Substance Use and Medical Malpractice - Medical Malpractice Lawyer Miami

    MIAMI, FL, April 18, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- There is a substance abuse problem in the US and it's not what you think. The substance being abused is not meth or heroin or cocaine. Instead, the substance that is being abused is opioid painkillers, and as often as not the abusers is not the user, but the doctor who prescribes it.

In 2008, according to a new CDC report, poisoning was the leading cause of accidental death in 30 states in the US, including Florida, and most of the poisoning deaths are related to legal prescription drug use. The most common drug implicated was opioid pain relievers, which were responsible for as many deaths as all other named drugs combined.

How Many Deaths?

The number of deaths related to drug poisoning in this country has risen precipitously in recent years. During the last 30 years, drug poisoning deaths have increased more than sixfold, from about 6000 to more than 36000. In Florida, there were 3266 poisoning deaths in 2008, more than 90% of them from drug-related poisoning. That is approximately 18 deaths per 100,000 people, making it the leading cause of accidental death. It is also about 5 times greater than the death rate from methamphetamines in Miami-Dade County.

These deaths impact all age groups and both genders, resulting in a population-wide pandemic.

What Drugs Are Responsible?

There are many drugs responsible for the increase in drug-related deaths. The FDA adverse events reporting system (AERS) has shown a tripling of serious adverse drug events in the last decade, with deaths quadrupling. The number of reported drug-related deaths in the FDA AERS is actually higher than the estimated number in the CDC report. The number one type of drug responsible for the rise in deaths in the CDC report was opioid painkillers. They were responsible for as many deaths as all other named drugs combined.

Who Is Responsible?

According to the CDC, more than half of all abusers get their first drugs free from friends and family, with another 18% getting them as a prescription. However, nearly all opioid painkillers are originally given out by prescription. Only a tiny fraction hit the streets due to pharmacy theft, which means that doctors are prescribing opioid painkillers at too high a rate. Worse, they are prescribing opioid painkillers for conditions they were never meant to treat.

Opioid painkillers, especially synthetic opioid painkillers, those more likely to cause death, were originally approved for pain control in terminal patients. However, some studies have shown that doctors prescribe these drugs for off-label use as much as 90% of the time. It's hard to know what the exact numbers are, but it is clear that many people who ultimately suffer overdoses were prescribed the drugs for conditions that did not require this level of painkiller. This type of medical malpracticep takes lives.

If you have lost a loved one due to an overdose with an opioid painkiller, you may be able to receive compensation for this type of medical malpractice injury.

To learn more about this type of lawsuit in Miami, please visit the website of The Cochran Firm South Florida at http://cochranfirmsouthflorida.com.

# # #