Treating the Trauma That Underlies Addiction
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Loading... - bogart johanna
- 02 Mar 2023
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Last spring, a patient named Brittany was admitted to the University of Maryland Medical Center on the brink of death. Only 32 years old, she was suffering from kidney failure and a brain infection – severe complications of intravenous drug use. Brittany, whose last name is being withheld for privacy, also needed a palliative care specialist to manage her pain and to help her mother deal with what could be the end of her daughter’s life.
As her mother explained, Brittany grew up in poverty in Baltimore, where drug deals openly took place in neighborhood schools and on sidewalks. She began using marijuana at age 13 and heroin by 20. That led to a series of overdoses, infections and a cycle of at least 34 emergency room visits and hospitalizations in a span of 10 years. Brittany had committed herself to addiction treatment many times but was never able to break free of her substance use disorder.
Her story is all too familiar: The opioid epidemic continues to worsen, accounting for more than 100,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. Baltimore has the highest opioid-related death rate of any city in the United States.
When we take care of hospitalized patients like Brittany, we often face many hurdles. Getting them the treatment they need to get off drugs – and then become strong enough to return to hopefully a better life than the one they had before – is far from straightforward.
Once the immediate health emergency is addressed, the story isn’t over. Many hospitalized patients like Brittany need ongoing “post-acute” care before they can safely go home. Unfortunately, when hospitalized patients with addictions are referred for these services, they are commonly rejected by nursing facilities despite federal law protecting these patients under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In a Massachusetts case, Athena Health Care Systems, operator of multiple skilled nursing facilities, paid a $10,000 penalty to the federal government after allegations surfaced that it had turned away patients who were being treated for opioid use disorder. That slap on the wrist provided little deterrent for others to stop discriminating. Read More…
