America's opioid crisis has no chance of ending until we look long and hard at why so many people prefer to "crawl back into the womb" instead of living life without this poison. One can understand that after physical and psychogical addiction breaking away from this demon is incredibly difficult. But why would so many continue to be enticed to try heroin / fentanyl when they see its high risks all around them? WHY?
6
Stories like this should be shared in schools so kids can see the repercussions from doing drugs.
2
If only the neglected and abused kids in this country had been lucky enough to have parents like the Footes. If anything, they loved their son too much.
Should be REQUIRED reading at several different grades in public AND private schools!
Little kids; listen up!!!
1
All of the current publicity about the opioid epidemic is quite interesting, but for many of with an addict in our family the epidemic has been with us for decades. My father was a drug addict and died at 51, and we lost our son to an overdose at 47.
The cruel reality is there will be no government solutions to this growing problem. Families will either shelter addicts as they continue their struggle or they will end up on the streets and likely prematurely dead. What worked best for us was local support, local programs such as AA, AlAnon and good friends. Speaking openly with friends to help realize we were not alone with the problems of addiction was the most powerful aid. Everyday I look at my grandkids searching for any indication that they could start down this slippery slope.
3
It's a heartbreak to read this story. Tears in my eyes several times. I can't imagine the despair and sense of loss his parents experience on a daily basis. What do we do?
The rate of recovery for the active addict who still suffers is incredibly low. Rehab and 12 Step Programs only work for some. A faith based solution is merely a band-aid that doesn't address underlying causes or the illness of addiction itself. The government and it's war on drugs seems a losing battle. Is there any way to combat this epidemic? Is there any hope?
1
I have been against the death penalty but there should be one exception for those to manufacture, sell, distribute and formulate this poison knowing that it will be consumed by humans and is habit forming .
I suggest weekly public televised executions by machine gun fire followed by burial in a common grave in communities where they destroyed lives.
Of course this is unconstitutional; but who pays attention to that document in the present regime? Police state violence is something it wants to see more of.
Eventually the message will get through. Stop poisoning people and leaving many to remain among the living dead. We have enough zombies in Congress, and the White House..
3
I will not make this choice for others but if I am without oxygen for any length of time and you are given a choice to proceed or not, please do not proceed. I do not want what this young man is going through nor will I burden my family nor society with the efforts needed to sustain me. This is written in my advanced medical directive and my family knows my wishes. Please, everyone, make your own wishes known legally and with your family members. They should not have to make this decision without your input. Hypoxia and anoxia occur for many reasons not just drug overdose. Accidents and medical emergencies can happen at any age. Adults need to take responsibility for themselves. It CAN happen to you.
10
Welcome to caregivers' dilemmas of the 21st century. Whether it's a child born with horrific congenital problems, an elderly person with worsening dementia, a middle aged adult who suffered severe brain damage after surviving a code blue situation, or someone like Andrew, there are tens of thousands of such people who place an unbelievable burden on their families. And adults have to know their limits, even after stretching them. Killing oneself in the process of taking on too much caregiving isn't the answer.
Long term care facilities seldom provide appropriate care, but at a certain time, Andrew's parents will have no choice but pick one. Will Medicaid still be there to cover the costs? What about all the elderly who have no funds, or have spent them down?
Modern technology likely has few solutions. Robotic "nurses"? Really.
6
@Rosalie Lieberman
All one can hope at that point is that his siblings - or maybe by then his siblings' children - will look in on him at the nursing home.
1
One year ago, I was faced with a similar decision. My 23-year-old daughter nearly died from a heroin overdose. She was hypoxic for hours overnight after taking the drug. In the morning, the "friend" who had taken the heroin with her called 911. She was in a coma for the next 15 days. The doctors recommended that we take her off life support. The "best-case" prognosis was that she would spend the rest of her days as a vegetable in a long-term care facility. We asked for a second MRI and a second opinion from another neurologist. The second neurologist concurred with the other doctors for the most part, but opened the door a crack, noting that young brains are more maleable and flexible and can develop new pathways to replace damaged pathways. When we asked her what she would do if it was her daughter, she said "I'd give her a chance." To make a long story short, today, after a year of intensive medical and psychological care, my daughter is living independently, going back to college, and able to walk without a cane - albeit awkwardly. It's not all rosy, and there are still problems, but we made the right decision. We also got lucky. We knew that this good an outcome was unlikely, but we gambled and won. These decisions are tough, and no one can second-guess the choices people make under these circumstances.
115
@Marc McDill - I hope your daughter's physical and mental health will continue to improve, to the point where she can think back and contemplate how the money she spent on heroin was used by groups such as the Taliban and the Central American drug cartels, to finance the rapes and murders of their horrific criminal campaigns. Maybe that awareness of her complicity in those crimes, by virtue of financing their operations through her purchases, will help her to keep a great distance between herself and future drug use.
2
@J Jencks
I'd rather she think back and contemplate on her fortunate experience, and share her story with
others.
4
I understand completely that we love the addicts. I am an alcoholic and without the love and support of friends and family, I’d be leading a different life of recovery. But I’d still be in recovery because I made that decision. The addict is the only person who can change the situation. It was terrifying, embarrassing and hard work but I did it.
There is plenty of help out there for addicts but they have to be willing to change. One of the things you realize in meetings after listening for a long time is that not every addict wants to change. I’d say a lot don’t. Addicts are as different as all people. Some want desperately to work hard to change. Others are there because of courts or appeasing spouses. They don’t actually want to quit. And many/most times, they aren’t suffering the consequences.
My take away from this article is the unbelievable pain this family has suffered by this man’s addiction. I’d bet heavily that the relationships of the other children and the parents are also strained. The parents are broke, sick and not having the peace of later life after working hard for it.
We cannot take away the responsibility of the addict in this equation. Too many innocent bystanders are being hurt. Grandparents, kids, spouses, siblings, taxpayers bear this burden while we tend to the addict. There needs to be a balance.
118
I guess there's something wrong with me. I have exactly zero sympathy. And I say this as a RECOVERED addict. I OD'd many times. Went to prison. Jails, institution, but not death. Where was all the concern and compassion and handwringing in the 80s and 90s?
I guess the millennials are the most precious of all the humans. So let's bang 'em with Narcan every time they nod out so they can go back and do it over.. and over and over again.
There are 7 billion suffering souls on this planet. Sorry, but I just can't seem to find it in me to give a you-know-what over this particular individual. You could fill the entire NYTimes with nothing but stories like this. I shed my last tear over dead addicts when my brother died. So, NYTimes, what am I supposed to do with this story?
Now, want to work up a good healthy outrage for the 'dealers in lab coats' that started this? Read Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America, by Beth Macy.
6
God. So heartbreaking. Those poor parents.
4
The comments on this article would have been so different if he was black. The Now What? would be followed with endless condemnation of his upbringing, his community ,his own actions and how taxpayers have to support him. Such hypocrisy.
3
One day at a time.
I have never read an article like this.
Andrew Foote needs specialized care. He should be in a facility with specialists.
1
@Kate
There is really nothing else a specialist could do for him that his parents aren't doing at home, and home is without question a pleasanter place for him. If he's lucky, when they're gone, he'll wind up somewhere with caring staff, but - yeah, it'll need luck.
5
I sent three kids through the Ivies, took care of my mon, wife’s dad, fought in a war now I have to take care of this guy for life. I’m sick of junkies.
