For One Patient, Tapering Off Pain Medication Became Like A Game Of Hot-Potato Between Doctors
"A bunch of them wouldn't even talk to me," says Travis Rieder, a medical bioethicist who spoke out about his experience trying to get off opioids. "And this includes the pain management team. They would not speak with me, and the message they sent through a nurse was, 'We prescribe opioids but we don't help with tapering.'" Other news on the crisis comes from Kentucky, Iowa and Arizona.
NPR:
Travis Rieder's 'Pain' Tells Of Bioethicist's Lonely Struggle To Quit Opioids Alone
In 2015, Travis Rieder, a medical bioethicist with Johns Hopkins University's Berman Institute of Bioethics, was involved in a motorcycle accident that crushed his left foot. In the months that followed, he underwent six different surgeries as doctors struggled first to save his foot and then to reconstruct it. Rieder says that each surgery brought a new wave of pain, sometimes "searing and electrical," other times "fiery and shocking." (Gross, 7/8)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
Needle Exchanges In Kentucky Saved 92 Lives With Narcan Access
At least 92 lives have been saved with naloxone handed out at two Northern Kentucky syringe exchanges. ...The rescues with the opioid-overdose antidote were among records The Enquirer requested from the Northern Kentucky Health Department to learn outcomes of the first year of Covington and Newport syringe-exchanges. (DeMio, 7/8)
Iowa Public Radio:
Iowa Sees Decrease In Opioid-Related Deaths
Last year, opioid-related deaths in Iowa decreased by 33 percent, marking a five year low for the state, according to statistics released this month from the state's Department of Health Statistics. Iowa had 137 opioid-related deaths in 2018, 206 deaths in 2017, 180 deaths in 2016, 163 deaths in 2015 and 168 deaths in 2014. (Krebs, 7/8)
Arizona Republic:
La Paz County Sues Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors In Arizona
La Paz County filed a lawsuit in Arizona court Wednesday against opioid manufacturers and distributors, alleging they created an opioid crisis and brought suffering to the rural community. Filed in La Paz County Superior Court, the lawsuit names multiple defendants, including Chandler-based Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor and former CEO and President Michael Babich, and Johnson and Johnson. (Curtis, 7/5)
