Right now. And over the next hour, three people will die. He went to sleep, and he had no idea this was going to be his last night on earth. From misusing perfectly legal Prescription Drugs. Taking a deadly dose. Im a little concerned that may have taken something that wasnt good for me on accident. I took a few methadone from my grandpa. They were 10 milligrams. What you are listening to are actual calls. How is he acting . At the Washington Poison Center in seattle. Just drowsy . Okay. And lately, more and more of them sound Something Like this. And today, i took about 90 milligrams of percocet. Oh, you did . 6 00, i wasnt really thinking and i did a bar of xanax and im reading all this stuff online how that is a very lethal combination. I have a lot of friends who died in their sleep and i just wasnt really thinking. Now im wondering if i should stay up tonight. That kind of call to me is really scary. Oh, it is scary. What goes through your mind . So, i would be very frightened abo
Not making through the night. Dr. Bill hurley is the medical director of the poison center. He is also a trauma doctor. Possibly too many of his meds. They are not sure what all theyve got. We are here in seattle, in part, because the problem is bad. This bottle still has quite a bit in it. But also because, as you will see, there are real solutions. No other meds . For hurley it started five years ago. Hes got pinpoint pupils. He started noticing overdoses, a lot of them, coming through his e. R. Doors. We thought, well, these are the guys who are on the street, maybe using heroin. But looking deeper, he realized they werent junkies, not at all. It usually began with a back sprain. They were taking these medications no to the get high but try to control pain in most cases, back pain and then they were mixing them with other medication and having fatal reactions to that. A lot of people have back pain. A lot of people take pain medications for that pain. And what youre saying a lot of
this community, someone in that group is going to have had a friend, a loved one that has either had difficulty with a prescription drug or potentially died from that. aman s unit responds to 45 calls a month about overdoses involving these types of medications. and this is important it can be difficult to tell whether it s a painkiller or heroin because they come from the same ingredient and do the same sort of thing to your body. aside from needle tracks in the arms, someone who has had an overdose of pain medication like that or heroin, they could look very much the same? absolutely. they could be unconscious from a medication that they think is relatively safe for them because instead of getting it on the street, they get it from a pharmacist. 36, code green. possible drug overdose. these people are suffering from chronic pain. they know that a little bit of pain medication helps so maybe a
they were taking these medications no to the get high but try to control pain in most cases, back pain and then they were mixing them with other medication and having fatal reactions to that. a lot of people have back pain. a lot of people take pain medications for that pain. and what you re saying a lot of those people are then dying? yeah. a lot of them are dying and a lot of people in our culture right now are at risk of dying from the exact same thing. i wanted to know more. so they allowed me to listen in. poison center. may i help you? yeah, my wife took hydromet and when we checked it later, she had taken 30 millimeters instead of five. to see the problem firsthand, i rode along with lieutenant craig aman. he has been on the job for 30 years. he will tell you, when he takes an overdose call the usual suspect is a painkiller. what sort of impact have you seen here in seattle? well, i think if you pull a group of people together from
0 you both seem very at peace. i m very at peace. very peaceful. we ve been given a great life. it s unfortunate charlotte has this syndrome and great now that it s working. she s doing so great today. this is a drug overdose call. every 19 minutes in the united states someone dies of an accidental overdose. this is crazy. not a single, solitary one of these people has to die. we re used to thinking of it starting here, looking like this. but something happened in this country, and now increasingly it starts here in your own home. as we speak, someone died. right now. and over the next hour, three people will die. he went to sleep, and he had no idea this was going to be his last night on earth. from misusing perfectly legal prescription drugs. taking a deadly dose. i m a little concerned that may have taken something that wasn t good for me on accident. i took a few methadone from my grandpa. they were 10 milligrams. what you are listening to are actual