Update: Prescription drug disposal

You may remember a few weeks ago we blogged about the dangers of prescription drugs.  Local health and law enforcement officials have launched a campaign to make it easier for people to dispose of prescription medications in order to curb the alarming rate of accidents and deaths caused by them.

Steel drop boxes are being placed at police stations so that people can dispose of their left over prescription drugs safely and anonymously.

Fourteen medicine drop boxes have been established in nine Pierce County cities and towns: Puyallup, Tacoma, DuPont, Eatonville, Fife, Gig Harbor, Sumner, Steilacoom and University Place.

More than 8 million prescriptions were filled for Pierce County residents last year and so far this year, more than eight hundred pounds of prescription drugs have been left at the drop boxes.  You can imagine how much damage that amount of drugs can cause, how many people will abuse them, how many will be accidentally poisoned, not to mention the environmental impact.  According to the Health Department, prescription drug abuse causes more deaths in our state than methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin combined.

Ridding our cabinets of old prescriptions properly isn’t as easy as it may seem. It’s not a good idea to flush them down the toilet because sewage treatment plants and septic systems are not built to filter them out, and minute amounts of certain drugs can adversely affect aquatic life forms.  If you throw them in the garbage there’s a potential for theft, plus the chemicals can leak out into the earth at the landfill.

Right now the drop boxes are the best option until either the law makers and/or drug producers do something about it.

A couple things to remember: never take medications not prescribed to you and never give anyone your prescription medication.  Just last month a twelve year old girl died after her mother gave her part of her methadone dose for an injured knee.

Consider using these new drop boxes to dispose of old or unused medications.  Right now it’s the safest choice we have.

For drop off locations click here. 

For more information on medication return programs throughout Washington State click here.
For more information on drug enforcement visit the DEA website.

Sources: 

The News Tribune:

Drop boxes for unused drugs arriving at police stations

Mother charged in overdose death of her daughter

Prescription Drugs that Kill

by John R. Christensen

I recently handled a tragic case involving a registered nurse and mother of two children who died from an accidental overdose of prescription pain killers.  Of all people, you would think a medical professional would appreciate the dangers of these types of drugs.  However, the fact that she knew the drugs were dangerous just goes to show the power of addiction, and the death grip pain pills such as Oxycontin and Oxycodone can have on people.

This is not the first drug overdose case I have handled at the MBC Law Firm, and because of the wide spread abuse of certain drugs, it sadly won’t be the last.  That is why MBC is working with the Washington State Attorney General, Rob McKenna, to help get the word out and educate the public about the dangers of prescription pain medications.  Hopefully this public safety initiative will help save lives.

In 2008, more than 500 people lost their lives to accidental drug overdoses involving prescription drugs.  The unused or expired painkillers found in our medicine cabinets are contributing to the problem.

Users are mixing them with alcohol or other drugs.  Some people even snort them or shoot them up for a quicker, sometimes fatal high.

The most commonly abused prescription drugs are:

Opioids, such as, OxyContin, Vicodin, and Demerol.   Abuse of drugs such as these can lead to vomiting, mood changes, decreased ability to think, and even decreased respiratory function, coma, or death. This risk is higher when opioids are taken with alcohol or other drugs.

CNS Depressants, like, Nembutal, Valium, and Xanax. Abruptly stopping or reducing these types of drugs too quickly can lead to seizures, and taking them with other medications, such as prescription painkillers, some over-the-counter cold and allergy medications, or alcohol can slow a person's heartbeat and breathing, enough to kill.

Use of Stimulants, such as Ritalin and Adderall, could lead to heart failure or seizures. The risks are increased when stimulants are mixed with other medicines.  Also, taking too much can cause dangerously high body temperature or an irregular heartbeat. Taking several high doses over a short period of time may cause overly aggressive behavior or paranoia. And though these may not lead to physical dependence and withdrawal, these drugs can cause people to become habitual users, creating an addiction that's hard to break.

Chronic users, teenagers, even normal every day people are getting hooked and overdosing on prescription drugs.  This kind of abuse could be caused by the fact that prescription drugs are more accessible these days through friends, family, and online pharmacies.

It has become such a serious problem that the DEA sponsored a national “Take Back” campaign in which citizens could drop off their unused or expired drugs from their medicine cabinets, no questions asked. The DEA also urges consumers to check, lock, and properly dispose of prescription drugs from time to time.  The best way to dispose of these drugs, unless otherwise stated on the label, is in the trash.

