NEW ORLEANS — A group of attorneys and medical professionals are filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of opioid-affected infants and children in Louisiana.
The lawsuit is being brought against the manufacturers, suppliers and pharmacies that make and distribute opioid products, opioids that end up in the hands of Louisiana mothers who birthed children with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, or NAS.
NAS is the medical name for opioid-addicted children.
“It is a terrible crisis and it tears families apart and creates drug-addict mothers that can’t take care of their children,” said lead attorney Scott Bickford. “The hope is to treat people before birth and after birth to address the issue.”
The reason the lawyers decided to file the class action lawsuit here is because of the unique nature of Louisiana law.
“The reason this suit was filed in Louisiana is there are many additional frights available to the citizens in Louisiana and those who bring suit here, protection under the civil code, rather than the traditional common law in other states,” said attorney Warren Perrin.
The lawsuit is the first one like it in the nation.
