The American Pain Society filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy June 28 and voted to cease operations altogether due to opioid-related legal costs.
The Chicago-based professional society — which was named as a defendant in many of the lawsuits filed by state and city governments over the opioid crisis — said its financial problems were exacerbated by the mounting legal expenses from defending the lawsuits.
"It's the perfect storm, and now pointless to continue operations, just to defend against superfluous lawsuits. Our resources are being diverted to paying staff to comply with subpoenas and other requests for information and for payment of legal fees instead of funding research grants, sponsoring pain education programs and public policy advocacy," said William Maixner, DDS, PhD, the society's president. "As a result, the board of directors no longer believes APS can continue to fulfill its mission and meet the needs of our members and the pain care community."
The American Pain Society was formed in 1977 as a multidisciplinary community working to advance the field of pain management.