Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Jail Conversations With Late Football Star Aaron Hernandez Depict Culture Of Rampant Opioid Abuse In NFL
Boston Globe: In Jail Calls, Hernandez Discussed NFL’s Reliance On Painkillers With Former Teammates
The late New England Patriots’ star Aaron Hernandez spoke candidly behind bars with ex-teammates about football’s reliance on heavy-duty painkillers, a contentious issue that has spawned lawsuits by retired players and crackdowns by federal law enforcement. In jail phone calls obtained by the Globe, Hernandez talked to two former teammates about playing hurt and the regimen of painkillers NFL players take to stay on the football field. The players discussed popping pills like Vicodin and Percocet, both addictive opioids, and lobbying for injections of Toradol, a drug so powerful it is usually administered after surgery. (Ryan and Hohler, 11/13)
In other news on the epidemic —
CNN: US Has The Highest Rate Of Drug Overdoses, Study Says
The United States has more than double the rate of premature overdose deaths of at least 12 other countries, according to a new study. The research, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, says that there were an estimated 63,632 drug overdose deaths in 2016 in the US. "The U.S. has the highest death rate due to drug overdoses for both men and women (35 deaths in 100,000 men and 20 deaths in 100,000 women) in 2015, more than double those of any other country in our study," Yingxi Chen, one of the researchers and a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute, wrote in an email. (Thomas, 11/12)
The Associated Press: Spiritual First Responders Hit The Streets Amid Drug Crisis
Sidewalk prayers near shoot-up spots. Sunday sermons in the back of a bar. Pleas to struggling souls to surrender to God. Funerals for members of their flock who didn’t make it. Clergy members have become spiritual first responders in the opioid crisis, often leaving the pulpit to minister on the streets. They can be reverends, rabbis, priests or pastors. Though their faiths differ, they invariably approach people with addiction as equals. No Bible-thumping, no blaming. Quite a few are in recovery themselves. (Hill, 11/12)
