J&J Sued By California Nursing Home Residents Over Omnicare Scheme
Published: September 9th, 2010 • Comments: 2
California nursing home residents are suing Johnson & Johnson for allegedly conspiring with Omnicare, a nursing home drug provider, to push unneeded and dangerous drugs onto elderly and disabled patients.
Omnicare, Inc. specializes in supplying nursing homes with medicine. It is currently involved in a series of lawsuits brought by whistle blowers, who accuse the company of paying nursing homes kickbacks to prescribe their drugs to residents.
In January, the Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Johnson & Johnson of being part of the conspiracy, charging the company with paying millions to Omnicare, Inc. as kickbacks for prescribing its drugs to nursing home patients. The government joined a whistleblower lawsuit against the company, saying that it had defrauded Medicare. Justice department investigators say that the kickbacks were hidden as fees and payments to attend Omnicare meetings.
The nursing home abuse class action lawsuit claims that residents were overcharged for drugs, had additional drugs administered that they did not need and were switched illegally to Johnson & Johnson drugs without notification.
DOJ investigators say Johnson & Johnson paid about $50 million between 1999 and 2004 to get Omnicare to prescribe Risperdal and other drugs. Risperdal is a schizophrenia drug that is often used on elderly patients suffering from dementia and is frequently used as a chemical restraint to make residents docile, a form of nursing home abuse.
The lawsuit says that the agreement between Omnicare and Johnson & Johnson had Omnicare label the company’s drugs as “preferred.” In addition to Risperdal, the deal involved Levaquin, Floxin, Aciphex, Procrit, Duragesic and Ultram, according to the California Independent Voter Network.
Pingback by Omnicare Settles Medicaid Fraud Lawsuits with Michigan, Massachusetts | About Nursing Home Neglect on 28 September 2010:
[...] It has been embroiled in a number of lawsuits nationwide claiming that it was involved in kickback schemes with pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson that allegedly paid the company to push sometimes powerful and dangerous prescription drugs onto [...]
Comment by Liberty on 22 July 2011:
The guenis store called, they’re running out of you.