Hospital sued over opioid death

Wickliffe man, 66, allegedly died as result of overdose on prescribed medications

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against University Hospitals Health System over a Wickliffe man’s overdose death from prescribed medications.

David Skisano, a divorced father of one son, died suddenly on June 28, 2015, at the age of 66 while under the care of UH Bedford Medical Center doctors Ghassan Haddad and Haitham Azem.

The suit was filed Dec. 22 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court by attorney Francis Sweeney Jr. Skisano’s estate seeks unspecified damages from the Shaker Heights-based hospital, UH Bedford Medical Center and the two doctors.

Skisano first sought treatment at UH in 2005 for various pain-related complaints.

The doctors negligently prescribed him hydrocodone and Xanax for a decade with no specific diagnosis until his death in 2015 —despite the fact they were aware he had issues with substance abuse and mental illness, and had been referred to addiction rehabilitation, according to the suit.

“Defendants broke the rules in place for reasonable

“Defendants broke the rules in place for reasonable prescribing...” — Attorney Francis Sweeney Jr. alleged in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of the late David Skisano.

prescribing and were complicit not only in causing (Skisano’s) death, but their individual and related acts have contributed to the epidemic of overprescribing, dispensing and use of narcotics and controlled substances with deadly consequences,” Sweeney stated in the lawsuit.

Sweeney also accused University Hospitals of turning a “blind eye” to “overprescribers” like Haddad and Azem to “dramatically increase revenue” at the risk of patients.

Sweeney added that opiate prescribing by UH physicians has essentially been unregulated.

“Between 2007 and 2017, at least nine University Hospitals patients have died from opiate narcotic overdoses from medication prescribed by University Hospitals doctors,” he said. “From at least as early as 2007, University Hospitals has had ... notice that improper, excessive, medically unnecessary prescribing of opiates and benzodiazepines existed with many of its employed physicians.”

The estate, via temporary administrator Kevin Lipman, is also seeking reimbursement for Skisano’s medical, funeral and burial expenses.

“Healthcare providers, doctors and pharmacies should never place their desire for profit above the health and well-being of their patients or the communities in which their patients live,” said Sweeney.

Kim Fatica, a UH spokesman, said it was the hospital’s policy not to discuss pending litigation. .

A receptionist at UH Bedford Medical Center said Haddad and Azem were unavailable for comment.

The case has been assigned to Judge Kelly Ann Gallagher.

Sweeney filed a similar case last year against Lake Hospital System over a Parma man’s accidental drug overdose. That case remains pending in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.