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Napoli Shkolnik partner Chris Schnieders earned a significant trial win focused on the opioid epidemic with a $2,575,000 Plaintiff’s verdict against Wichita psychiatrist Elsie Steelberg, M.D. and her practice Advocates for Behavioral Health, P.A.
Plaintiff Nicholas Moon was a victim in the mass shooting at Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas in February 2016. Following his shooting, he began seeing Defendant Elsie Steelberg, M.D. for his post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Steelberg, following prescribing habits learned from years of Opioid industry marketing campaigns, wrote a lethal cocktail of opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions that ultimately turned out to be fatal for Mr. Moon. Nicholas Moon died at age 30 leaving behind a widow and 9-year-old son.
“The jury was able to see through the stigma of the psychiatric injuries suffered by Nick Moon and focus on the relentless escalation of the aggressive regimen of opioids and benzodiazepines that Dr. Steelberg wrote for Nick,” shares Napoli Shkolnik Partner Chris Schnieders. “We are hopeful that this result serves as a warning that patients need to be optimized on non-opioid and controlled substances before ever thinking of trying these dangerous and addictive drugs.”
This verdict is believed to be the biggest for an opioid overdose in Sedgwick County history. “Doctors should be forewarned that these lethal cocktail combinations of opioids and benzodiazepines should never be prescribed,” states Mr. Schnieders, who manages the firm’s Overland Park, Kansas office.
If you or a loved one have suffered due to the opioid epidemic or have been overprescribed controlled substances, the attorneys at Napoli Shkolnik are ready to help. Give us a call today at (844) 230-7676 to discuss your legal options, the call and our advice are free.
About the firm
Napoli Shkolnik is a national litigation firm providing representation to persons in class action lawsuits and complex commercial cases as well as victims of environmental contamination disasters, aviation accidents, defective prescriptions drugs and medical devices, asbestos-related illnesses, and other serious personal injury matters. With their principal offices in New York City and additional offices in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, Washington DC and affiliates through the United States, Napoli Shkolnik is readily available to clients.
