Libby asbestos clinic hit with new lawsuit

Libby’s asbestos clinic is facing another lawsuit, this time alleging medical malpractice, wrongful death and claims of disabling Lincoln County residents by prescribing them opioid pain killers following the misdiagnosis of health issues.

The civil suit filed Oct. 10 in Lincoln County District Court by a local man and the son of a man who died several years ago alleges medical malpractice against Dr. Charles Brad Black and the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, including Executive Director Tracy McNew. The court filing also argues the clinic knew or should have known both men didn’t satisfy diagnostic requirements for asbestos-related disease and should not have been giving opioid pain medications in the manner prescribed by the clinic's providers.  

Additional defendants are Michelle Boltz, who was a licensed nurse practitioner at the clinic, Miles Miller, who was a physician’s assistant at the clinic, as well as John Does 1-10, representing board members, directors, officers and employees of the clinic. 

Black, over several years, served as the clinic’s lead physician, medical director and chief executive officer. McNew first served as a licensed practical nurse at the clinic before becoming its executive director. 

The plaintiffs are Thomas Steiger, the personal representative of the estate of Terry L. Steiger, and Thomas J. Matilas, a Libby resident. According to the suit, Steiger, a Troy resident, was a patient of the clinic at the time of his death Jan. 12, 2015. Matilas is listed as a former clinic patient. 

Representing them are Libby attorney Amy Guth and the Missoula firm of McFarland, Molloy and Duerk. 

All declined to comment on the suit.

The suit also alleges negligence in the hiring, training and supervision of clinic employees by Black, McNew and its board of directors. It accuses the clinic and its representatives of the negligent infliction of emotional distress, fraud and negligent misrepresentations. 

The suit seeks punitive damages as well as damages related to wrongful death, emotional distress, past and future economic damages and other related costs. 

According to court documents, a lawsuit brought by BNSF Railway that resulted in a determination of fraud against the clinic in 2023, revealed information that is being used by the plaintiffs in the latest suit. It accuses the clinic and its employees of misdiagnosing hundreds of people with asbestosis, resulting in years of depression, substance abuse, opioid addiction and thoughts of suicide. 

Following a trial in June 2023, a jury found the clinic guilty of submitting 337 false claims. Expert witnesses testified that some individuals who received benefits were fraudulently labeled as sick and suffered from unnecessary narcotic prescriptions. 

The clinic recently lost an appeal that sought to overturn the jury's verdict. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling related to the lawsuit brought against it by BNSF Railway.

The clinic declared bankruptcy due to a judgment of approximately $6 million, but the United States intervened in the bankruptcy proceeding and determined that the judgment should not be paid, so the bankruptcy was settled and dismissed in spring 2024. The clinic also received a new grant from the Centers for Disease Control to continue its operations.

The new suit also asserts that misdiagnosis led to early death due to untreated medical conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, obesity and others with symptoms that the clinic blamed on asbestos exposure. 

The suit alleges that Steiger and Matilas fell into an unfortunate category of patients who were discouraged from getting a second opinion after being diagnosed with asbestosis. 

It accused Black of not referring both men to an outside cardiologist, pulmonologist or pain management physician. It also reports that years before Steiger’s death, a nurse at the clinic may have recommended a cardiology evaluation, but Black never ordered a heart work-up, never made a referral, never prescribed heart medication and never pressed the point that the plaintiffs needed to see a specialist for their heart conditions. 

Attorneys for the two men argue that Black prevented them from seeking care for a disease they did have while focusing on one they didn’t have. 

The suit also described Terry Steiger’s last night before his death at the age of 48. 

It reports his son, Tom Steiger, helped his dad remove his boots and was alarmed at the swelling in his father’s ankles. Tom Steiger wanted to take his father to the hospital to have his heart checked. 

Terry Steiger replied that Black told him his heart was not the problem, that it was his asbestos-affected lungs that were killing him.  

“Dr. Black said my heart was the one thing in my body left that works,” Terry Steiger reportedly said to his son. 

The suit reports that Terry Steiger was taken to the emergency room at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center in Libby on Jan. 12, 2015, in full cardiac arrest. Emergency room notes show he arrived with a bag of opioids on his chest that were reportedly prescribed by Black. 

Steiger was given two doses of Narcan by emergency room providers. Narcan is used to treat opioid overdose, but in this instance, it was unsuccessful. 

According to the suit, Steiger’s death certificate listed the cause of death as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a chronic and treatable heart condition. It also alleges that the clinic concealed the role heart disease played in the man’s death and suggested his heart failure was itself caused by asbestos-related disease. 

The suit claims Steiger received federal benefits from a disability claim because of Black prescribing opioids, not due to asbestos. 

“Terry Steiger lost his job as a heavy equipment operator, not because of any effects of asbestos-related disease, but due to the presence of opioids in his bloodstream,” the suit alleges. 

The suit also provided information about prescription opioid painkillers in the region that shone Black in an unflattering light. 

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency data showed that 245 million prescription pain pills were supplied to Montana from 2006 to 2012. The bulk of the pills were confined to Northwest Montana and Lincoln County showed the highest number of total opioid pain killers per person for the entire state in the seven-year period. 

The suit also alleged that according to expert trial testimony, Black wrote more prescriptions for the synthetic opioid fentanyl than all other Medicare Part D providers from 2013 to 2019 in Libby.  

One expert who testified at the 2023 trial, Dr. Steven Thomas, who has worked as a pain management expert, noted there were violations of prescription practices, such as rubber-stamped – electronically signed – prescriptions for opioids by Black.  

Thomas also testified that Black prescribed "too much too fast" and the opioids were not medically necessary, the suit claims. He went as far as saying 95% of the prescriptions were not medically necessary. 

The suit also claims the clinic operated in a fraudulent manner because it was an unlicensed health care facility that fit the definition and functioned as such a facility defined by Montana Code Annotated 50-5-101(20)(a). 

The filing alleges the clinic skirted the legal requirement of licensing, allowing it, Black, McNew and the board of directors to evade state inspections, mandatory reporting, state oversight and quality control provisions that govern licenses facilities in Montana.