ER Treatment For Opioids Increases 141 Percent In Orange County
A new report finds that between 2005 and 2015, 7,457 residents went to county hospital emergency rooms for reasons such as opioid addiction or heroin poisoning.
Orange County Register:
Opioid-Related ER Visits More Than Double Over Past Decade In Orange County
Emergency room visits resulting from opioid use have increased 141 percent over 10 years in Orange County, according to a report released Tuesday, Aug. 15, by the Health Care Agency. Between 2005 and 2015, 7,457 residents went to hospital ERs for reasons such as opioid addiction or heroin poisoning. (Perkes, 8/15)
In other news on the epidemic --
Bloomberg:
Big Pharma's Tobacco Moment As Star Lawyers Push Opioid Suits
Big Pharma is having a Big Tobacco moment as litigation over opioids attract star lawyers and a growing list of states and local governments seeking their own multibillion-dollar payout to deal with costs of a burgeoning drug epidemic. On Tuesday, South Carolina became the sixth state to sue opioid makers alleging they have created a public health crisis. The suit filed by Joe Rice, a plaintiff lawyer who helped negotiate a $246 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998, suggests states are laying the groundwork to force a resolution that provides billions of dollars to cover the costs of an epidemic blamed for 62 deaths per day. (Feeley and Hopkins, 8/15)
NPR:
'Body Brokers' Get Kickbacks To Lure People With Addictions To Bad Rehab
Some sober homes are good places. But others see a person who has an addiction as a payday. Amid the nation's growing opioid crisis, South Florida has become a mecca for drug treatment. And as more people arrive looking for help, there's more opportunity for corruption and insurance fraud. There are millions to be made in billing patients for unnecessary treatment and tests, according to officials investigating the problem. (Haden, 8/15)
The Associated Press:
US Teen Drug Overdose Deaths Inch Up After Years Of Decline
After years of decline, teen deaths from drug overdoses have inched up, a new U.S. government report shows. The drop in teen deaths had been a rare bright spot in the opioid epidemic that has seen adult overdose deaths surge year after year — fueled by abuse of prescription painkillers, heroin and newer drugs like fentanyl. (Stobbe, 8/16)
Bloomberg:
Heroin-Era Antidotes Can’t Handle Overdoses In Age Of Synthetics
Addicts in the Colorado town where [Ralph Battels is] an emergency room doctor are downing such incredibly powerful opioids that the overdose-reversal agent may have to be applied two or three times -- or more -- to revive them and calm their sometimes violent highs. The budget at Pagosa Springs Medical Center is taking an unanticipated hit, another victim of a raging national epidemic. ... Hospitals and emergency-services agencies across the U.S. are confronting higher bills for the chemical compound that can block the effects of painkillers and heroin, as super-strong synthetic opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil grow increasingly popular. Not only are more doses of the remedy often required, prices for some brands of naxolone have been ticking up. (Mattingly, 8/16)