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by chrsig 1174 days ago
> those lawsuits would seem to spell out that denial of life-affirming care that sufferers of ADHD, a federally recognized disability, have experienced could give them legal standing to sue doctors over.

As a person with adhd, why would i want to sue my provider? They have nothing to do with why there's been an adderall shortage since october. it seems to me the last thing I want to do is make providers feel averse to treating adhd out of concern for being sued.

1 comments

How do they have nothing to do? They’re part of the feedback cycle. They’re the hand that feeds.
Not a lawyer, but it seems plausible that doctors here do 'nothing' in terms of doing damages that would establish legal standing. A doctor that is prescribing medications indicated to treat a diagnosed condition at reasonable dosages isn't doing harm/inflicting damages on patients. And if there are broader social harms coming from aggregated practices of physicians in general (e.g. over-prescribing), it would be unreasonable for any individual physician or medical practice to bear the burden of punishment/compensatory payment on behalf of the industry in general.

This sort of thing is better handled through regulatory and legislative means. Perhaps it's not being handled particularly well at the moment, but the status quo seems preferable to establishing precedent that one can successfully sue a doctor for writing appropriate prescriptions for drugs that are scarce due to supply chain bottlenecks.

Thank you for articulating all of this, I don't think I'd have been able to put it this well.