Opioids and the Law: What Every Attorney Needs to Know About the Opioid Crisis, Liability, Compliance, and the Evolving Standard of Care

Christine L. Stanley | Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC

Christine L. Stanley is a partner at Sturgill, Turner, Barker and Maloney. She focuses on the areas of medical malpractice defense, regulatory and corporate compliance, fraud and abuse, and state regulatory matters.

She is distinguished as one of the top-rated health care attorneys in the nation, selected to Kentucky and Ohio Rising Stars by Thomson’s Reuters Super Lawyers®. She is listed as one of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Health Care Law and Medical Malpractice Law. In 2021, she was named “Outstanding Young Lawyer” by the Kentucky Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, in recognition of exceptional and dedicated civic service, community involvement, and legal accomplishment and received the 2020 Outstanding Young Lawyer Award from the Fayette County Bar Association.

Ms. Stanley received her Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law in May 2012 and Bachelor of Science in Technical Writing for Science and Medicine from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in May 2008. She is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and is admitted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Stanley is an adjunct professor for the University of Kentucky and University of Cincinnati as well as lecturer and presenter of seminars on topics of emerging issues in health care regulation, compliance programs, HIPAA, and electronic medical records; attended by healthcare attorneys, claims professionals and risk managers, CEOs, administrators, and all employees within a hospital or long-term care setting.

Andrew Kolodny | Brandeis University

Dr. Andrew Kolodny is the Medical Director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. He is also President of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP), a national organization advocating for evidence-based, cautious prescribing to prevent opioid addiction and overdose. Widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost experts on the opioid crisis. His clinical work is focused on the treatment of opioid use disorder.

Dr. Kolodny has advised multiple committees of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the U.S. Department of Justice, and numerous state Attorneys General in investigations of opioid manufacturers and allied pain organizations. He has testified as an expert witness before Congress and in litigation brought against the opioid industry. He also served as medical advisor for the critically acclaimed Hulu series Dopesick, which dramatized the origins of the opioid crisis.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Kolodny served as Chief Medical Officer for Phoenix House, a leading national nonprofit addiction treatment provider, and as Chair of Psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. His public health work began at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where he developed and implemented life-saving initiatives, including the city’s first large-scale buprenorphine program, naloxone overdose prevention efforts, and emergency room-based SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) programs for substance misuse.

Session I — The North American Opioid Crisis: Origins, Current State, and the Path Forward | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Analyze trends in prescription opioid, heroin and fentanyl mortality
• Examine the role of opioid prescribing for acute and chronic pain
• Evaluate interventions to reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Navigating the Legal and Ethical Landscape of Opioid Prescribing | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• Navigating the legal framework around opioid prescribing
  • Review key federal and state statutes governing opioid prescriptions, including the Controlled Substances Act and relevant DEA regulations
  • Discuss recent enforcement trends and how regulatory scrutiny has evolved post-opioid crisis litigation
• Civil exposure for prescribers and institutions
  • Analyze the types of civil claims arising from opioid prescribing, such as medical malpractice, negligent supervision, and failure to monitor
  • Explore how these cases are framing liability theories and the evidentiary challenges in proving causation and foreseeability
• Defending against opioid-related claims
  • Share defense strategies, including the use of expert testimony, documentation practices, and distinguishing between appropriate prescribing and alleged misconduct
  • Highlight the importance of understanding medical standards of care and how they intersect with legal duties
• Ethical and professional responsibility considerations
  • Examine how attorneys advising healthcare clients must balance risk management with ethical obligations, especially in cases involving addiction and vulnerable populations
  • Discuss the role of legal counsel in guiding compliance programs and responding to investigations or audits
• Legal and ethical considerations for incarcerated individuals with opioid addiction
  • Address the growing concern around individuals entering the criminal justice system with untreated or undertreated opioid addiction
  • Discuss the legal implications of withdrawal in custody, access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT), and potential civil liability for correctional institutions