Implant That Delivers Anti-Opioid Drug Straight To Stomach Could Be Crucial Tool To Combat Users’ Ambivalence
Dr. George O’Neil invented the device and has found success with it in Australia. Because the medication is pumped directly into the stomach, it eliminates the hurdle of ambivalence on the patient's part. Researchers in the U.S. are eager to see if it could be an effect weapon in the war against opioids. In other news, a doctor in Ohio was charged with murder over his prescription practices, but will the prosecutors secure a conviction?
The New York Times:
An Australian Doctor’s Dream: Curing America’s Opioid Curse
The hazy-eyed sheep shearer was shifting in his seat in a clinic in Western Australia, unsure if he could do what the doctor said would save his life. A heroin user for 20 years, he was now in the depths of a detoxification treatment. “I’m all alone,” he said. In a soft voice, the doctor, George O’Neil, pleaded with the man to continue to the next stage: an implant of the drug naltrexone, a device that the physician himself had invented and that is an emerging facet of an impassioned debate over the best way to treat addiction. “I don’t win with everybody,” the doctor said after the man had left. “But I try.” (Kwai, 6/6)
The Associated Press:
Doctor Killed 25 Patients, Officials Say. Can They Prove It?
Prosecutors face a legal hurdle as they pursue 25 murder charges against an Ohio doctor accused of essentially using his colleagues as weapons by ordering fatal painkiller doses for hospital patients but not directly administering them himself, legal experts say. Critical care doctor William Husel has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Richard Blake, said Husel was trying to provide "comfort care" for dying patients and didn't intend to hasten their deaths, as prosecutors allege. (Franko, 6/6)
