As Narcotic Painkiller Abuse Rises, New Study Shows Hospitals Give Patients Too Many Strong Drugs

A new study released on Wednesday, November 13th shows that hospitalized patients often receive powerful narcotic painkillers, regardless of whether or not they’ve had surgery.

The finding comes as many other reports show a huge increase in narcotic painkiller abuse and overdose across the United States. Although focus for years has been on street narcotics like heroin, new studies show that more and more, teenagers and adults are becoming addicted to narcotic painkillers like Oxycodone and Hydrocodone to the point of overdose.

In the past 10 years, the rate of fatal overdose due to narcotic painkiller abuse has almost quadrupled, with an estimated 14,000 Americans dying each year due to narcotic painkiller addiction and abuse. South Carolina currently ranks 10th in the nation for narcotic painkiller and prescription drug abuse, with no plan in place to combat the growing problem.

In the most recent study, researchers examined data from over 1 million hospital admissions to 286 hospitals across the country, between 2009 and 2010. They found that more than 50% of patients who did not have surgery were prescribed high doses of narcotic painkillers, which many of them may not have needed.

The researchers also found that these nonsurgical patients were still taking the narcotic painkillers the day they were discharged from the hospital. And, they found that, among those who did receive narcotic painkillers, 43% of those patients were prescribed two different kinds of painkillers. Nearly one quarter of patients were prescribed at least 100 milligrams of morphine, an incredibly strong narcotic painkiller, per day.

Not all regions in the study reported the same high percentage of narcotics use, however. The Western region of the US was most likely to prescribe narcotic painkillers to hospital patients, while the Northeast was least likely. Researchers said there was a 37% difference in prescription rates in these regions.

“It’s important that primary care physicians know what medications their patients have been exposed to during hospitalizations,” study author Dr. Shoshana Herzig, a hospitalist in Beth Israel’s division of general medicine and primary care and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in a medical center news release. “We hope this information will prompt hospitals to take a closer look at their own opioid-prescribing practices.”

“This is a topic that hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, professor of health policy and management at Harvard School of Public Health. “It is not clear to me that hospitals have been doing very much in the past couple of decades, even though we’ve known about it.”

This is also not the first study to look into narcotic painkiller prescription practices at hospitals. In 1995, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital study found that 29% of preventable adverse drug reactions involved narcotic painkillers, prescribed at a hospital. That study, however, included surgical patients.

“Taken together, our findings really emphasize the importance of good communication between inpatient and outpatient providers,” Herzig said. Jha added that doctors need to have frank discussions with their patients, especially those who have been hospitalized, about the possible risks of opioids and narcotic painkillers, and how much pain the patient can tolerate. For example, Jha said, a patient who has been laying in a hospital bed for a week due to serious back pain may benefit more from physical therapy and less from a narcotic painkiller.

The Strom Law Firm Can Help with Charges of Prescription Drug and Narcotic Painkiller Abuse

If you have received criminal drug abuse charges, including abuse of narcotic painkillers, prescription fraud, or trafficking in prescription drugs, you are not automatically guilty, and you do not give up any of your rights. The attorneys at the Strom Law Firm can help defend you. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case. Do not let criminal drug charges such as trafficking or possession ruin your reputation and career prospects. Contact us today. 803.252.4800.