The family of a woman fatally shot by a man who was robbing a Long Island pharmacy for pain medication can proceed with its suit against the doctor who had prescribed painkillers to the shooter, a judge has ruled.
“Under certain factual circumstances there exists a duty to the general public not to supply prescriptions to maintain an addict or habitual user of controlled substances. A medical provider may owe a duty to protect the public from the actions of a drug addict and he may be found to have breached that duty if he creates or maintains the addiction through his own egregious conduct,” Supreme Court Justice William Rebolini in Suffolk County (See Profile) wrote in Malone v. County of Suffolk, 04112/2012.
