that Vermont municipalities are considering joining, Jankowski said any funds stemming from the suit would go directly into addiction-treatment programs.
“We plan to use every single penny in those efforts,” he said, adding that it’s most appropriate that funds go to groups “who on a day-to-day basis live with the consequences of the tragedy opioids are creating.”
The CEO said he and his counterparts believe the lawsuit may stretch for years.
