A Cincinnati pain management clinic and doctor became the first in Ohio to be named as defendants in a suit against the makers of the painkiller OxyContin.

        The suit, filed Monday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, alleges that Eastern Cincinnati Pain Management Associates, located on Five Mile Road, and Dr. Sairam Atluri, of Montgomery, failed to adequately monitor the treatment of patients who were prescribed the drug.

        The suit also says the clinic benefitted from prescribing the drug because it prompted the plaintiffs to make “return appointments ... (to) issue new prescriptions for OxyContin.”

        Efforts to reach the pain clinic and Dr. Atluri for comment were unsuccessful.The complaint was filed by Cincinnati lawyer Stanley Chesley, who has filed previous complaints against the manufacturer of the painkiller. Unlike the others, this suit does not seek class-action certification. Mr. Chesley is working with a group of lawyers from Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia on similar cases. Monday's suit requests compensatory damages of more than $25,000, punitive damages and a jury.

        The plaintiffs are Clifford R. and Celerina Gilbert of Zachariah, of Wolfe County, Ky. Mr. Gilbert was prescribed OxyContin by Dr. Atluri after back surgery. The complaint alleges Dr. Atluri prescribed the painkiller, which is a schedule II narcotic often given to cancer patients or others experiencing severe pain, to Mr. Gilbert without explaining the risks associated with the drug.

        OxyContin is an opioid analgesic. Mr. Gilbert built up a tolerance and began abusing it, the suit says. It alleges Dr. Atluri did not perform drug tests to assess the effect of the narcotic.

        Also named in the suit are Purdue Pharma, L.P.; Purdue PharmaInc.; Purdue Frederick Co.; Purdue Pharmaceuticals, L.P.; P.F. Laboratories Inc.; PRA Holdings Inc.; Partners Against Pain; Abbott Laboratories; and Abbott Laboratories Inc.

        Purdue Pharma had not received a copy of the complaint and did not comment. A representative said the company believes its “marketing has been conservative and all its actions have been appropriate and in full compliance with Food and Drug Administration regulations.”

        The suit follows Purdue Pharma's announcement that it will spend $100,000 training educators in areas of Maine, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, states that have seen the rampant abuse of the painkiller, to teach business skills to residents based on the rationale that economic disparity leads young people to experiment with drugs.

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