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

Phillip Nico, 67, claims his longtime doctor, Spencer Lau, “intentionally misdiagnosed” his back pain in 2012 to prescribe “unnecessary” amounts of oxycodone — 180 pills per month.

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

According to the complaint filed Oct. 2, Lau told him the prescription drug was not addictive.

During the first six months after taking opioids, Nico said he was addicted. “There was no, ‘I’m not taking any today,’” he said.

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

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

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

Urine tests revealed fentanyl in his system in 2014. His lawyer, Bosko Petricevic, said Lau should have acted then.

“He’s beyond addicted, isn’t he?” He is completing it now, but nothing has been done,” Petricevic said.

Nearly a decade later, in 2023, Nico took two more urine tests, but failed. He tested positive twice for methamphetamine and other drugs.

According to the complaint, “Dr. Lau became 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 medication intended to reduce opioid cravings. Usually, addicts are given Suboxone for months or even years, but Nico said he was denied other prescriptions.

“All of a sudden you’re cut off. And believe me, for someone who is on drugs at this point, knowing that you are no longer getting your pills is scary,” Nico said.

Nico said he almost ended up homeless, but his family gave him one more chance to get clean.

He said he has not taken illegal drugs or consumed alcohol since, but quitting “all at once” caused him to have a seizure, which led to a fall which caused a brain injury.

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

Nico underwent physical therapy following his brain injury and said it helped relieve the nagging back pain he went to Lau for 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 to dismiss the case on Oct. 22.

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

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

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