5
The callousness that liberals display towards both the life of this guy (is it cuz he is white?) as well as the judgemental attitude regarding opiate addiction.
Its not just a white issues. Yes, whites weren't great about addressing the crack epidemic 30 years ago but that doesnt mean their deaths now are some form of reparations!!
I was addicted to opiates for 4 years. I went to MIT, my family was super liberal educated people, and I am an Eagle Scout, but because I'm also transgender I had major emotional issues and became a heroin addict.
Today I'm 5 years sober from heroin, have been taking suboxone for 5 years, and I empathize with this guys deep pain. My roommate died of an overdose, his pain was real and unique and deserves sympathy. He is dead now though. He doesn't care about how white people 30 years ago treated the crack epidemic. He is dead. Does his whiteness disqualify him from liberal sympathy? I just wonder.
I mean, the fact that one of the top comments basically is saying, "I do not care about this man because he is white" says it all. You know what, opiates dont care what race you are. They dont care about how woke you are. If you are an addict, your thought process is exactly the same as a rat addicted to heroin. You are a drug seeking animal, and that is not confined to race.
5
Thanks to people like him i was called an addict when I was in need of relief for Trigeminal Neuralgia. Thanks to people like him I was given a shot of sterile water in the E.R. I have no sympathy.
6
Would be nice if we were responsible enough to try to fix this problem with opioids. Instead, a third of the country is still more concerned with Hillary's emails...
7
If the evil Republicans have their way, most people like Mr. Foote will die for lack of care available to them. His aging parents will not be able to care for him and the Medicaid system that the Evil Republicans are dismantling will not be there to pay for nursing home care.
We will then see opinion pieces on people dying of bedsores and pneumonia due to 'inadequate care' and blame facilities and care givers when it is actually the Evil Republicans and their greed ways that are responsible.
4
Who bears the cost of this?. It must be millions.
3
Drugs! Never do those “holier than thou” critics mention alcohol as a “gateway” drug...and a killer. And this includes the doctors and politicians. who preach about addiction. Guess that’s because alcohol is a legal drug...
3
What happened to this family is heartbreaking. It's understandable that Andrew's parents worry about what will happen to him as they age.
It's also tragic how little difference Andrew's story will make to other people. Addicts never think it will happen to them. They joke and laugh about dying. But, they never think that they could end up like Andrew. I lost a beloved nephew to alcohol poisoning. He was only 38. I have a niece who is an addict and has been arrested multiple times for selling oxycodone. My nephew never once considered that he might die. My niece will tell you she won't end up like Andrew because she knows what she's doing. But, I know that's the sickness talking. I wish they, and so many others, could realize the harm they do, the hurt they cause. I wish Andrew's family all the best.
4
Most people see medical care as having two choices: life or death. Unfortunately, there’s a third choice. As a retired MD, I’ve seen WAY too many families impaled on the cruelty of that third outcome.
The first cruelty is the crushing demands placed on the caregiver. In a hospital, it takes 3.3 full time employees for every bed. At home, one person usually does it all. Three shifts a day, and untrained to boot. “Help” usually means a family member “takes up the slack,” doing chores the caregiver has no time for, like laundry. There is little or no respite care. Forget a vacation, a weekend off is an incredible indulgence. A nap is a luxury.
Dreams that lift up one family member, like college, are out of reach. That money goes down the drain ... of the damaged child.
I know one man who stayed in a job he hated. He loathed going to work daily, but did it to keep health insurance for his family. When the damaged child aged out of his health insurance, the man simply abandoned his family and went to Tahiti. His traumatized wife and daughter didn’t know they were lucky he didn’t commit suicide ... or worse.
I’ve seen European medicine up close and personal. We spend TWICE what they do, per capita. But we can’t afford decent care for the people who live in the third choice. That is unconscionable to me.
82
@DSwanson
I appreciate your comments, doctor.
Andrew, however, was not a 'third-choice' candidate IMO. Were that his parents had had the strength to let him go which, after all, seems to have been what he wanted. Especially considering they "tried everything" to 'help' him about his drug use.
2
Now what? Eat, sleep, do stuff, just like the rest of us. Andrew is lucky to have folks to care for him. His parents are forutnate to have gotten their wish, that he survive. Countries will debate how much to spend on health services for the permanently disabled. Eventually everyone, including myself and everyone reading this, will be dead. The world will continue.
while this is a terribly sad story I am thinking that my relative that is addicted to heroin would read this and it would not affect him one bit. These addicts? They ruin their lives and the lives of everyone in their path. They bankrupt any family member that tries to help them.
nothing matters to them, just the hour to hour quest to find the drugs they need.
I think there is an appalling lack of direction for families in these cases....everyone is failing this test. The rehab community is a joke, and when you get to this sad young man's point the medical community fails as well. I feel sad for his parents....left to make such a decision about your child they will decide to try and save his life.
5
There is no harder parenting job than what Andrew's parents are dealing and coping with right now. And tomorrow. And the next day. Over and over and over again.
Absolutely crushing and inspiring at the same time.
5
¿Why has it taken this long to acknowledge and just begin to deal with the problem. ¿How long has it been since we knew Rush Limbaugh was addicted to oxycontin)? He was arrested in 2006 for fraudulently acquiring drugs.
It is only recently that California has put safeguards in place: prescriptions for addictive drugs must be written and not faxed or submitted electronically, the patients must pickup the drugs themselves providing a drivers license or other state id, and pharmacies must record all purchases in a central registry to prevent doctor shopping.
We need to admit it. The pharmaceutical companies are drug pushers with an advantage. What they are doing is perfectly legal and highly profitable. These drugs are gateway drugs to other more potent and illegal drugs (heroin). The federal government pursues the gateway drug marijuana (schedule 1 drug like heroin) while virtually ignoring the opioid problem.
There is a conspiracy: pharmaceutical companies and their enablers – prescribing doctors, pharmacies, pain clinics, researchers claiming drug's not addictive, unlike previous drugs.
Doctors have prescribe t hese addictive drugs:for conditions that could be mitigated by other less addictive drugs or for a far longer time than necessary.
Pharmaceutical executives must serve jail terms. Big pharma must pay large fines, offsetting the massive profits. Incarceration/policing/lawyers, drug rehab/massive suffering of families and whole towns
3
“I remember driving into Boston and crying and crying and begging just to say one more word to him. I basically sold my soul,” Mr. Foote said. “And to me, this is my wish. I got my wish. So now I just have to do what I have to do.”
I let go of my 1 year old who was on life support.
I read this quote and I think: maybe parents shouldn’t have the power to make this choice for their child. Whatever you choose, the likelihood is a lifetime of regret. There’s a reason people who are severely ill and come off life support good-as-new make the news: they are rare.
Best wishes to the Foote family. It is a long and lonely road they walk.
(And to be clear, we don’t regret our choice. We ache for our missing child every day, but the life he would have had was no life at all).
443
@Brooklyn
I'm so moved by what you say here, which underscores how personal and difficult such life and (eventual) death decisions are for families, whether it's about a beloved infant, a young son, a life partner, or an aging parent.
I wish I could offer you––and the Footes––more than anonymous support and respect for how you have handled the road on which you've had to walk. All of us, in some way, will have to navigate the same. I hope I can have the same grace and selfless love that you, and they, have exhibited.
Best wishes.
99
Your words are so powerful.
I made the decision to remove my parent from life support.
Doing it for my child would be a thousand times more difficult.
Same as you, I don’t regret the decision I made. But the decision and process was very difficult.
