An anesthesiologist is accused of putting a patient on opioids

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A pain management doctor accused of putting a patient on opioids is now being sued along with the medical group he belongs to.

Philip Nico, 67, says his longtime pain doctor, Spencer Lau, “deliberately misdiagnosed” his back pain in 2012 to prescribe an “unnecessary” amount of oxycodone — 180 pills a month.

Nico said Lau never told him to try physical therapy or other treatments first.

According to the complaint filed Oct. 2, Lau told him the prescription drugs were not addictive.

Within the first six months of taking opioids, Nico said he became addicted. “There was no ‘I’m not going to host today,'” he said.

Nico continued to see Lau for more than a decade and even followed Lau when he joined Premier Medical Group Hawaii in 2019, which is also a defendant in the lawsuit along with PMGH founder Dr. Scott Miscovich.

Nico said he never saw Mishkowicz for treatment or prescriptions, but he is being referred to because of his leadership role at PMGH.

Nico admits that he self-medicated and used illegal street drugs by taking prescription pills.

Urine tests showed the presence of fentanyl in his body in 2014. His lawyer, Boško Petrycevic, said that Lau should have taken action even then.

“He’s more than addicted, isn’t he? Now he is making additions, but nothing has been done,” Petrichevich said.

Almost ten years later, in 2023, Nico was given two more urine tests, which he failed. He twice tested positive for methamphetamine and other drugs.

According to the complaint, “Dr. Lau became angry” about the test results and “stated that (Nico) was going to get him in trouble with the DEA.”

In September 2023, Nico received the last prescription from Lau.

This time it was a month’s supply of Suboxone, an opioid addiction medication. Addicts typically get months, even years, of Suboxone, but Nico said he was denied additional prescriptions.

“Suddenly you are cut off. And trust me, for someone who is now an addict, to know that you’re not taking pills anymore, it’s scary,” Nico said.

Nico said he almost became homeless, but his family gave him another chance to get clean.

He said he hasn’t used illegal drugs or consumed alcohol since, but quitting “cold turkey” caused him to have seizures, which led to a fall that caused a brain injury.

Nico said he was paralyzed on one side and needed a cane to walk.

Nico has been doing physical therapy following a traumatic brain injury and said it has helped with excruciating back pain that brought him to Lau back in 2012.

Attorneys for Lau and Miskovich and Premier Medical Group Hawaii said they could not comment on the pending litigation, but on Oct. 22 filed a motion to dismiss the case.

In that motion, the defense argued that the claims were invalid because the alleged acts occurred outside the two-year statute of limitations. The defense requests that the complaint be dismissed with prejudice.

Consideration of dismissal requests is scheduled for January.