Recent opioid settlement is a ‘slap in the face’ to suffering families | Opinion

It can’t be denied that Pennsylvania has been hit hard by the opioid crisis. Even as the world has had its eyes on the COVID-19 pandemic, the isolation of quarantining has allowed substance use disorder to tighten its grip on our community. Between April 2020 and April 2021, overdose deaths in Pennsylvania increased by more than 13%.

While steps have been taken to make pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma answer for their role in this crisis, we need to ensure every organization involved is being held accountable. Beyond providing justice, the money from these settlements will serve as funding to treat the thousands of Pennsylvanians addicted to opioids and help end this crisis.

Earlier this year, McKinsey & Co., one of the world’s largest consulting firms, reached a $573 million settlement with the attorneys general of 47 states, including Pennsylvania, for its role in advising Purdue Pharma to boost opioid sales.

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania will get nearly $26 million from McKinsey opioid settlement

The attorneys general of West Virginia and Washington both negotiated separate deals for their states to support those affected by substance abuse disorder stemming from overprescribing opioids. What did Pennsylvania’s attorney general do? Josh Shapiro accepted McKinsey’s settlement, which allowed it to avoid admission of any guilt or wrongdoing.

Ongoing court battles have revealed a plethora of documents that show McKinsey’s work to boost sales of OxyContin. Evidence included an effort by McKinsey to discredit an emotional campaign made by mothers with teenage children battling substance use disorder. The most egregious of the efforts shown in the documents is that McKinsey advised Purdue to offer rebates to pharmacies for patients who overdosed on OxyContin.

McKinsey doesn’t have a great track record during health crises, as the firm also helped New York craft a report that absolved then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo of responsibility for the steep rise in deaths from COVID-19 at nursing homes in the state. And yet, the company was continually hired to advise Purdue Pharma for 15 years. Purdue worked with McKinsey & Co. to “turbocharge” OxyContin sales, and purposefully targeted sales efforts toward health-care providers who were considered to be high-volume opioid prescribers.

Recently, Congress has opened an investigation into the firm, including whether its work for opioid manufacturing companies while also working for the FDA represented a conflict of interest.

Pennsylvania’s elected officials are not doing enough for the individuals and families who have been destroyed by the opioid crisis. In August, the General Assembly refused to renew Gov. Tom Wolf’s opioid disaster declaration, which expanded access to more resources for prevention and treatment. This is unacceptable. Shapiro’s acceptance of McKinsey’s settlement, allowing it to avoid admitting fault, is deplorable.

“Pennsylvania’s elected officials are not doing enough for the individuals and families who have been destroyed by the opioid crisis.”

Pennsylvania will receive almost $26 million from the McKinsey settlement. The total $573 million national settlement does not even begin to cover the estimated $631 billion that the opioid crisis has cost our country from 2015 to 2018 alone. And letting the company avoid admitting guilt is a slap in the face for the countless families who have experienced emotional turmoil due to substance abuse disorder.

Bedford County, Pa., recently took its own legal action, filing a separate lawsuit seeking damages from McKinsey, and our local municipalities should follow suit. We need to hold McKinsey & Co. accountable for its role and demand recompense to take care of those most vulnerable in our communities.

Nancy Segars is the owner and operator of A Different Way Sober Living, a network of sober living homes based in Delaware County.