Here are some prescription drugs facts from the DEA:

• Nearly 7 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs*—more than the number who are abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy, and inhalants, combined. That 7 million was just 3.8 million in 2000, an 80 percent increase in just 6 years.
• Prescription pain relievers are new drug users’ drug of choice, vs. marijuana or cocaine.
• Opioid painkillers now cause more drug overdose deaths than cocaine and heroin combined.
• Nearly 1 in 10 high school seniors admits to abusing powerful prescription painkillers. A shocking 40 percent of teens and an almost equal number of their parents think abusing prescription painkillers is safer than abusing "street" drugs.
• Misuse of painkillers represents three-fourths of the overall problem of prescription drug abuse; hydrocodone is the most commonly diverted and abused controlled pharmaceutical in the U.S.
• Twenty-five percent of drug-related emergency department visits are associated with abuse of prescription drugs.
• Methods of acquiring prescription drugs for abuse include “doctor-shopping,” traditional drug-dealing, theft from pharmacies or homes, illicitly acquiring prescription drugs via the Internet, and from friends or relatives.
• DEA works closely with the medical community to help them recognize drug abuse and signs of diversion and relies on their input and due diligence to combat diversion. Doctor involvement in illegal drug activity is rare—less than one tenth of one percent of more than 750,000 doctors are the subject of DEA investigations each year—but egregious drug violations by practitioners unfortunately do sometimes occur. DEA pursues criminal action against such practitioners.
• DEA Internet drug trafficking initiatives over the past 3 years have identified and dismantled organizations based both in the U.S. and overseas, and arrested dozens of conspirators. As a result of major investigations such as Operations Web Tryp, PharmNet, Cyber Rx, Cyber Chase, and Click 4 Drugs, Bay Watch, and Lightning Strike, tens of millions of dosage units of prescription drugs and tens of millions of dollars in assets have been seized.

Remember, never use drugs that aren’t prescribed to you and check your medicine cabinet periodically for unused or expired drugs.  If you or someone you know is addicted, seek help immediately.  You could be saving a life.  It could be your own.

If you have any questions about any prescription drugs you find at home or elsewhere, please contact your doctor or the poison control center.  If you or a loved one has suffered injury or death because of addiction to prescription medications, please call me at the MBC Law Firm.

Sources: 

http://www.justice.gov/dea/concern/prescription_drug_fact_sheet.html

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/prescr_drg_abuse.html

http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/drugs/prescription_drug_abuse.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/prescriptiondrugabuse.html

Trip and falls are not always cut and dry

We at MBC handle a variety of injury cases.  Some are clear cut and involve catastrophic injuries.  Others are not absolutely clear cut and may involve injuries that are not catastrophic.   My next trial is such a case, but it will be given the same preparation and treatment as all cases.

This case involves a 70-year old man who tripped and fell over a pallet underneath a box of watermelons at the local grocery store.  He landed on his right side, injuring his shoulder and having to undergo surgery. 

The pallet was the same color as the box and one could hardly see the four to six inches that the pallet protruded from the box.  Store employees had “pallet guards,” which were soft devices to put around the edges of the pallets to prevent tripping.  They forgot to put them on this particular day.  That would seem like a clear cut case, but the store says it is not at fault, that our client should have seen the protrusion and, in any event, he was old and his shoulder was already worn out.

To counter the argument that they did nothing wrong, we have shown standards of the industry regarding guarding protrusions such as this and that this store and every other store that has such a protruding pallet needs to mark it with cones or similar warnings or use pallet guards.

To answer the claim that our client was at fault, we hired a “human factors” expert to explain that the main marketing tactic of stores is to attract your visual attention to displays, products and activities.  They want people looking anywhere other than the ground.  That was the situation in our case.  There was an outdoor kiosk selling fish just across from the watermelons and there were people crowding around.  It was a visual attraction.  The corner of the pallet was not.

In response to the cynical argument that the client was old and already had a bad shoulder, we have two answers.  First, his surgeon says that, but for the fall, the client would not have had the surgery.  Second, the law says a negligent party is not entitled to a healthy victim.  If you hurt someone who, because of age, prior disability or other weakness, has a worse injury than a younger, healthier person might, you pay for the whole injury caused.  That is basic fairness.

The case is not the biggest in the office, but we are busy preparing it for trial and hoping to report a positive result on a blog in the near future.      

Balancing Work and Play

by John R. Christensen

Hello to everyone in the Blogosphere.  This is my first foray into “blogging” so I thought I would start by telling you a little about me and what we do here at the MBC Law Firm. 

