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Physician Liability for Suicide after Negligent Tapering of Opioids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2022

Mark A. Rothstein  and
Julia Irzyk
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Abstract

The precipitous and medically contraindicated reduction or “tapering” of opioids for patients with chronic pain due to serious medical conditions has caused needless suffering and, increasingly, suicide. Physicians could be liable for wrongful death based on negligent tapering of opioids.

Keywords

Medical MalpracticeOpioidsNegligence Suicide
Type
Columns: Currents in Contemporary Bioethics
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 50 , Issue 1: Health Law and Anti-Racism: Reckoning and Response , Spring 2022 , pp. 184 - 189
Copyright
© 2022 The Author(s)

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Footnotes

About This Column

Mark A. Rothstein serves as the section editor for Currents in Contemporary Bioethics. Professor Rothstein is the Herbert F. Boehl Chair of Law and Medicine and the Director of the Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky. (mark.rothstein@louisville.edu)

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