Malpractice News: Rise in U.S. Fentanyl Deaths Linked to Illegal Production

Malpractice News: According to a July 2008 report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 1,013 deaths attributable to overdoses of an illegal form of Fentanyl, a narcotic painkiller typically prescribed to cancer patients. The source of the illegal drug was linked to a Mexican operation.

The overdoses were first discovered in Chicago in 2005, and by 2006, more incidences of overdose were identified in Philadelphia and Detroit.

Fentanyl is 30-50 times more potent than heroin, and like other controlled narcotic painkillers, is often sold on the streets to drug addicts. Nationwide health statistics reflect the rates of death from accidental overdoses (including illegal drugs) almost doubled between 1999 and 2005.

Reports on the investigation of the drug have been published in the July 2008 editions of Clinical Toxicology and the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 

Click To Talk To Us Online

see also:

Tennessee doctor indicted Tennessee doctor charged with malpractice in issuing prescription meds
Malpractice doctor slated to appear in Tennessee district court Dec 18

Fen-phen: record malpractice cases Fen-phen weight-loss drug caused record series of malpractice lawsuits
Fifty-thousand people who have taken Fen-phen filed malpractice cases

Study on prescribing meds Malpractice: Doctors Give Poor Instructions on Prescription Medication
Malpractice Study: Giving Poor Instruction on Prescription Medication