The misuse of prescription opioids, which includes hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, and codeine, has been on a dramatic rise. Since 1999, overdose deaths that involved prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, and in 2014, more than 14,000 people in the U.S. died from overdoses involved in prescription opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a new commentary, Tony Yang, associate professor of health administration and policy, and Rebecca L. Haffajee of the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School, examine high-profile criminal liability cases in which prescription opioid prescribers are found at fault for patients’ overdose deaths involving prescription opioids. The commentary is published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
They caution that the “irresponsible, outlier opioid prescribing” by these physicians may make other physicians hesitant to prescribe opioids to help patients manage pain. They conclude that while criminal punishment helps deter further criminal behavior, a more productive path toward addressing prescription opioid misuse should be focused on more informed opioid prescribing practices. Read the full commentary.