Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Teens' Wisdom Teeth Removal Surgery Can Often Open The Door To Opioid Addiction
Los Angeles Times: Surgery To Remove Wisdom Teeth Puts Some Teens And Young Adults On A Path To Opioid Abuse
For older teens and young adults, the extraction of so-called wisdom teeth is a painful rite of passage. A new study suggests it’s likely made more perilous by the package of narcotic pain pills that patients frequently carry home after undergoing the common surgical procedure. The study offers fresh evidence of how readily — and innocently — a potentially fatal addiction to opioids can take hold. It also underscores how important it is that dentists rethink their approach to treating their patients’ postoperative discomfort. (Healy, 12/4)
NPR: Schools Help Students Whose Families Struggle With Opioid Addiction
When Maddy Nadeau was a toddler, her mother wasn't able to care for her. "I remember mom was always locking herself in her room and she didn't take care of me. My mom just wasn't around at the time," she says. Every day, her older sister Devon came home from elementary school and made sure Maddy had something to eat. "Devon would come home from school and fix them cold hot dogs or a bowl of cereal — very simple items that both of them could eat," says Sarah Nadeau, who fostered the girls and later adopted them. (Gotbaum, 12/5)
WBUR: Why You May Be Denied Life Insurance For Carrying Naloxone
That's a message public health leaders aim to spread far and wide. "BE PREPARED. GET NALOXONE. SAVE A LIFE," summarized an advisory from the U.S. surgeon general in April. But life insurers consider the use of prescription drugs when reviewing policy applicants. And it can be difficult to tell the difference between someone who carries naloxone to save others and someone who carries naloxone because they are at risk for an overdose. (Bebinger, 12/5)
Denver Post: Feds Threaten Reprisals If Denver Proceeds With Supervised Drug-Use Site
In recent weeks, the Denver City Council and Mayor Michael Hancock approved a law that would allow the city to host a supervised drug-use facility. If state lawmakers also approve, Denver could become the first U.S. city where people can use heroin and other drugs under the supervision of medical professionals. The idea is that supervision can prevent overdose deaths and help people get services. But the sites remain illegal under federal law, as the city was reminded in a letter Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the local field office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. (Kenney, 12/4)
Kansas City Star: Suit Blames Fentanyl Choking Death On Overland Park Regional
A woman choked to death after staff at Overland Park Regional Medical Center gave her the powerful opioid fentanyl and then left her unattended to eat breakfast, according to a new lawsuit. The suit, filed Friday in Johnson County, says that Mollie Watkins was admitted to the hospital in December 2016 for an infection. (Marso, 12/4)
