Hospitals give out doses of antidote to fight opioid crisis
The project already has 47 hospitals committed to dispensing the overdose antidote to at-risk patients as they are discharged from the emergency department. Author: Associated Press Updated: 9:54 AM CDT May 8, 2021
When doctors write a prescription for the life-saving antidote to an opioid overdose, patients only bother to fill them about 5% of the time.
But what if hospital physicians simply handed a vial of naloxone to the patients they worry are most likely to die, particularly those who were just rushed to the emergency room after overdosing on fentanyl, prescription opioids or heroin?
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Leon Wittner stands with his daughter Grace Wittner, next to the headstone of his oldest daughter, Sara Wittner, at Broomfield County Commons Cemetery in Broomfield
on Saturday
. Sara Wittner, who was 31, died of a drug overdoes in April of 2020, the day before her appointment for a Vivitrol shot. Sara was on a routine to get the injection every 30 days, but when the coronavirus struck her father, Leon, said scheduling became problematic. Her April appointment for a Vivitrol shot was pushed out an extra 15 days.
Photos by Chancey Bush, The Gazette
Leon Wittner touches the headstone for his daughter, Sara Wittner, at Broomfield County Commons Cemetery in Broomfield, Colo., on Saturday, May 1, 2021. Sara Wittner, who was 31, died of a drug overdoes in April of 2020, the day before her appointment for a Vivitrol shot. Sara was on a routine to get the injection every 30 days, but when the coronavirus struck her father, Leon, said scheduling became pro