Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Tragic Opioid Losses Continue To Mount: A Tiny Infant In The Bronx, A Best Friend In Philadelphia, A College Football Star In Oklahoma
The New York Times: Opioid Crisis In The Bronx Claims Tiny Victim: 1-Year-Old
Two days after Christmas, Darwin Santana-Gonzalez, a curly-haired 1-year-old, was toddling around a Bronx apartment where, the police said, a potent mixture of heroin and fentanyl was being prepared, stamped and packed for sale. The powerful opioids had been placed in packages, the authorities said, along with a related drug, acetylfentanyl, creating the sort of deadly cocktail that has led to a surge of overdose deaths in the Bronx and beyond. Somehow, some of the mix also ended up in Darwin. (Otterman and Correal, 5/29)
The Washington Post: Emma Semler Faces 21 Years In Prison For Sharing A Fatal Heroin Dose With Friend Jenny Werstler
Emma Semler sobbed in court on Wednesday as she faced Jenny Werstler’s grieving family. “I should be dead as well,” she told them through tears, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I don’t know why I’m still here and not Jenny.” The two young women had both struggled with devastating addictions to heroin. On one fateful evening in 2014, they shot up together at a KFC in West Philadelphia. Werstler overdosed and Semler fled, abandoning her friend in the fast-food restaurant’s restroom. Later that night, Werstler died. It was her 20th birthday. (Farzan, 5/30)
CNN: Dad Of Oklahoma Sooner Football Player Who Overdosed Speaks At Landmark Opioid Trial
Craig Box couldn't hold back tears in an Oklahoma courtroom on Wednesday as he described his late son Austin as "a special young man." Austin Box, a football star at the University of Oklahoma, died of an opioid overdose at the age of 22 in 2011. Now his father hopes to use his death to provide context to a historic trial in Norman that will test whether a state can make a pharmaceutical company pay for the opioid epidemic impacting Americans today. (Howard, 5/29)
CNN: Former Purdue Pharma President Was Compared To Pablo Escobar In Email From A Friend
The former chairman and president of pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma was warned by a friend that the addictive nature of the powerful pain killing opioid OxyContin could make him the next Pablo Escobar, according to a recently obtained deposition. The deposition, which took place in March and is part of the multidistrict litigation, saw Richard Sackler grilled over several aspects of the company's operation, from marketing of the drug, to his interaction with the sales team. The deposition showed that Sackler, who said his memory suffered from brain injuries stemming from a stroke, would at times say he could not remember. (Morales, 5/29)
Stat: The Chronic-Pain Quandary: Amid A Reckoning Over Opioids, A Doctor Crusades For Caution In Cutting Back
[Dr. Stefan] Kertesz, a primary care physician who also specializes in addiction medicine, had not spent his career investigating long-term opioid use or chronic pain. But he grew concerned by the medical community’s efforts to regain control over prescribing patterns after years of lax distribution. ...Now, Kertesz is a leading advocate against policies that call for aggressive reductions in long-term opioid prescriptions or have resulted in forced cutbacks. He argues that well-intentioned initiatives to avoid the mistakes of the past have introduced new problems. He’s warned that clinicians’ decisions are destabilizing patients’ lives and leaving them in pain — and in some cases could drive patients to obtain opioids illicitly or even take their lives. (Joseph, 5/30)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Public Health Officials Urging Use Of Free Fentanyl Test Strips After Another Wave Of Fatal Overdoses In Cleveland, Cuyahoga County
Public health officials are urging drug users to pick up free fentanyl test strips amid a wave of fatal overdoses linked to a mixture of the opioid and crack-cocaine. Officials believe the drugs contributed to 18 drug overdose deaths over a recent eight-day period, including eight deaths over Memorial Day Weekend. (MacDonald, 5/29)
NH Times Union: ACLU-NH, State Medical Society Look To Block DEA Access To Prescription Drug Records
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Medical Society filed a brief in federal court Wednesday, saying the state should continue to fight a request made by federal law enforcement for access to the state’s prescription drug database. The brief, also filed by the national ACLU and four other ACLU affiliates, is part of the federal case U.S. Department of Justice v. Jonas, and explains that not only are these types of searches unconstitutional, but they can also have adverse consequences and deter patients from receiving needed medical care. (Feely, 5/29)
