The opioid epidemic is one of the largest and most recent public health crises to strike the United States, with the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupling between 1999 and 2014. To combat this growing epidemic, research has been conducted to identify those at highest risk of death secondary to opioid overdose.1 Various public health policies have been implemented to prevent and treat opioid misuse and abuse.2,3 Such efforts have resulted in an 8.1 percent nationwide reduction in annual prescribing rate per 100 persons of all opioids and a 46.8 percent reduction in annual prescribing rate per 100 persons of high-dose opioids, defined as ≥90 morphine milligram equivalents per day. Despite these positive trends, rates of drug overdose deaths have continued to increase in recent years, with the rate of overdose deaths involving any opioid increasing by 15 percent annually between 2013 and 20154...
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November 2018
The Ethics of the Opioid Epidemic: How We Got Here, and Where to Go From Here
Krishnan S. Ramanujan, M.D.;
Krishnan S. Ramanujan, M.D.
Committee on Ethics
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Jeffrey S. Jacobs, M.D., M.B.A, FASA
Jeffrey S. Jacobs, M.D., M.B.A, FASA
Committee on Ethics
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ASA Monitor November 2018, Vol. 82, 16–18.
Citation
Krishnan S. Ramanujan, Aysha Hasan, Jeffrey S. Jacobs; The Ethics of the Opioid Epidemic: How We Got Here, and Where to Go From Here. ASA Monitor 2018; 82:16–18
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