A group of historians filed a court brief Sept. 12 asking that any settlement made between plaintiffs and defendants in the upcoming federal opioid trial include a requirement that all documents be kept and made public, according to STAT.
In settling lawsuits, many companies often insist that documents be sealed or destroyed so the public is unable to view them.
The brief, sent to the federal court in Cleveland overseeing the trial, set to begin Oct. 21, argues that secrecy fueled the opioid epidemic and that "no just and genuinely remedial" solution can be reached if the documents are sealed or destroyed.
Thirty five health and medical historians signed the brief, along with the Organization of American Historians.
Staff from University of California San Francisco's Industry Documents Library estimates it will cost about $30 million to create a one-website public archive for the documents. The historians are asking that the cost be covered by the defendants.
The request is modeled after a 1998 settlement with the tobacco industry, which included the release of millions of pages of documents.
Read the full report here.
More articles on opioids:
Ineffective drug rehab often costs families thousands
These 3 factors will define nurses' roles in fighting the opioid epidemic
Penn Medicine center blends radiology, psychiatry for precision approach to opioid treatment
A group of historians filed a court brief Sept. 12 asking that any settlement made between plaintiffs and defendants in the upcoming federal opioid trial include a requirement that all documents collected be kept and made public, according to STAT.
In settling lawsuits, many companies often insist that documents be sealed or destroyed so the public is unable to view them.
The brief, sent to the federal court in Cleveland overseeing the trial, set to begin Oct. 21, argues that secrecy fueled the opioid epidemic and that "no just and genuinely remedial" solution can be reached if the documents are sealed or destroyed.
Thirty five health and medical historians signed the brief, along with the Organization of American Historians.
Staff from University of California San Francisco's Industry Documents Library estimates it will cost about $30 million to create a one-website public archive for the documents. The historians are asking that the cost be covered by the defendants.
The request is modeled after a 1998 settlement with the tobacco industry, which included the release of millions of pages of documents.
Read the full report here.
More articles on opioids:
Ineffective drug rehab often costs families thousands
These 3 factors will define nurses' roles in fighting the opioid epidemic
Penn Medicine center blends radiology, psychiatry for precision approach to opioid treatment