Several West Virginia municipalities are suing The Joint Commission, claiming the Chicago-based health care accreditation group downplayed the dangers of prescription painkillers and helped fuel addictions.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the cities of Charleston, Huntington and Kenova and the town of Ceredo filed the class-action lawsuit Thursday in Charleston.
They claim the nonprofit teamed with OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and in 2001 issued pain management standards that “grossly misrepresented the addictive qualities of opioids.”
The Joint Commission didn’t immediately reply to Associated Press requests for comment on Thursday.
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