110
I'm mystified by the opioid crisis. I take opioids daily, and have for years. They make a number of conditions much more bearable, though the dose is quite small. If I stop taking them, I am uncomfortable, but not dramatically so. If I increase the dosage, it is for some temporary injury or especially physically stressful activity, and I soon return to my base line dose. I do not try to convince my doctor to prescribe more, and he would not. I am very mindful that escalating the dose is self-defeating and would soon form a tolerance that would render my medication less effective. I consider the effects pleasant, mostly in terms of ameliorating pain, but I don't find the prospect of staying high or intensifying the effect past immediate relief all that compelling. Opioids are a very useful medication that enhances the quality of my life considerably. Though my doctor assures me they will not come after me for long term use at the low dosage of my prescription, it is hard not to view the national tragedy unfolding around me with alarm, a touch of fear, and ... puzzlement.
136
Some opiates are incredibly more euphoric than those that tend to be prescribed. This is why it’s far more common to see a pill user switch to diamorphine (heroin) than the other way around. And then there’s the method of consumption...
In the words of Neil Young, “I’ve seen the needle and the damage done, a little part of it in everyone.”
17
@Peter Aretin - One out of ten people who were prescribed opiates as a result of painful surgery, for example, become long term users of pain pills - for one reason, chronic pain, and not because of addiction.
Nine out of ten take the pain killers for a relatively short period of time - 10 days, 21 days - and then their pain has abated sufficiently.
There is a falsehood that the overdose epidemic is a result of heroin addicts who started out as people addicted to pain killers and therefore, it's the fault of physicians. Wrong.
The fact is if Andrew hadn't become a drug addict he might have become an alcoholic instead. Addiction is addiction and addicts are addicts.
5
@Peter Aretin - people are all different physiologicallly, they have different reactions to different drugs, different tendencies in regard to addictive potential, etc. It's not tthat puzzling. You take a certain dose and have no problem; you're lucky. Another person takes the same dose and has a problem.
2
There are many, many reasons people become addicted. Our adopted son's birth mother was drinking while she carried him. He was born with fetal alcohol effect (not the complete syndrome). It has been described to me as like having the insulation stripped from your nerves--being excruciatingly sensitive to emotional/psychological pain. On top of that, fetal alcohol effect robbed him of a certain degree of judgment and impulse control. Once he hit adolescence he started using. He's been struggling, in and out of rehab, ever since.
I've known many other people who struggled with drug and/or alcohol addiction or, for that matter, tobacco. Some are trying to deaden the pain of early childhood abuse. Others started because of chronic physical pain. Those readers who issue moralistic pronouncements about addicts having made bad choices etc., should, in my opinion, put down the stones they were about to cast and take a long walk elsewhere.
169
With the tragic stories like this being told for so long, it IS hard for non-addicts, who also carry physical and psychological pain - like every human being - to understand why others (with this same information on the dangers and costs to self, family, and society of drug use) still choose to use drugs. One long walk we may take is to ask about the costs of rehab, and who should bear it - a recent article in the NYT claimed that it take 8 years of rehab for most opium-derived or synthesized users.
28
@Roger Pain is relative. I understand why it is hard to understand, and I also understand that unless you experience it yourself (which I hope you never do) then it's really hard to understand. I would say that what needs to be understood is that it can happen to anyone and few addicts really seek to become addicts. The non-addict who is 100% sober who says "I will never ever get addicted to any substance or activity" is not being humble.
I think the disease model of addiction is right: it could happen to anyone and when it does, it happens insidiously and you don't know what the tipping point is for each individual. I know many many people who've been non-addicts or even teetotalers for years or even decades suddenly slide into addiction. Since we don't have mirror universes, you don't really know what would happen if you were in the exact same position. So I think accepting it could happen to you is a good empathic position to take.
Interestingly, I would say that even (some) recovered addicts may find it hard to understand why someone would choose to use drugs.
8
@Roger As someone whose family is touched by an opioid addiction story, may I say how limited you view is. We don't know how anyone else really feels. But our society is increasingly built on winner-take-all, leaving those without aggressive, extrovert traits tossed aside and vulnerable. Despite what some think, one pill can be all it takes to become addicted. That first dose may be done in the midst of anxiety or when not sober, it may effect one person profoundly and another not at all. There's plenty of people who've tried heroin without ever doing it again. The real problem is, of course, that this isn't heroin. On the one hand it's a corporate demon, OxyContin, on the other, a synthetic one, Fentanyl. The first gets you hooked, the second kills. A real one two punch.
1
We lost my nephew in July. He was found in the street a couple blocks from his halfway house in Chicago. Clean for a year, and 26 years old, our hopes were rising again, but cut short. He was handsome, bright, articulate, caring. A poet. But heroin got him in the end. Damn this epidemic.
232
@Steve Kelder Prayers and love for you and your family
Like another reader, I also made the choice to forego life support for my dying son. His prognosis was grim and I did not want to choose a quality of life for him that I have expressly forbid for myself in my living will.
I do not mean to criticise this family, they have suffered and are suffering so much grief. But as people and as a society, we need to have a discussion about radical medical interventions - when they are wise and when they are inhumane. Perhaps if we gave more attention to these issues, we would be more prepared when and if we are faced with such a choice.
338
In the article, though, the young man states he is happy and happy to be alive so in this case it appears that his parents made the correct decision.
9
@Sean Mann, Happy? It appears he isn’t sure what Happy is. He certainly can’t define what he likes and does not like about his life Shortly, his parents will have to put him into a home at significant cost to society. How happy will he be?
And when they are dead? Then what?
1
Truly a sad and tragic story for all concerned. These are the untold stories of drug overdoses.
5
Hello Dr. Lamas:
Thank you for sharing this story.
It is my personal belief and hope that if this young man's story was told over and over to all potential drug users and non drug users there might be an overal decrease in not only drug use but accident injuries.
Every day of my life out in urban areas, I yell to bicyclists on bright shiny spanking new red City supported bicycle's
'where's YOUR HELMET!!?"
Wear a HELMET.
and then if possible I utter a short lecture on how important that nogan of her/his/or them is.
And the same is true for drug users who place themselves in peril of the same type of brain injury any bicyclist or motorcyclist places themselves, one that could wipe out all of their functioning, and render them helpless.
We need PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS THAT GO ON FOR A MINUTE OR TWO ABOUT SUCH REALITIES.
8
This is not a sad story. This is a real story. Andrew had issues and they got out of control. Being handsome and athletic didnt make the pain go away. My grandson is autistic and my daughter wrote of his 13th first teenage birthday. She written a book and is well known in Autistic community.
"My son will never marry. Neve have a girlfriend. Maybe never have a job. Not many friends etc." But he had made an impression on so many people with his cooking in my book. And the information we can give others with autistic children.
Andrew will participate and will do things for himself and others. We must help him with his life. He will be alright.
3
Karl Marx stated that " Religion is the opium of the people". In the last couple of decades many have fled the churches and the faith that once sustained them. So, apparently it is back to opium. Perhaps it is time for another Great Awakening in the Christian church.
6
No one was asking these questions when drug were running rampant in the ghettos. It was not an "epidemic" but rather crime. We started a "war" on drugs and put people in jail. Now we want to divert resources to "fix" a problem and raise our insurance premiums by reclassifying a crime into a "medical" problem. Were these not "base" voters who cannot find their way to the voting booth there would be no "problem".
