Showing posts with label Pain Killers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pain Killers. Show all posts

March 20, 2016

ABC Reports on Opioid OD Deaths




ABC reported that every 25 minutes an addicted baby is born. And there is one OD death a day from heroin in New Hampshire.

http://abc.go.com/shows/2020/listing/2016-03/11-031116-breaking-point-heroin-in-america
20/20March 2016

03/11/16
Breaking Point: Heroin in America
Man Addicted to Heroin Could Lose Family If He Doesn’t Recover; Surviving 48 Hours Until Rehab.
ABC News

June 5, 2015

VA Needs Scrutiny To End Psychiatric and Pain Killer Drug Abuses




[From article]
An astonishing 22 veterans commit suicide every day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. A disturbing and growing number are younger vets, many haunted by their experiences and poorly reintegrated into civilian life. In a 2014 survey of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, half said they knew another veteran who had attempted suicide.
[. . .]
A video from his [James O'Keefe's] group Project Veritas asks why an increasing number of military graveyards are being filled with people who died at their own hands rather than in combat.
[. . .]



DR. MAUREEN MCCARTHY: You know, it’s not you know what people think of as sick patients, so much. It’s people that have drug problems, some of which are caused by us and our prescribing. . . . We also look at the combination of patients on opiates, like morphine and benzodiazepine, like Ativan and Klonopin. PROJECT VERITAS: Is that the anxiety . . . ? MCCARTHY: Yes. That combination in particular is like candy for some people. It’s like they want it, they want it, they want it.
[. . .]



O’Keefe tells the story of David Cranmer, a Marine who fought in Iraq and returned home with a severe back injury. Cranmer’s father, Bob, says: “It took him over a year to be seen. He was diagnosed that he would require surgery to have his discs repaired. But they never scheduled the surgery, they just gave him, gave him painkillers. And that went on for a number of years. The primary drug that he was given was OxyContin.” He finally entered a drug-addiction treatment center after he became an addict. The VA finally called Cranmer in and after an hour with a psychologist at a local hospital diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was given the anti-depressant Zoloft and two mood stabilizers. But Zoloft has been proven to increase suicidal thoughts or actions. His father believes that ultimately the drugs did far more harm than good. A month after he was diagnosed, David Cranmer used a ladder to hang himself. He left behind a wife and a five-year-old daughter.
[. . .]
JOE SALOMON: I think that, I’ll be honest with you. I think, you know, you’re a resident for six months and you’re a resident for six months and you’re a resident, and so you put on the pills. And you review it the next six months and you think, you know, this other pill may help. Then you do it, and you think, ahh, this other pill might help. PROJECT VERITAS: They don’t even know what the pills are actually doing though and they are giving pills. JOE SALOMON: I do think that happens.
[. . .]



Tom Coburn, a medical doctor who has treated suicidal patients, says the VA needs a “top-to-bottom review and reorganization.” He says the bill passed by Congress that is designed to prevent veteran suicides “throws money at the problem while not demanding true reform” 
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419284/why-are-graveyards-american-soldiers-filling-suicides-john-fund

Why Are Graveyards of American Soldiers Filling up with Suicides?
by JOHN FUND @JOHNFUND 
June 4, 2015 8:00 AM

Published on Jun 4, 2015
Hidden Camera: Senior Veterans Administration official and staff members say VA turning veterans into drug addicts. Doctors, nurses, contract workers, and volunteers speak about the pill pushing practices and over-prescription epidemic that plague the VA and affects millions of veterans.




June 3, 2015

Painless Dentistry: I Love My Dental Hygienist


Since my retirement, people ask me who I go to, to get my teeth cleaned. I've found this hygienist who is totally painless.





