Mylan Fentanyl Patches Cause Of Death 50mcg

My father recently passed away expectantly in early December. Cause was due to accidental overdose on pain medication. He was on the prescribed amount by his Dr., and was only 49 years old.

Is their any case against these patches? Should I hire a lawyer? Who should I go after if so, if their is a case here? The Dr., or the drug company?


Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Quoting epeterson08

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My father recently passed away expectantly in early December. Cause was due to accidental overdose on pain medication. He was on the prescribed amount by his Dr., and was only 49 years old.

Is their any case against these patches? Should I hire a lawyer? Who should I go after if so, if their is a case here? The Dr., or the drug company?


Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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I'm sorry for your loss.

More information is needed. Was your father taking any other medication? For what diagnosis was your father prescribed the Fentanyl? What was the prescribed dose of the patch? Answering these questions would be a start.

He had a tumor removed from his spinal cord seven/eight years back and lost all feeling down the right side of his body. He had joint pain and was on a few other meds however no other meds were found in his system at the time of death. I will try to find the coroners report and be as accurate as possible. He had an hemmoraged ulcer in June of '06.

I will post more back ASAP. Thanks.

I too am sorry for your loss.

Also, was your father in a pain management program? It's not uncommon for someone with his history of spinal cord damage.

If it's listed as accidental overdose and you have a copy of the report, does it say HOW many patches was found on his body?

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Quoting gigirle

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I too am sorry for your loss.

Also, was your father in a pain management program? It's not uncommon for someone with his history of spinal cord damage.

If it's listed as accidental overdose and you have a copy of the report, does it say HOW many patches was found on his body?

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One new one and the mark from an old one a day or two old I believe. and no he was not in a pain managment program.

What other medications was he supposed to be taking that were not found in his system per the coroner's report? Medication for blood pressure, diabetes? What was the amount of Fentanyl found in his system? More information from the coroner's report would be helpful.

K I was a little incorrect on this. This is from the coroners report.

Forty nine year old man with chronic pain syndrome.
Mixed drug overdose
Fentanyl 6.8mcg/L
Codeine 1.16mg/L
Free Codeine .58 mg/L

Additional Agents:
Carisoprodol 7.2 mcg/L
Meprobamate 34.2 mcg/mL
Gabapentin 29.6 mcg/mL

Status post cervical neck surgery for spinal tumor, 1982
A. Chronic Pain Syndrome
B. Chronic pain medication polypharmacy including Fentanyl patches, Tylenol with Codeine, Vistaril, Carisoprodol.

Diffuse thyroid atrophy
clinical history of bleeding gastric ulcer disease. depression, hypertension.
Focal myocardial scarring.


hospitalized 6 months prior for the ulcer, took all these pain meds due to post surgical pain. Was disabled.

One new patch was found on him and one old, all within said prescriptions of his doctor.

I'm going to help one step at a time to explain...
1. Carisoprodol -
This is a muscle relaxer, probably used for his muscle spasms.
2. Meprobamate -
This is most commonly used to treat anxiety.
3. Gabapentin -
AKA neurontin..several uses, seizures, shingles and most recently in the medical field for pain of the chronic nature.
The ones you listed at the top:
Fentanyl - the patches you have mentioned. At no time should he or anyone else have ever put more than one on him at a time.
Codeine and Free Codeine - These were explained with the tylenol with codeine
Vistaril - used for anti anxiety, depression and panic attacks.

To explain the coroner's report as kindly as I can...
He had chronic pain from the nec surgery in 1982 which resulted in being on many (polypharmacy) different prescriptions. This probably went on for many years. Accidental overdose is completely supported here. A 50mcg of fentanyl is not the sole result of his death, it's the combination of the drugs. I can also tell you with certainty that your fathers bleeding ulcer was the direct result of the meds and his inability to feel the pain like we do. Seems crazy but he probably didn't feel pain bc these pills blocked the pain but complained of always being in pain.

He should have been put on a PPI like nexium or protonix avter the ulcer but with most disabled, it's too expensive to pay for every month.

The focal myocardial scarring also indicates that at some point, he suffered a minor heart attack, hence the scarring. He probably would not have felt it.

I am truely very sorry for your loss.

one of the fentanyl patches was many days old, his dr. told him he could leave the old ones on for a little longer so long as he didn't exceed the dose of how often to put them on. They were not two new patches.

His dr. prescribed him all of that and told him it was okay to take all of that at once. As far as the ulcer goes, it was his 2nd one and he took advil all the time after being told not too which also prolly aided in the ulcer.

What our family is trying to figure out is if we should go after the idiot doctor who kept prescribing him all this stuff. My mom is a very very well respected nurse in the ICU with many certifications only few have. She has nurse of the year award at one of the top hospitals in MN after only being their for a few years and certification to work with the cyber knife. She has been gone the last few weeks so I've been looking into these patches after seeing many articles on the fentanyl patches causing deaths in "accidental overdose" including the recall of many.

I'm just trying to figure out if its worth going after his Dr. for prescribing him all of that and telling him its okay to take that together, and/or we should look into these patches. Many other deaths have occurred with them and the coroners report stated it was mainly the patches that over did it but in the end was a combination of drugs that killed him.

Thank you for the condolences, and the help. I really appreciate it.

Yes the advil would have precipitated the ulcer...almost a given.

I truely mean no disrespect here but are your parents married? I ask because if your mother is an ICU nurse, she had to have known the risks involved with these meds and he was on them for a very long time.

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Quoting gigirle

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Yes the advil would have precipitated the ulcer...almost a given.

I truely mean no disrespect here but are your parents married? I ask because if your mother is an ICU nurse, she had to have known the risks involved with these meds and he was on them for a very long time.

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nope. divorced and she told him all the time. the dr told him otherwise.

If he was taking all the meds as Rx then he should have been ok. I have chronic pain patients who use fentanyl patches and percocet for breakthrough pain. The big concern is that they over do their meds -- instead of taking 1 percocet every 6 hours occasionally - they start taking 2 every 2 hours all the time.

Your father was taking a lot of different medications -- all of which if taken in just the right combination are perfectly fine and if taken in an incorrect combination (i.e. taking too much or too frequently) can cause an overdose.

The patches tend to fade in strength over the days they were on - so if the doctor was saying for him to keep the old one on an extra day - he wasn't getting that much medicine.

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Quoting amandarez

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If he was taking all the meds as Rx then he should have been ok. I have chronic pain patients who use fentanyl patches and percocet for breakthrough pain. The big concern is that they over do their meds -- instead of taking 1 percocet every 6 hours occasionally - they start taking 2 every 2 hours all the time.

Your father was taking a lot of different medications -- all of which if taken in just the right combination are perfectly fine and if taken in an incorrect combination (i.e. taking too much or too frequently) can cause an overdose.

The patches tend to fade in strength over the days they were on - so if the doctor was saying for him to keep the old one on an extra day - he wasn't getting that much medicine.

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The coroners office told us he was not taking more than he was prescribed.

He was a 115lb guy who was 5'5 had 3 links in his spinal chord removed and we don't believe the dr. should have put him on that much medication.

Is this grounds for going after the dr.? We are still in the middle of finding an attorney and need to know if its even worth a shot.