We have 60 million people living under the poverty level and they are not all people of color. Time to fix the problem at the origin rather than throw money at a few who have chosen to take their lives.
7
A sad, graceful, and thought-provoking piece. Addiction is complicated. It is not clear to me that addicts preserve normal will power or executive brain functions. (There is addiction in my family going back generations, to alcohol, in our case--and it either hit one of us or missed us. I take no credit for having escaped it nor do I assign blame to those it hit badly.)
My heart goes out to the kind Foote family. I wish we could have heard more about their doubtless complex thoughts and feelings about this. I hope they do not blame their son or themselves--I did not know that the recovery from brain damage could reverse itself in this way. In medical emergencies, we are asked to make quick decisions with insufficient information--and thus are bound to make some decisions we later half-regret.
At some deep level, that kid must have had a sweet personality that was preserved despite the brain damage and despite what must be a painful and uncomfortable way for him to live. Sounds like the same is true of his folks--kind despite how difficult it all is.
I thank them for letting us get a small glimpse of their difficult situation--what graciousness they extended to us. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Foote!
4
A heartbreaking story.
With multiple stories like these, and the skyrocketing number of deaths, I don't understand why the FDA is pressuring the DEA to make kratom a schedule 1 drug.
Kratom is an herb that relieves pain, helps with anxiety disorders , and is showing promise in helping addicts get off of opioids and alcohol. It is very safe. It does not depress breathing or make the user high. The FDA has published a paper on kratom that, according to Dr. Jane Babin, (https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9ba5da_54f08e1805c34c108ad7199481507d88.pdf) is so "massively manipulated and sloppily documented" that it has "produced deeply flawed public policy at federal, state, and local levels."
If the FDA succeeds in getting kratom made a schedule 1 drug on a federal level, the scientists who have studied this herb assure us that the number of drug overdoses will rise, as people managing chronic pain and anxiety and addictions with kratom will now use opioids and alcohol.
6
@Mary Leonhardt
My daughter-in-law was using Kratom as a drug which she purchased legally in KS over the internet. She died of an overdose in March leaving behind 4 little girls. Any drug can be abused by an addict.
3
What a sad and unfortunate story. Thanks for explaining what can be the downside of surviving an overdose. But the story leaves some gaps. He began taking pain pills. Unless I missed something, had he been injured? That is something I remember reading about, people falling into addiction upon an injury that only became less painful with the taking of the pills. But the addition was worse than the pain.
4
As an ICU doctor for 20+ years I have witnessed the shift of giving families choices for what to do with their loved ones in either persistent vegetative states or much reduced mental capacity states. It is not fair and the burden of decision is shifted to the family who have to live with turning off their son or mother or family member for the rest of their lives. The burden of these responsibilities should be left to the physician who knows the extent of the patients future possibilities. When I go in to get my car repaired - I don't sit down with the mechanic and instruct him/her on how the car is to be fixed. I trust that they will do what they need to do.
15
But that is precisely why it is important to be as clear as possible when explaining the probable outcomes to families. I figured that out as an ICU nurse for 20 years. But I don't want anyone making that decision for me or my family, we'll make it ourselves.
4
@Dallas
No parent should be faced with a life or death decision or their child (for whatever reasons) but unfortunately this is life. Based on your analogy, perhaps you should have become an "auto" mechanic. Religion has nothing to do with what I said. The most any physician should do is explain "in detail" the pros (if there are any) and the downsides. But to give you a Dr unilateral decision-making, uhhh, I don't think so. Maybe if Drs. didn't make "quick" and what may lead to life altering conditions this conversation over addiction wouldn't be necessary. Recently a Dr. removed a heart from a child, forged the parent signature and had it medivaced for a transplant for another patient. I want to add that I believe in assisted-suicide, no extreme life-sustaining measures etc. However, that is & should remain the pts decision or a minor's parents decision & no one else's
@Catherine
Not to worry - the young physicians of today are more than happy to put the entire burden of such decisions on you - and are thrilled to not have to do it or assume any responsibility for you or your loved ones. Be careful what you wish for is all I can think - but you will have it as you like it.
This is a medical problem. This illustrates why doctors should be making the life and death decisions. If the doctors felt it was likely he would be permanently so impaired they had an obligation to not offer a feeding tube. It looks like the reality was clear at that time. Asking the family is cruel and irrational but certainly understandable in our legal environment. Having spent some time in the European Union I can say I have seen this handled by the doctors a few times. The family cannot be expected to make any rational decisions in a case like this but our litigious society has gone off the rails. Just think how many African children could be helped with the assets spent on this case.
8
Not so simple. At that early stage, there is still a good chance for significant recovery. And the lawyers and the state don't let the doctors generally make those decisions without consent.
7
@AS
Doctors have no right to make this decision. Doctors have an obligation to tell the families the truth of what likely outcome they and their loved one face. If you imagine the resources "saved" by allowing the death of someone living a life of dependency and decline will go to the underserved of our world you are naive, to say the least. The easing of suffering in this world is not dependent on the families who support their infirm and ill loved ones--those families have enough guilt to live with. The suffering in this world continues because of greed, corruption and indifference.
2
@AS from Bavaria, the assets in question are paid by U.S. taxpayers, for U.S. citizens, not for children in Africa. Who are you to say who should live or die?
Pregnant and planning. What kind of parent will I be? How will I instill our family values, encourage curiosity and love for learning, teach them to the be a good citizen in the world. This is not something any parent can prepare for. God bless this road
7
@peace
Try to stay at peace, it's the best thing you can do for your child. There is much you cannot control. Particularly "instill our family values," I'd go easy on that one. Just love and enjoy your child, spend happy time together as much as possible and them know that they make you happy just by existing.
1
Addiction is not victimless. The families, friends, employees, employers, and community members of those addicted pay a price for their proximity.
The addicted person, of course, also is harmed. But they are far from being the only one(s) damaged.
I admire these parents, who have given so generously of themselves. But I have to acknowledge they have been hurt by their son's actions, which they lacked the power to control.
We are counting on those around addicts to give, and give and give to support recovery of their beloveds. Not only do the families need to handle their own lives, but they need to try to manage and pay for the lives of the addicted.
Something is seriously wrong with this picture.
47
@Saddha - to add to your list of victims...
The money addicts exchange for their drugs goes straight into the coffers of Central American cartels and the Taliban (world's largest heroin producer), and this money is used to by the guns and ammo used by them in their horrific crimes, including the murders of Afghan schoolgirls and the rapes of countless women across Central America.
2
@Saddha, this is true with family members of people with Alzheimer's, cancers, accident survivors, the aged, and of course more. We need universal healthcare as found in other countries, and we need to go further if we can. For all of them. And us.
1
Now what -
let's see.
1. Get a job.
2. Be thankful that you've been born in the richest country of the world, with the right skin color and gender.
3. Think the following every day: "What if I'd been a Syrian kid in Aleppo? What if I'd been a girl in Darfur? What if I'd been born in Dharavi, the slum in Mumbai, where around 1440 people use one toilet in the morning and line up to use it, and then still have the courage to go to work?"
31
@KS
There shouldn't be a "right skin color and gender". ALL people deserve caring physicians that practice their hippocratic oath. While I care deeply for the people of 3rd world countries, let's start with our own because clearly, this country isn't doing a great job right now. Very easy to compare our countries or personal problems to worse scenarios to ease our struggles & heartaches for a short fix & short-lived peace but that is denial & is not realistic nor does it solve "our" countries serious lousy healthcare & stigmas. Money, greed & ignorance is the root problem.
