Posted on Jul 14, 2021
A Tragic Death Shows How ERs Fail Patients Who Struggle With Addiction
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/14/ [login to see] /opioid-addiction-overdose-hospital-medical-bills-er-suboxone
Jameson Rybak tried to quit using opioids nearly a dozen times within five years. Each time, he'd wait out the vomiting, sweating and chills from withdrawal in his bedroom.
It was difficult to watch, says his mother, Suzanne Rybak, though she admired his persistence.
On March 11, 2020, however, Suzanne grew worried. Jameson, 30 years old at the time, was slipping in and out of consciousness and saying he couldn't move his hands.
By 11 p.m., she decided to take him to the emergency room at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, S.C. The staff there gave Jameson fluids through an IV to rehydrate, medication to decrease his nausea and potassium supplements to stop his muscle spasms, according to Suzanne and a letter the hospital's administrator later sent her.
But when they recommended admitting him to monitor and manage the withdrawal symptoms, Jameson said no. He'd lost his job the previous month and, with it, his health insurance.
"He kept saying, 'I can't afford this,' " Suzanne recalls, and "not one person [at the hospital] indicated that my son would have had some financial options."
Jameson Rybak tried to quit using opioids nearly a dozen times within five years. Each time, he'd wait out the vomiting, sweating and chills from withdrawal in his bedroom.
It was difficult to watch, says his mother, Suzanne Rybak, though she admired his persistence.
On March 11, 2020, however, Suzanne grew worried. Jameson, 30 years old at the time, was slipping in and out of consciousness and saying he couldn't move his hands.
By 11 p.m., she decided to take him to the emergency room at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, S.C. The staff there gave Jameson fluids through an IV to rehydrate, medication to decrease his nausea and potassium supplements to stop his muscle spasms, according to Suzanne and a letter the hospital's administrator later sent her.
But when they recommended admitting him to monitor and manage the withdrawal symptoms, Jameson said no. He'd lost his job the previous month and, with it, his health insurance.
"He kept saying, 'I can't afford this,' " Suzanne recalls, and "not one person [at the hospital] indicated that my son would have had some financial options."
A Tragic Death Shows How ERs Fail Patients Who Struggle With Addiction
Posted from npr.org
Drugs
Medical
Health
Pharmaceuticals
Finance
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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Having worked in an ER for 8+ years in an inner-city setting, I am shocked at how this epidemic is not being taken more seriously.
These drugs affect people differently.
Getting “addicted” is really rather easy.
This is a sad story but NOT uncommon, yet illegals and other demographic receive free healthcare. This is mind numbing and the abuse of our healthcare system is causing all of us so much in so many ways!!
Insurance companies profit on the backs of good people and there has to be a better way.
These drugs affect people differently.
Getting “addicted” is really rather easy.
This is a sad story but NOT uncommon, yet illegals and other demographic receive free healthcare. This is mind numbing and the abuse of our healthcare system is causing all of us so much in so many ways!!
Insurance companies profit on the backs of good people and there has to be a better way.
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I've used opiates off and on for over 20 years. More on than off but I did/do have breaks in usage. People have to really be abusing them to have such reactions. My reactions when I stop are pain (mostly lower back) and a lot of it for where I get the prescription for. When I'm off them and even when I'm on them, I wear a back brace and use a heating pad. People that abuse them make it harder for people like me to get a prescription.
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