Tennessee Lawsuit: Purdue Ignored Provider Misconduct, Red Flags

A newly-unsealed lawsuit by the state of Tennessee alleges Purdue violated a 2007 settlement with the state and continued to use providers with histories of misconduct to provide its products.

The lawsuit, filed in May by Attorney General Herbert Slatery and unsealed last week, claims Purdue called on two providers 48 times even after law enforcement told the company the providers in question were engaging in major interstate drug diversion. The company also made use of another provider 31 times even after its license was placed on restrictive probation due to overprescribing, according to the complaint.

Other red flags the company ignored while continuing to make sales calls included reports of patient overdoses, a provider who admitted to being addicted to heroin, a provider with no examination tables or equipment and a provider who responded to an investigation by changing the name of the practice, according to the lawsuit.