1
Left unsaid is the reason why so many people overdose - variations in the potency and content of opioids, especially with the increased presence of fentanyl.This article is far more important than similar articles on recovery. It gives the consequences of addiction - after you leave the hospital. And I never saw this reported before. It's another important reason to never start drugs or alcohol. Not everyone becomes addicted, but why gamble with such a costly outcome.
28
@Estaban Goolacki
Yes, this portrait - shown to kids - would be far more effective than warnings of death. They can't imagine death, and it's shock when it happens to someone w they know about - is there and gone.
To actually see someone who is utterly helpless and dependent on his parents - and will be that way for as long as he lives - because of his addiction - that is terrifying.
14
" It's another important reason to never start drugs or alcohol. "
My apologies, but this sounds like the "just say no approach" that puts the blame on the victim. An easy slogan, but one that is very difficult to implement. There are a number of reasons that people become addicted and, consequently, we need a wide range of approaches to prevent and deal with those addictions.
4
It is victim blaming because it’s the “victim’s” fault that he got himself addicted to drugs. It’s not his parent’s fault, it’s not your fault, it’s not my fault and it’s definitely not society’s fault that this happened.
Although he was a college student, he was still a grown man who knowingly engaged in risky behavior... doing drugs, especially opioids. Unless you’re making the claim that he couldn’t possibly know what the risks were?
No one put a gun to this young man’s head and forced him to put a heroin syringe in his arm the first time he “experimented” with drugs in college. He knew better and did it anyway.
NO two brain injuries are the same so it's not like going to the ER to get cast for a broken arm where the bone is reset, a cast put on and in 6 or so weeks all is better.
As a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor (car wreck, '90, my fault - no intoxicants in system) I can empathize with the realities the parents are currently going through.
While typing this comment I remembered having watched "Pink Floyd: The Wall" and thinking how very apt it would apply after he became addicted to drugs. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084503/
12
Millions of people use opioids as prescribed for temporary relief of pain and never get addicted. Used as prescribed, the medication is safe and effective.
One almost has to be stupid to overdose, or else have a death wish or not care about one's life or family, as anyone can easily go on the Internet or get on the iPhone and look up what are safe doses of prescribed drugs and learn that fentanyl is dangerous. Here was a young man who did not value his life and so has ruined the lives of his parents and family.
And what is the point of his life now? He is a drag on his parents and resources and contributes nothing. What is the organism once the brain is destroyed?
France managed to cut heroin overdoses by 79% in a few years by allowing any doctor to prescribe buprenorphine without special licensing or training. Buprenorphine treats opioid addiction, reducing cravings for opioids without becoming addictive itself. The USA could do the same, but a plethora of ignorant bureaucracy and capitalistic considerations stand in the way. Apparently the USA prefers having addicts and brain-dead & brain-damaged overdosers. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/04/how-france-reduced-he...
35
@Earthlink
You are spot on by writing that "Millions of people use opioids as prescribed for temporary relief of pain and never get addicted. Used as prescribed, the medication is safe and effective".
These opioids were developed post-operative pain, but are prescribed by still far too many physicians out used like candy by those suffering from mild to severe chronic pain.
Chronic pain can and should always be treated with non-opioid prescription drugs.
9
@Sarah
"Chronic pain can and should always be treated with non-opioid prescription drugs."
Said the person not living with chronic pain. Who can do any activity like walking without pain. Who probably gets a good night's sleep and isn't awakened 3-4 times a night with a muscle cramp that won't release and hurts enough to keep you from going back to sleep. who doesn't get staccato pain in her feet that makes you stop what you're doing until it passes. Who hasn't had 13 surgeries in 13 years and is getting ready to have another one. Sure all chronic pain sufferers need is a couple of aspirin a day.
1
I take it you have not suffered from severe chronic pain. Severe chronic pain is a medical problem and deserves adequate treatment to alleviate the pain. Not treating it because it requires a narcotic for relief is like not treating hypertension or any other chronic illness that requires a lifelong drug treatment. Yes, I am a physician.
2
I am at a loss for words. They all have a tough remaining life ahead. I don't know what is best for them as a course of action but this is a decision that they must face alone.
9
The only way to prevent this is to scare people away from
OxyContin and Fentanyl in the first place. To convince them
that if you start you are putting yourself on the "Opioid
Road of Death". You have to ignore what the doctors say
and believe. This will take a lot of convincing
12
@Tom
Yes, it should scare them yet there is so much evidence that prevention programs (drugs, tobacco) don't work. They don't prevent kids from trying the pill, cigarette or drink. Many studies, well-controlled, do not show an effect from current school-based prevention programs (DARE is a great example). I do agree that maybe doctor's could do some scaring away … or at least get trained in properly prescribing, but I think the larger problem is the drug pushers: big pharma.
1
"The only way to prevent this is to scare people away from OxyContin and Fentanyl in the first place. "
I beg to disagree. The best way to prevent this is to educate people with accurate information about the consequences. Eventually, people, especially young people, see through scare tactics and stop believing anything. Consider the derision now heaped on the original version of "Reefer Madness"
4
I am torn between compassion and criticism of the addicts. Yes, they need support, but one needs to be responsible for one's own well-being. Fact is most of these people will never again be contributing members of society. So what do we do? Pay for their care or let them go?
If ever in Philadelphia, I encourage a drive under the El between Somerset and K&A. It's the zombie apocalypse down there. It's like a human drive-thru zoo. Hundreds of addicts outside in a real life nightmare scenario...vast majority of them are young (albeit worn) whites.
My fear is that this problem is going to become much worse. Are we going to become a society of 20% addicts? I have no solutions, just many concerns and conflicting views.
27
Such a sad story, for both him and his parents. People here who are saying such callous, horrific, things need to take a long look at themselves. Would you feel that way if it was a loved one of yours? If it was you?
Yes, he made choices that led to where he is now, but he's paying for it dearly and so is his family. So, maybe, instead of directing your hostility at them, use it for a greater purpose: affect change within our country related to pharmaceutical companies. Opioids serve a purpose in medicine, but not like this. Not without strict controls and education. Not to mention research into r reasons behind using in the first place. Young or old — is it an injury or surgery that led to dependence and addiction, self-medication to numb emotional pain and other mental health issues, or just "simply" one bad choice with unintended consequences?
Save your judgement, save your scorn for someone more deserving like yourselves because you're not helping. At all.
56
@James
I'll give you a kinder response. Far better that Andrew had died from his overdose, thus sparing him from living the life of a vegetable and relieving his poor parents of years of anguish and hard work while caring for him, and the costs to society when he goes to that care facility he will eventually find.
3
No one who uses illicit drugs, whether for pain or for recreation, expects to become addicted--until they do, and then they deny it.
I treated and/or supervised the treatment of over 7000 addicts and alcoholics during my career developing and managing treatment centers. A large majority of our patients also had a mental illness, which is a frequent reason for addiction.
Most do not end up like Andrew, of whom I can only say it may be a mercy if he doesn't understand the magnitude of what he has lost in his life. Instead, they trudge along in life, barely getting by, relapsing from time to time. Others work hard to achieve lasting sobriety, even though they may have relapses too.
Who are we as flawed individuals to judge those who use drugs? There but for the Grace of God go I.
49
@Barbara, in this situation its not necessarily by the grace of God. Its because I didn’t make stupid choice.
