A Kailua doctor and a Longs Drugs pharmacist are being sued by a Marine who claims their negligence lead to his wife's overdose death. 32-year-old Andrea Wells died July 31, 2012 -- five days after she began using prescription drug fentanyl. Court documents indicate it is 100 times more potent than morphine. "We believe this was a totally unnecessary death due to a horrendously excessive dose of the very, very strong fentanyl patch," explained the Wells family attorney, Richard Fried. The fentanyl patch has been investigated by the Food and Drug Administration since the first generic version of it became available in 2005. The most recent FDA warning was issued in 2012 after numerous deaths and life-threatening side effects were reported nationwide. "The fentanyl patch contains fentanyl, a very potent narcotic pain medicine. It is only intended for treating persistent, moderate to severe pain in patients who are opioid-tolerant, meaning those patients who take a regular, daily, around-the-clock narcotic pain medicine," indicates the warning about the drug on the FDA's website.
"For patients who are not opioid-tolerant, the amount of fentanyl in one fentanyl patch of the lowest strength is large enough to cause dangerous side effects, such as respiratory depression (severe trouble breathing or very slow or shallow breathing) and death," the FDA statement goes on to warn.
