Argumentative Essay On Painkillers
America's new addiction has claimed the lives of millions of people. Prescribed painkillers have become a health epidemic that many people are unaware of. It is no longer unusual to see someone dying or struggling with a painkiller addiction because it has rapidly increased in the last few years. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose” (2016). In order to respond to this crisis, we must ask, who's at fault? Painkiller addiction continues to escalate because doctors, who have the authority to prescribe medication, are not offering patients alternate options for pain management, are not raising enough awareness and are not following up with patients throughout the prescription
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According to the CDC, this opioid abuse has a woman dying of a prescription painkiller overdose, while thirty more women are seeking help from hospitals for painkiller misuse (2013). Instead of exacerbating the addiction increase, doctors should provide alternate options for pain management. Alternate options such as rehab, physical therapy, acupuncture and medication can help reduce pain, but are hardly adopted. Doctors continue to write prescriptions for pain when the medications can lead to addiction. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act is a law designed to protect a patient's privacy, preventing physicians and other doctors from seeing some or all of the patient's medical history. Thus, many doctors are unaware of the possibility that patients may have already been prescribed. However, doctors should search for signs of patient addiction such as drowsiness, slowed breathing, weight loss or lack of hygiene. According to the CDC "Health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers in 2012, enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills" (2014). Currently, as the path continues down the same road, there will be more than what was prescribed then. Without a means to reduce and eliminate abuse, addiction will infiltrate the lives of many
According to the CDC, this opioid abuse has a woman dying of a prescription painkiller overdose, while thirty more women are seeking help from hospitals for painkiller misuse (2013). Instead of exacerbating the addiction increase, doctors should provide alternate options for pain management. Alternate options such as rehab, physical therapy, acupuncture and medication can help reduce pain, but are hardly adopted. Doctors continue to write prescriptions for pain when the medications can lead to addiction. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act is a law designed to protect a patient's privacy, preventing physicians and other doctors from seeing some or all of the patient's medical history. Thus, many doctors are unaware of the possibility that patients may have already been prescribed. However, doctors should search for signs of patient addiction such as drowsiness, slowed breathing, weight loss or lack of hygiene. According to the CDC "Health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers in 2012, enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills" (2014). Currently, as the path continues down the same road, there will be more than what was prescribed then. Without a means to reduce and eliminate abuse, addiction will infiltrate the lives of many