In the News
How Do We Get Ketamine Safety Right? Three Questions From a Clinical Service
Twenty-five years have passed since Krystal and colleagues’ groundbreaking report that the NMDA antagonist ketamine hydrochloride, infused over 40 minutes at a subanesthetic dose, has rapid-acting antidepressant properties. Since then, many thousands of patients have received ketamine, and new formulations and routes of administration have proliferated. To mark the anniversary, 2025 brought near-simultaneous, seemingly contradictory, reports: while the FDA expanded esketamine’s labeled indications to include use as monotherapy for treatment-resistant depression, a new meta-analysis cast doubt on the durability of the patented enantiomer’s antidepressant properties and called into question its value in treating acute suicidality entirely.
On October 29, 2023, Phillip Ward, a 27-year-old man receiving off-label ketamine at home through the telehealth platform Mindbloom, was found dead in his bedroom. The official cause of death was ketamine toxicity. Two years later, Ward’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the ketamine provider, pharmacy, and clinicians involved in his care, claiming that the death was a result of negligence. The lawsuit alleges multiple breakdowns of responsible care: prescribing despite a history of substance use and cardiovascular risk; reliance on at-home monitoring tools that were misused or not used at all; and continued ketamine refills despite clear signs of patient disengagement, including missed mandatory checkups and failed payments. It is unclear how widespread the practices described in the Ward complaint are. The allegations remain to be proven at trial. Still, the lawsuit highlights broader ethical challenges related to off-label prescribing and direct-to-consumer telehealth that are increasingly common across health care.
Federal Officials Investigate Online Ketamine Sellers to Curb At-Home Use
The federal government is cracking down on online ketamine sellers amid growing concerns about misuse, adverse effects, and deaths from at-home use. The DEA has multiple ongoing investigations into “bad actors” prescribing the powerful mind-altering drug online, while the FDA recently sent warning letters to 14 online marketers—including ketaminetroches.com and legitketaminesuppliers.com—ordering them to stop selling unapproved ketamine products. The moves target an industry many have called a “Wild West,” with hundreds of businesses selling vials, powders, nasal sprays, and lozenges to consumers, often without proper medical supervision. The action follows a March 2026 WSJ report revealing that ketamine use has skyrocketed under loosened pandemic-era telehealth rules, which currently allow clinicians to prescribe controlled substances remotely without an in-person visit—a flexibility set to expire at the end of 2026.
Hip Replacement Lawsuits Grow as Defective Metal Implants Pay Over $65 Billion to Thousands of Patients by Diane Lilli | Mar 24, 2021
James A. Morris, Jr. was recently featured in an article discussing the current state of lawsuits filed against makers of defective metal hip replacements. Mr. Morris was interviewed regarding the harm from a defective implant that could give rise to a lawsuit and what affected individuals should do to protect their rights.
