Ham Lake man suing St. Paul pain center, physician for opioid addiction

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
·3 min read

Michael Faulhaber began visiting Dr. Samuel K. Yue in 1993 following a workplace accident that left the Ham Lake man suffering chronic pain.

As Faulhaber’s physical pain mounted, Yue, an anesthesiologist at a St. Paul pain center, prescribed him escalating levels of opioids that Faulhaber claims in a lawsuit left him physically addicted, functionally disabled and distraught. Attorneys for the physician maintain Faulhaber suffered emotional problems that had little, if anything, to do with his medication, and they’ve brought in medical experts to call into question whether his symptoms were truly evidence of physical addiction.

Jurors in a Ramsey County courtroom are hearing lawyers for both sides question expert witnesses this week on what’s believed to be one of the first patient-doctor medical malpractice lawsuits in Minnesota involving opioid addiction. Closing arguments are likely to be delivered Thursday.

Minnesota is one of a number of states that began suing opioid manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma in 2018, later adding claims against the Sackler family and company consultants McKinsey & Company, Inc. To date, multi-state settlements with those and other companies — including Johnson and Johnson — have netted states billions of dollars, totaling upwards of $300 million for Minnesota alone. Additional state-driven lawsuits have involved opioid manufacturers Insys Therapeutics, Inc. and Mallinckrodt, both of which declared bankruptcy in the face of heavy legal action.

What’s less established under both the law and popular opinion is the liability that individual doctors face for having prescribed or overprescribed pain medication to clients over the past 20 years or more. There’s also the question of failing to properly disclose the risks of opioids, monitor those patients or encourage alternative forms of pain treatment, all of which are issues explicitly raised by Faulhaber’s legal team. They accuse Yue of departing from industry standards for pain management and attempting to use opioids to treat his patient’s psychological condition rather than just his physical discomfort.

Faulhaber is represented by personal injury attorneys with the Simon Law Firm of St. Louis, Missouri.

Yue, who is represented by the Minneapolis-based law firm Arthur Chapman Kettering Smetak and Pikala, has denied any assertion of negligence and maintained that his patient was treated within industry standards of informed consent.

On Monday, Dr. David Schultz, an Edina-based pain specialist and adjunct professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota, took the witness stand as an expert witness for the defense and testified that from his read of medical records, Faulhaber’s ailments tended to increase with stresses and setbacks in his personal life.

“I don’t agree that he had an opioid addiction,” said Schultz, addressing the courtroom. “He was treated by a psychologist who diagnosed significant psychological dysfunction.”

An attorney for the firm declined further comment on Tuesday while the trial was ongoing.

Faulhaber and his wife Yvonne filed suit against the Minnesota Pain Center. located on University Avenue, and Yue, its chief executive officer, in March 2020, as well as against the Walgreens Co., for their alleged roles in Faulhaber’s addiction, which they said left him suffering severe discomfort, functional disabilities, memory loss and emotional distress. Like Faulhaber, his wife is also seeking damages upwards of $50,000 for the pain and suffering she’s endured on account of her husband.

Attorneys representing Walgreens later argued that there is no law in Minnesota holding pharmacists accountable for accurately filling out valid prescriptions ordered by a physician, and the pharmacy chain was dismissed from the case in October.

Faulhaber, in his lawsuit, said that medical staff at the center started prescribing him opioid medications to manage his pain in 2003, and continued prescribing “high and chronic doses” of the medication — including oral opium and morphine — through at least 2016.

Among the questions before the jury in downtown St. Paul is the appropriate amount of money that would “fairly and adequately compensate” Faulhaber and, separately, Yvonne for both past and future suffering, if they believe Faulhaber’s suffering was the direct result of malpractice.

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