Men Allege Physician and Pharmacists Contributed to Drug Addiction

By Brittany Golledge

Published on August 15, 2005

Robert Haskell and Peter Haskell both blame their drug addiction on a local physician who prescribed large amounts of the drugs Percocet and Oxycodone to treat their chronic pain. Each has filed suit against Dr. Robert Harned, claiming that he was negligent in prescribing the drugs when he was aware that they had both tried repeatedly to break their addictions to painkillers.

The lawsuit also names several pharmacists from a local Stop & Shop supermarket who filled these prescriptions, sometimes dispensing as many as 1,400 pain pills a week.

Robert Haskell, who was treated for chronic abdominal pain associated with Crohn's disease, contends that Harned had repeatedly urged him to fill the prescriptions at different pharmacies. Haskell further alleges that Harned knew or should have known that no single pharmacy would fill such a large prescription for opiate painkillers.

Both brothers maintain that their long-term use of the high dose prescription painkillers caused significant brain, liver, and joint damage. They are each seeking $1.5 million in damages.

Attorneys for Harned and the supermarket chain have issued no response to the allegations. The lawsuit must first go before a medical tribunal before a trial date is set.

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