Berger Kahn Partner Rich Collins filed a wrongful dealth and medical malpractice suit against Dr. Petraglia, a pain management doctor in Newport Beach. Says the Orange County Register about the pending case:

“In a case filed last year, he’s accused of wrongful death, medical malpractice and negligence. The lawsuit says Petraglia’s excessive prescribing of drugs led to the 2010 death of Michael Huggard and left another man, Joseph Rivas, permanently disabled.

A court hearing on Petraglia’s objections to the complaint is scheduled for May 15….

The families’ lawyer, Rich Collins, said he’s encouraged by the state’s stepped-up investigation of pain-management doctors in the past year. ‘It’s a story that we’ve seen far too many times with far too many practitioners, and there needs to be some greater oversight,’ Collins said.”