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Overdose deaths involving both opioids and either cocaine or psychostimulants were rising long before anyone heard of COVID-19, a National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) report showed.
From 2009 to 2019, deaths involving both cocaine and opioids rose more quickly than those involving cocaine but not opioids, reported Holly Hedegaard, MD, of the NCHS Division of Analysis and Epidemiology, and co-authors, in an
From 2009 to 2019, the rate of overdose deaths involving both cocaine and opioids jumped from 0.7 to 3.8 per 100,000, while overdose deaths involving cocaine without opioids increased from 0.7 to 1.1, Hedegaard and co-authors said. In 2019, 76% of cocaine-related overdose deaths also involved an opioid. This varied by region, from 83% in the Northeast to 63% in the West.
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Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, highlighting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week.
Docs to Prison for Opioid Overprescribing
Several physicians were recently sentenced to jail time for illegally distributing controlled substances, particularly opioids.
Myron Rodos, DO, was sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined $300,000 for running a pill mill in North Philadelphia, where he illegally doled out oxycodone and methadone to patients in exchange for sex and money, according to the Department of Justice.
Peter Steiner, MD, a psychiatrist in Louisville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for distributing unnecessary buprenorphine and fentanyl to multiple patients over several years. According to the Louisville