1
What a nightmare. I feel sorry for the guy, but once again, you've got to be nuts to do drugs like that.
15
@Rob Crawford
He has condemned his parents, especially his mother , to a hellish, heartbreaking life. As they age or die, he will have to be institutionalized, to their great distress and his.
28
The first thing they need to do is institute a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare and start with a Do Not Resuscitate order.
Andrew's purchase of heroin ties him directly with the horrific crimes, the murders and rapes, committed by the Central American drug cartels and the Taliban.
The money Andrew gave his dealer was used to buy guns, to buy ammunition, to pay thugs to murder, to buy off police and politicians.
The schoolgirls in Afghanistan that get shot because they want an education ... Andrew's money bought those bullets when he bought heroin sourced from Afghanistan.
I hope Andrew will someday be able to think through that and realize his role in the spreading of death and destruction.
11
@J JencksPerhaps he has paid a high enough price, no?
1
He won't.
1
@Paul Easton "it merely eliminates physical or emotional pain". I think you answered your own question. Specially intense emotional pain is the reason for many addicts to use. Opioid use is a historic and international phenomenon, not limited to this country and our times. From Asia to Europe to the USA, and over many centuries, people have become addicts because they just felt that their pain was too much to handle without drugs. And opiates used to be legal, being ordered from the Sears catalogue and delivered by mail (for depressed housewives it is rumored) in good ol' 1900's America, as was cocaine tincture.
12
Dear moderators, this comment is civil, relevant and not libelous or defamatory. Please post it.
The $$$ that American drug users spend on cocaine and heroin DIRECTLY finances the purchase of guns and ammo used by the Taliban (heroin) and Central American drug cartels (cocaine) in their horrific crimes against so many, including murdered Afghan schoolgirls and countless rape victims in Central America.
35
@J Jencks
In fact, when Afghanistan was run by the Taliban opium was virtually eliminated. This is a consequence of the US invasion of Afghanistan. Get your facts straight. Vote for legislators who have the courage and will to get us out of America's longest and most pointless war.
3
I grew up in the 70's and did every kind drug you can imagine - when I hit 19 or 20 I grew bored and gave up the popular street drugs & got heavily involved in sports - but I could pick up a pack of cigarettes & smoke on a hell raising night & then toss them aside. Friends who were hooked were amazed. Except for occasional beer I grew bored with all drugs and dedicated myself to athletics.
Four surgeries later & with a brutally bad back - an executive level job - the whole gig - I started seeing a Pain Doc when I was about 50. I didn't even know what Vicodin was.... but the doc refilled the script every month for 90 tabs with no cautionary warning, and they seemed to work..... 6 years later he said "I can't give you these anymore" - "huh" I said.....
this is how you make an addict
37
@Jimi
I am sorry about your bad back, and simply accept that it was so bad that you needed pain meds at some phase. Anyone may really need extreme pain medication - including opioids, which have legitimate uses. For many, painkillers do not interfere with life as much as intractable pain.
Maybe that "pain Doc" WAS sloppy, unprofessional - and at least partly responsible. But come on - you are "an executive" "dedicated . . . to athletics," yet you never bothered to research Vicodin yourself? In 6 years?
Athletes usually pay close attention to what they are ingesting (altho' as a group they also take chances - as in use of steroids and untested supplements).
I take limited medications, none of which have an immediate effect, and so I sometimes forget if I've taken them. I have read warnings and studies and double checked with Drs. on possible side effects, since anything ingested daily can carry a previously unforeseen threat to health (examples: statins, or the PPI acid reducers).
Point being: you wouldn't miss taking the pain meds because that has an immediate impact. You were aware of taking it every day, perhaps multiple times a day. But you returned many times to the same Doctor. Don't you bear some responsibility for the choices made?
3
@Jimi — If we are to understand that your “brutal” level of pain returned without the Vicodin, your need for a prescribed opiate, such as perhaps another formulation of hydro or oxycodone does not make you an addict. Your primary care physician, back doctor, or pain specialist should have been able to prescribe an opiate pain med most appropriate to your condition. That the docs are being scared off and are caving to the current hysteria makes for poor care but does not make you “an addict”. Maybe street heroin and street fentanyl will make you an addict. Perhaps that was your point, and that it traces back to the onset of poor medical care.
1
@linden tree islander
The "poor care" began when the Dr. didn't do his job by advising of the side effects & the %age of addiction to the drug.
“Are you happy?” she asked Andrew.
“Yeah,” he said, slowly, drawing out the syllable.
“You’re happy that you’re still here?”
“Yeah,” he repeated.
“Are there things you miss that you used to do?”
I am happy his mother had the presence of mind to ask her son these questions. My first thought reading this story was "what if the pain that drew him to take opioids was still weighing on his soul?"
I wish happiness for all of them
10
He Survived an Overdose. Now What? Don't Do It Again and Waste Important Public Services and Funds! I mean survive.
2
Andrew Foote's story is one that every parent and every legislator ought to read. Parents cannot control how their child will turn out as an adult. In fact they cannot control what sort of teen the child will become. That doesn't mean parents should throw up their hands and not intervene or not try to teach their children right from wrong or how to be civilized human beings. It means that we should step back and realize that how one raises a child is part of growing up, not all of it, not in today's world.
However, had Andrew Foote been able to get help when he decided he needed it rather than when an insurance company decided he might not have OD'd on drugs. He might be a productive happy member of society. Or not.
What is illustrated here is the multiple ways our society is failing its citizens. Andrew's parents will not live forever. He will need assistance for the rest of his life. Will he be warehoused in a nursing home? Probably. Will he be neglected and overmedicated there? Sure. Did this have to happen? No.
America excels at ignoring or criminalizing social problems like addiction. America also excels in forcing families to impoverish themselves to care for family members that cannot live independently with a myriad of confusing and contradicting regulations to avoid spending money on them.
Why is it not too expensive to go to war, to give out tax breaks but too expensive to help real people like the Foote family?
54
@hen3ry
"Things started to fall apart when Andrew left for college."
My brother was hit by a drunk driver at 7 AM one early summer morning while running along side a New Jersey Road. He was practicing for the Olympics. He had broken numerous cross country long distance running competitions, winning Gold and Silver more than 20 times.
West Point had offered him a full scholarship. The Vietnam War had not concluded and I was not going to let my brother go to a war field.
Instead, he was struck by a car, sent flying about 135 feet in the air and he landed on his head.
He was in a coma for one month and a half.
He lost all memory and had to learn everything from the beginning.
I would say that never give up hope, focus, and a relentlessness faith that you can return to normal though it might take forty years to do so.
1
This article should be required reading in school drug education programs. Purdue execs should be in jail. And the legislators who passed laws requiring medical staff to push pain meds also deserve sanction. “This is harmless and you have a right to be pain free,” I recall one nurse saying, and the doctor repeating, as I sought treatment for the flu.
One point not emphasized enough was that the whole thing appears to have started with high school football injuries. Did painkillers allow him to continue to scale the heights of “eighth Best in the history of a Massachusetts?” Have our school sports programs gone from building strong bodies to leaving many wracked with lifelong pain, or, as this story eloquently recounts, “even worse?”
28
Scientific research shows that addiction may use the same nerve pathway used in an instinctual behavior--the drive to eat salt. In animals, because salt is so important to a healthy balance of body fluids, there is a powerful, natural instinct to search out salt licks.