July 8, 2014

NY Hospital Pharmacist Stole $5 million in Pain Killers



[From article]
The one-time top pharmacist at Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital was arrested Tuesday in the theft of $5.6 million in painkillers that prosecutors believe ended up on the black market.
Anthony D’Alessandro, who was the hospital’s pharmacy director for 14 years, was busted at his home on Staten Island, prosecutors said. He’s set to be arraigned later Tuesday.
The 47-year-old allegedly stole nearly 193,000 oxycodone pills since 2009 , until he was fired in the spring.

http://nypost.com/2014/07/08/top-hospital-pharmacist-arrested-%E2%80%8Bfor-stealing-5-6-million-in-painkillers/

Pharmacist arrested for stealing $5.6M in painkillers
By Rebecca Rosenberg
New York Post
July 8, 2014 | 1:37pm

July 1, 2014

Use of Pain Drugs Widespread, Varies By State



[From article]
U.S. health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers in 2012, enough to give a bottle of the pills to every adult in the country. But your chances of ending up with those pills – and the risks that come with them – depend a lot on where you live, says a new report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report, published Tuesday, shows prescribing rates vary widely by state for drugs best known by brand names such as Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin. The highest rates are in the Southeast, led by Alabama. Providers in that state wrote 143 prescriptions for every 100 residents, while providers in Hawaii, the state with the lowest rate, wrote 52 for every 100 people, nearly three times fewer.
Other states with very high rates include Tennessee and West Virginia; states with low rates include California and New York.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/01/painkiller-prescription-rates-states/11898327/

Painkiller prescription rates vary widely among states
Kim Painter
3:49 p.m. EDT July 1, 2014

March 28, 2013

NYC Doctor, Assistant and Her Husband Charged With Drug Dealing






Dr. Hector Castro



Patricia Valera was known as "Kardashian" on the street.



Cash found at the doctor's office.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/manhattan_doc_staffer_busted_in_lVSktBmKSqaBdAp31PQn4N


Manhattan doc, staffer busted in separate multi-million dollar oxy rings run out of same office
By LARRY CELONA, AARON FEIS and PEDRO OLIVEIRA Jr.
New York Post
Last Updated: 5:01 PM, March 28, 2013
Posted: 12:10 PM, March 28, 2013

December 28, 2011

Man Shoots Himself to Get Pain Meds

http://news.yahoo.com/police-mont-man-denied-painkillers-shoots-self-144503696.html

Police: Mont. man denied painkillers, shoots self
Associated Press

December 26, 2011

Drug Companies Develop More Powerful Pain Drug

Sounds like the model for psychiatric drugs. If you stop taking them you don't just get sick, you become violent.

[From article]
"Hydrocodone belongs to family of drugs known as opiates or opioids because they are chemically similar to opium. They include morphine, heroin, oxycodone, codeine, methadone and hydromorphone.

Opiates block pain but also unleash intense feelings of well-being and can create physical dependence. The withdrawal symptoms are also intense, with users complaining of cramps, diarrhea, muddled thinking, nausea and vomiting.

[. . .]

"You've got a person on your product for life, and a doctor's got a patient who's never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn't get their prescription, they would feel very sick," said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. "It's a terrific business model, and that's what these companies want to get in on."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20111226/D9RSBNF01.html

New powerful painkiller has abuse experts worried
AP
Dec 26, 1:23 PM (ET)
By CHRIS HAWLEY

November 10, 2011

Prescription Drugs, an Awesome Business

Are prescription drugs an awesome business model or what? Patients get hooked on pain killers. The same manufacturers create a drug to wean them off the other drugs. This business is promoted by psychiatrists whose genes have been cleansed of greed, mendacity and sadism. The US Government officially approves their use. Prominent television celebrities appear on news programs (e.g., 60 Minutes) which are sponsored by these chemical pushers. How can you not buy their common stocks? I mean, like, you know what I'm talking about? If anyone opposes this system they are accused of hating curing illnesses, and hating science.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/11/10/HMS-Study-Painkiller-Abuse/

HMS Studies Painkiller Abuse
By Cynthia W. Shih, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Harvard Crimson
Published: Thursday, November 10, 2011

August 20, 2011

US Doctor Sold Drugs to Mexican Dealers

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110820/ap_on_re_us/us_smuggled_prescription_drugs

APNewsBreak: Doc charged in prescription drug case
By ELLIOT SPAGAT,
Associated Press
August 20, 2011