Pain therapist accused of getting patients addicted to opioids

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

Phillip Nico, 67, says his long-time pain therapist Spencer Lau “deliberately misdiagnosed” his back pain in 2012 and prescribed him “unnecessary” amounts of oxycodone – 180 tablets 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 drug was not addictive.

Nico said he became addicted within the first six months of taking the opioids. “There was no 'I won't take one 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, alongside PMGH founder Dr. Scott Miscovich is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Nico said he never saw Miscovich for treatment or prescriptions, but he is named for his leadership role at PMGH.

Nico admits that he was self-medicating and using illegal street drugs while taking the prescription pills.

Urine tests showed fentanyl in his system in 2014. His lawyer Bosko Petricevic said Lau should have taken action then.

“He’s more than addicted, isn’t he? He is adding now, but nothing has been done,” Petricevic said.

Almost a decade later, in 2023, Nico was given two more urine tests, but he failed them. He tested positive twice for meth and other drugs.

The complaint states: “Dr. Lau was “angry” about the test results and “stated that (Nico) would get him in trouble with the DEA.”

Nico received a final prescription from Lau in September 2023.

This time it was a month's supply of Suboxone, a drug used to reduce opioid cravings. Typically, addicts are given Suboxone for months or even years, but Nico said he was denied further prescriptions.

“Suddenly you’re cut off. And believe me, for someone who is a junkie at this point, it's scary to know you can't get your pills anymore,” Nico said.

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

He said he hasn't taken any illegal drugs or consumed alcohol since, but when he quit “cold turkey” he had a seizure that led to a fall that caused a brain injury.

Nico said he had numbness on one side and needed a cane to walk.

Nico has been doing physiotherapy for the brain injury and said it helped him with the excruciating back pain that saw him go to Lau in 2012.

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

In that motion, the defense stated that the claims were invalid because the alleged actions occurred outside the two-year statute of limitations. The defense requests that the lawsuit be dismissed without prejudice.

A hearing on the motions to dismiss is scheduled for January.

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