If desires to eat sugars/fats, drink alcohol, and take drugs are getting mapped onto the same nerve pathway that pushes the body to seek salt, then the impulse may be working at the virtually subconscious level of natural instinct.
Imagine a butterfly before it lifts up to migrate. At that time, a strong internal pressure (requiring no conscious decision or understanding) dictates: fly now! That pressure blocks out distractions and pushes the butterfly to complete the migratory route.
If drug desire is as potent as migration desire, then people will find themselves pursuing drugs almost automatically. Understanding this could help people figure out better ways to anticipate and manage the power of these impulses.
14
Two of my wonderful granddaughters were living in Alberta, Canada when they were in school. In high school they were required to go with a group to a hospital to view young people who were in very difficult straits because of drugs. It made a lasting impression on the girls.
41
@Pat Boice
That would be quite a bit more startling to young people than the local DARE presentations.
1
Doctors wrote 250 million prescriptions for opioids in 2016. Many were incentivized to do it. Pharma funded medical textbooks which told new doctors opioids weren’t addictive. The responsibility for all these deaths needs to be laid at the door of the medical industrial complex.
19
EVERY doctor knows that opioids are addictive. There is no need for a drug company to tell us that. We actually do go to medical school. It is how they are used and the duration of use that turns a needed treatment into an addiction. And it is also the recreational drug abuser who is not using for medical treatment who most often becomes an addict. If you actually NEED the medicine to treat legitimate intractable pain, then you need the medicine. Period.
12
@DocG You are letting doctors off the hook too easily. Surely a few of them are at least party culpable for the opioid crisis we have. Docs were the first line of defense and many failed their duty.
@DocG
You acknowledge that opioids are addictive yet you ignore the fact that a tolerance for the mgs prescribed need to be increased & ignore as well that at that point when it reaches a certain level the pt needs, the Dr. then ditches the pt to avoid liability. Then it's the pt left with a severe addiction & their & their families left suffering with the damage created by not treating the pt SAFELY & informing them of the downsides.
This is tragic beyond words, but I feel most for the parents. Hospital ethics committees and providers are failing the families of patients like these, in not fully explaining the choices and the ramifications.
The crucial point was installing the feeding tube. Think long and hard, face the agony, before deciding on this procedure, which commits your loved one to unending, unimproving, helpless "life".
I always think of the scene in Captains Courageous, where the hero, in the midst of the ship's dismasting, faces the fact that he's maimed for life and will never be the same. He chooses to let go. Some times part of the bravest life is being brave enough to face its end, and choosing it.
And if your loved one is in no position to choose? It's up to the family. Would he wish to go on? Would he wish you to endure his going on?
Hope can be the enemy of happiness and acceptance. Death is part of life.
35
@Penich- I know, but what a sad thing to have to decide. If someone is old, they have lived their life. Your son or daughter? Very hard indeed.
Drugs are available due to a careless control by the Government-Pharma industry. No controls, lies about their danger and abuse by physicians prescribing them. Pharma companies make billions in profits, no control of prescriptions. Missouri had enough opioids prescribed in 5 years to give each resident 250 pills! This is obscene. Where are the government regulators! Where are the so called trained doctors? The biggest drug cartels are not in Mexico they are here in the USA.
11
@RichardHead
That's a fake news headline when you consider that chronic pain patients take 1200 pills a year or more. That's almost as much as that statistic says would be for five people. That's why the 250 average is farcical.
What was the purpose of keeping this young man alive? Yes, his situation is tragic but if there is no hope of recovery then he is simply existing. I doubt that anyone wants to live under those conditions but our society frowns on not letting someone go if it is medically possible to keep them alive.
Is he happy? Does he really know what happiness is?
26
@BJS - he is conscious, can walk, and can answer questions. Your "doubt" sounds pretty presumptuous and downright scary.
10
My middle daughter started experimenting with drugs at 15. Our family life was chaotic; her older sister moved out at 19, her dad was a brain injury survivor (a cerebral aneurism) who was never able to return to his career and struggled with rage and a host of physical and mental problems, and I was working full time, supporting the family, managing a fully disabled spouse's health issues, and trying my best to raise our two teenage daughters remaining at home.
Those are reasons, not excuses. She made the decision to use drugs. She resisted therapy, and treatment, and returned to her preferred lifestyle time after time. At 25, she died of a heroin overdose, after 6 months in jail, and 3 months clean. I miss her every day. Her sisters miss her. Her dad died missing her.
She had stopped breathing when she was found; frantic CPR was ineffective, and the EMTs intubated and hospitalized her. 36 hours later, after tests confirmed no brain activity, we took her off the ventilator, and she sighed into death in 20 minutes.
I have never wished that she had survived her overdose. My wish is for better mental health treatment, substance abuse programs available to every economic class, public schools that inspire, motivate, and educate, and a criminal justice system that jails violent and white collar criminals, not drug users.
My deepest sympathies to Andrew's parents.
110
@Anne Elise Hudson I'm so sorry for your loss.
2
There is blood on the hands of the Sackler family. I hope they’re enjoying their riches, earned on the backs of people like this poor young man. May they forever be haunted by the ghosts.
22
All things in life have a reason for happening. Mostly they are choices individuals make throughout the course of their lives. They can be simple choices such as Andrew made or they can be complex choices which members of an organization decide for their enrichment at the cost of others in society. The opioid epidemic is a crisis of choice by a few in the corporate pharmaceutical world. Corporations can work for the good of our country and it citizens or they can be destructive to everything and everyone they touch. No better an example than the later is being played out in families like Andrews across America on a daily basis with others not so lucky as to have their child survive. Although his survival may be viewed by some as not a blessing.
Most choices that corporate members of companies like Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson to market a product have many sides to the decision to market or not. Besides a monetary decision, to market is also a ethical decision when live are at stake. Big Pharma knew of the extreme addictive properties of the product and yet chose money over ethics. They not only chose that route but, at every step of the way when confronted with the reality of their actions they have chosen money over the lives of our children's future. They are worse than the street dealing pushers for they should know better.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-dea-agent-opioid-crisis-fueled-by-drug-i....
9
Why is it that the news media spends more time on
whatever the latest "Racist" incident is when a recent
study indicates that 72,000 people died last year from
drug overdoes ?
It seems as if this country has lost its will to
do what is best for all its citizens.
God help parents like the Footes
11
And we all pay for this tragedy.
11
This was a well written profile piece. Thank you for this and the several others that have appeared frequently in the NYT.
Now can we look at this from another, neglected angle, the money?
Every $ spent by drug users (esp. cocaine and heroin) goes straight into the pockets of criminal gangs like the Taliban and Central American drug cartels. This money finances their operations, pays for the guns and ammo they use in their murders of schoolgirls and rapes of young women, pays for the bribing of police and politicians.
How about some articles that follow the money as it leaves the pockets of addicted Americans and flows into the coffers of these groups. People need to see the connection. This understanding may or may not help addicts resist the next fix. But hiding from this reality helps no one.
26
@J Jencks
I agree. Use of illegal drugs like opioids is not morally neutral.
Whole cultures are being destroyed by violence stemming from from those seeking to control the supply in order to profit from it. If you use, you are part of that.
1
While they lament the drug epidemic, our government is paying millions of dollars to have soldiers guarding the poppy fields in Afghanistan. In the meantime, millions of people are overdosing from heroin and opioids and people who are in unrelenting pain can't get the help they need.
