In the 2014, nearly 260 million painkiller prescriptions were issued in the United States, and the steady annual increase in issuance has been called into question as opioid-related deaths have surged. The CDC reported earlier this year opioid-related overdoses increased by 200 percent since 2000. Most of the people who overdosed were 25 to 44…
Opinion: Has the Opioid Crackdown Begun?
Legislature limiting opioid abuse has been a state and national conversation, but in Massachusetts it is now law. What is being called the most comprehensive bill in the nation, it includes: Mandatory substance-abuse assessments for emergency room patients who are suspected of an opioid overdose Verbal screenings for students at school to look for signs of substance abuse…
Recall: Bug Contaminates Irrigation Fluid
An insect is the cause of a voluntary recall of surgical irrigation fluid by Baxter International. The single lot, number G120162, is of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Irrigation, USP, 500 mL Plastic Pour Bottle solution, and was distributed between Nov. 12, 2015 and Jan. 11, 2016. Baxter told its customers to return the product. The species…
Court: Denying Surgery Not Sex Discrimination
Sudhin Thanawala, Associated Press, wrote: Ordering a Catholic hospital in California to perform a tubal ligation sterilization procedure on a woman would violate its religious freedom, a San Francisco judge ruled Thursday. “Religious-based hospitals have an enshrined place in American history and its communities, and the religious beliefs reflected in their operation are not to…