The Role of Doctors in the Opioid Epidemic in the U.S.

SREEJA CHALLA – Today, adolescents and adults are the most prominent groups experiencing the rising effects of the opioid epidemic. As a result of the mass media coverage, many have their own opinions or “solutions” while others accuse various professional groups.

However, one group of professionals has been criticized heavily within the healthcare community.

In the United States, an estimated 400,000 people die from overdoses of either heroin or prescription painkillers. When we look back at the 1990s, “physicians were criticized for not providing adequate pain treatment to patients, particularly those in cases of chronic pain and cancer”(Browning, 2019). As the public pressured doctors to prescribe more opioids, the drug’s prescription rate steadily increased. Because of this demand, physicians have been criticized for not providing adequate care to patients, especially those with chronic pain. Constant scrutiny has caused a steady increase in the epidemic.

When exploring how doctors contribute to the ongoing opioid epidemic, pharmaceutical companies often offer various forms of support to healthcare professionals. A study by Harvard et al. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School claims, “more than a hundred doctors were found to earn six figures strictly from opioid manufacturers in 2014 and 2015” (Blake, 2017). When doctors start making these indirect deals with opioid companies, it creates a situation where doctors are leaning towards increasing their income with the help of these pharmaceutical deals rather than thinking about providing the best care to their patients.

Another factor that facilitated the epidemic was the number of pills prescribed in each bottle. According to the Center of Disease Control, “a substantial amount of patients are now receiving a prescription that puts them over a two times risk of opioid prescription” (Mackary, 2017). This is due to the medical mindset of decreasing a patient’s pain during the healing process. Among healthcare providers, it is a common preconception that relieving pain reduces the healing process by 50%. Although this contributes to overall well-being, once the pills run out, patients have a harder time handling the pain. Over the years, several solutions have been created to help decrease the opioid epidemic, the most prominent one is the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), an electronic database that tracks a patient’s prescription history. PDMP allows doctors to see the previous history of prescribed drugs and track their intake without accidentally overdosing on them. “Despite a revolutionary database, only about 53% of doctors use this in their practice. The database has been proven to reduce the number of opioid addicts and to recommend other prescribed medicines other than opioids” (Lin, 2017).

While the opioid epidemic includes a complex web of factors, doctors have contributed to increasing the epidemic in the United States. These factors include the overprescription of opioids, the money and benefits they receive from pharmaceutical companies, and the lack of drug monitoring. Although doctors contribute to a large part of this problem, procedures and guidelines are being set in place in hospitals and clinics to identify individuals with opioid use disorder and recommend weaker pain medications to prevent further cases. The steps taken are impactful for many patients, continuing to integrate guidelines in clinical settings will overall decrease the opioid epidemic and contribute to more patient well-being. 

Copy Editor – Dione Geiling

Photography Source – https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/opioid-epidemic-may-have-cost-us-governments-378-billion-tax-revenue