Five East Tennessee district attorney generals have jointly filed a lawsuit against a major prescription opioid manufacturer. The defendants named in the suit are Purdue Pharma L.P., Mallinckrodt LLC, Endo Health Solutions Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., Tennessee Pain Institute and a convicted drug dealer. The suit claims the number of babies born with Neonatal abstinence syndrome or NAS in the five judicial districts doubled from 2010 to 2011 at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville. The cost for caring for these drug-dependent babies is roughly ten times more than babies born without NAS. The lawsuit demands judgment against the defendants for damages resulting from breaches of statutory and common law and requests an injunction to stop the flood of opioids to the region. The counties included in the lawsuit include Knox, Anderson, Fentress, Morgan, Roane, Loudon, Meigs, McMinn, Monroe, Bradley and Polk counties.