We were in the middle of a deposition examining a former employee of a specialty pharmacy accused of unlawfully dispensing large quantities of fentanyl based opioid pain medication when the employee refused to answer a question about her involvement in dispensing the pain medication to dozens of patients, at least one of whom died of a drug overdose. The basis for her refusal to answer was her invocation of the Fifth Amendment privilege. Over the next hour or so, she refused to answer dozens of questions based on the Fifth Amendment privilege, which, if she had answered, would have likely exposed both her and her former employer to potential criminal liability. The deposition took place in a whistleblower case that we were prosecuting against a drug maker and other related parties including the pharmacy-employer.

The drug maker generated national attention in the past few years as its founder, CEO, and several other people who worked at the company were criminally convicted of unlawfully marketing and selling the pain medication. While the drug maker and its affiliates were charged and convicted, pharmacies that dispensed the drug were not charged criminally. Our whistleblower case was brought by a relator who used to work for the drug maker.