 I grew up in beautiful Salt Lake City and attended the University of Utah, graduating with two degrees in English and Political Science.  “Go Utes!”  I moved to the Great Northwest in 1986 and attended the University of Puget Sound, School of Law. “Go Loggers!”  After graduating I worked for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office representing the Department of Corrections and the Department of Labor and Industries, where I met my beautiful wife Penny Allen, who turned out to be a University of Washington graduate.  “Go Dawgs!”  In 1994 I started with the MBC Law Firm and haven’t looked back. 

When I’m not working on cases you will find me playing guitar or tending to my oyster farm.  But my real passion in life, and what we do best at MBC, is helping people.  When people call our office they are usually in some state of distress.  Whether it’s a car accident or a loved one who has passed away, I do my best to listen and give them the best advice I can. 

I look forward to continuing this blog and talking about local and national events and developments in the law that affect our community.  Don’t expect only law related topics on this blog…..from time to time I will slip in tidbits about guitars, oysters, and old cars just to keep a good balance of work and play. 

Working with the MBC team of attorneys and staff, and helping accident victims regain the shattered pieces of their lives is something I look forward to each and every day. 

Sincerely,

John R. Christensen

Attorney at Law

Tipping the Scales of Justice

by Stephen L. Bulzomi

Hello out there. My name is Steve Bulzomi and I am a partner in Messina Bulzomi Christensen. This is my first blog post and I would like to tell you a bit about myself.  I was born and raised in Seattle, the sixth of twelve children of my Italian and Irish parents. I attended St. Benedict’s grade school and Roosevelt High School.

After that I graduated from the University of Washington and moved to Tacoma to attend the University of Puget Sound Law School.  MBC’s predecessor firm hired me as a legal intern on January 31, 1984 and I have been here ever since.

I soon learned that representing victims of negligence conformed to my sense of justice and disposition toward helping the underdog. I handle a variety of injury and death claims, and I also write and argue the firm’s appeals. I have found after 25 years as a lawyer that the civil justice system is under constant attack from the forces of big insurance, big business, and government.

As a member of this firm, and as an officer of the Washington State Association for Justice, I have helped stave off efforts to gut the rights of victims and to hold wrongdoers accountable. These efforts continue today, as the Insurance Industry and Wall Street have submitted Initiative 1082, which is an attempt to allow private insurance companies to invade Washington’s Worker’s Compensation System. I will write more about that in a future post.

Welcome to our blog. I hope you find it interesting and informative.

Lessons Learned from Representing Damaged People

by John L. Messina

I am a trial lawyer.  I practice in the Messina Bulzomi Christensen law firm in Tacoma.   Many people do not like what we do.  The media often reports of huge jury awards and settlements.  Inevitably that is followed by howls about “jackpot juries” and “greedy trial lawyers.”  I find that troubling.

I was a high school teacher for eight years.  During the last four years I was also a full-time law student at Gonzaga University in Spokane.  My wife and I had three children during those four years. I taught at Lewis and Clark High School during the day and attended classes at night.  Amazing how much energy one has during youth.  I have practiced law for 41 years now and have had a reasonably successful career with a lot of material possessions.  Yet, the four years of law school, while we were poor, were years of riches and happiness.

My practice, along with my four great lawyer-partners, has consisted of representing terribly broken and injured people.  My memories of law school and my experience with my clients’ stories have, I hope, forged a philosophy of life.  I have heard it said that one can never be “too thin or too rich.”  I believe the flip side of that coin is, “One can never be too generous.”

We five lawyers agree that, when you represent people who have lost limbs, been confined to a wheel chairs, or buried a child, it changes you.  It has to.  You go along and you absorb the pain of the clients and it makes you a different person.  Yes, there are lawyers who see damaged people as just a big payday, but only a few and none whom I consider a friend.

As you process one heartbreaking story after another, you come to realize that life is not about who has the most toys, but who has the most joys.  Much joy comes from being kind and sharing.  This is not always about money.  One can be generous in many ways, by a kind word, needed advice, by being there during a hard time, by sharing some special talent, by community service.

Material possessions are wonderful – to be enjoyed, especially as a reward for hard work and talent.  Yet, there are so many people out there who cannot enjoy much in life, because of some terrible injury or disability.  We see them on a regular basis.  We get them money, but it never replaces what they have lost.  Some of them are even millionaires, but only in the material sense.  Most are actually quite poor as it relates to the joys of life.  If you are not wealthy but you and your family are whole and healthy, you have all the riches you need.  Remember to share of yourself.

John L. Messina participating in the United Way Day of Caring