I often think that our destructive war on drugs has a lot to do with greed. The owners of private prisons and big para are getting rich with the help of the people we elect to run this country. Too may of them would sell their souls to the devil if they thought the devil would give them enough campaign cash to keep getting elected.
35
While a comment I made just moments ago has shown up on the message board, a couple of comments I've made quite a while ago are still not appearing. I hope it's not because moderators are choosing to censor them. I may have expressed my point forcefully, but I was not uncivil or rude in any way. Nor did I make libelous statements.
My point is simply that the actions of drug addicts, in purchasing their drugs (specifically cocaine, heroin and related drugs) contributes DIRECTLY to the murders and rapes carried out by groups such as the Central American drug cartels and the Taliban.
Yes, addicts are victims. But they are also complicit in the crimes of their suppliers.
The Taliban kills schoolgirls, simply for desiring an education. They finance the purchase of their guns and ammo through the sale of heroin.
Ditto for the Central American cartels.
American $$$ pays for this, money that Mr. Foote gave to his supplier.
This reality may not stop addicts from using. But hiding from this reality is not going to help anybody.
We get profiles like this article on a very frequent basis at the NYT. But where are the extensive and detailed articles that trace the connections between the $$$ of American drug users and the finances of the drug cartels?
Moderators - please post this. It is a legitimate contribution to the discussion.
14
@J Jencks
While I laud your comment do you honestly believe an addict will read it or acknowledge it? I don't. They are looking for their next fix and don't give a fig about repercussions.
7
@Margo Channing - Now you've got me wondering whether any "white collar" functional addicts are among the NY Times readers reading this article.
I'd be very interested to know.
1
@J Jencks
Hard truth and it needs to be said.
Thank you.
1
After my brother died of alcoholism following many many years of struggle to quit for good I began to understand the contradictions and paradoxes of addiction and treatment. On the one hand we blame the addict and on the other we blame the substance. In AA they talk about the disease of addiction being complex yet the solution is to 'Keep it Simple' and thus we must take things 'One Day at a Time'. There are no easy answers. Each addict is an individual whose solution is specific to them and their circumstances.
I wish this sweet family only peace and hope they find happiness in the love they have for each other. I hope they take things One Day at a Time and know there are many who will be helped by reading their story they have been so gracious to share.
110
@Ellen Sullivan What a compassionate comment. Thank you.
14
@Ellen Sullivan
Amen.
I am a reader in favor of the “let them die” theory. These addicts are costing us a fortune in the healthcre system as exemplified in this article.
The vast majority of addicts brought back from the edge of death will simply revert to their drug using ways or need and waste extensive and costly healthcare services. This is while the average hard working American will pay pay for the addicts care through increased health insurance costs and their taxes.
As far as I’m concerned these addicts had their chance to be productive members of society and blew it. Hence, they do not deserve our help or sympathy. Take the money we waste on them and use it for the healthcare of those who labor daily and pay their taxes.
28
@KJS very cruel
6
It is far to easy to be judgmental when you have not been touched by the complexities of this disease. There but for the grace of God...
10
@KJS
To prolong the life of this young man is costly both for the healthcare system, and for the emotional stress it puts
on family and loved ones. The decision to allow him to live or peacefully die would be when the future outcome of his illness was determined.
NOT BECAUSE HE IS AN ADDICT.
2
In my professional life I have seen many just like Andrew from all manner of illness who dwell as he does in the penumbra of death. He is still technically alive but his abilities to interact with his family, friends and environment have atrophied.
Sadder still than Andrew is the ongoing immolation of the lives of those closest to him. I can only hope those who live next to this family can help unburden them. Gifting food is nice but an hour or two to walk in the garden is nicer still.
JS Bach said it best in a sacred song: "Komm, sûßer tod, komm selge Ruh" (BWV 478) [Come, sweet death, komm blessed quiet]
26
Brave and loving family...
7
It's interesting isn't it that opioid abuse stemming from legally prescribed opioids have, according to Dope Sick (Beth Macy) the new book out, 300K deaths. And those numbers have not peaked yet. It will be around 2020 when they do. Marijuana...the demon weed...illegal still in most states has caused no deaths..ever...that have been documented.
11
@Harley Leiber Medical marijuana didn't prevent Vermont's ongoing opioid crisis.
The vast majority of opioid users are not addicts, and don't become addicts.
4
Self-inflicted.
1. Why play football in high school? It's a gateway to injury, opioids, all that.
2. This young man was not from a poor, dysfunctional family. He is from a privileged family. He made a bad choice.
I thought drug addiction was a moral failing, a dangerous moral failing for which mass incarceration was the answer (at least in the 1980's). Now when certain demographics do it, I get sob stories, histograms, and pie charts.
7
@KS
One doesn't have to play on a sport to become addicted to drugs though it does play a part in some way I suppose. I knew plenty of kids from really good homes who never played a sport in school but because they had money they wanted to do drugs and got hooked.
2
@KS Why don't we just round up all drug addicts, as they used to do in China and now do in the Philippines , and kill them? Problem solved. Happy?
5
There are a sadly large number of these damaged people. The hope of recovery lures parents into treatments that prolong the agony. Devastating.
25
Not to sound like a Republican, but there’s a real financial cost to society when folks are “saved.” He will cost the taxpayers millions over his life. I think we get to ponder these issues; do we have bottomless pockets as taxpayers & we need to think how those millions spent on nursing homes, doctors and Social Security on ONE man could’ve changed hundreds of other lives for the better. A man who didn’t even value his own life.
I know his parents love him & think they made the right decision for them, but they danced with the devil. And no “whataboutism” in response, please. I know we spend trillions on wars; we are talking about this case.
Frankly, I do not think we will solve this drug problem. If we could, we would have already. We need to figure out how to live with it.
35
@Commenter
painful, but your conclusion is true.
8
@Commenter This Democratic Socialist agrees with you. Offering the feeding tube was a mistake. We've got to get over the mentality that aggressive care with ventilators and feeding tubes is worth it. Think of all the non-futile, curing, life-saving medical care that could be provided with all the money spent on futile "aggressive care."
2
@Commenter I'm not a Republican and I agree with you. We need to take a good long hard look at "heroic" measures and aggressive treatments involving feeding tubes. Just because we can doesn't mean we should.
This is a heart-breaking & a tragic story for everyone who has a drug-addicted loved one! My heart goes out and is broken for all who has endured & is continuing to endure this. It's only recent that prescribing opioids has reached epidemic proportions & is now in the forefront. MD's are to blame for this & buying into big Pharma & reaping their"perks". It's taken forever to recognize the abuse & damage of Big Pharma & the Drs. that prescribe them in a knee-jerk fashion.They are legal drug dealers; they absolutely know what is destined to happen. However, it is NOT only Opioids. ADHD medications:Adderall & Ritalin are given to children regularly and merely b/c they or the parents answered "yes" to questions that superficially appear to meet the criteria for ADHD. Those are amphetamines-period.The patient QUICKLY develops a tolerance & Drs. increase the dosage immediately. And then, when the dosage is too high for them to prescribe without drawing attention to themselves, they stop increasing the dosage further. However the patient is already severely ADDICTED & what follows is the patient then "needs" really NEEDS the higher dosage because of the course & road those Drs set them up for & the patient buys from streets and the results follow exactly the same as course as Opioid abuse & addiction. This problem is not only with Opioids! Big Pharma & MD's are businessmen. They forgot the oath of do no harm. Making $ is the bottom line for them.
ReplyRecommendShare
9
@Catherine, you are conflating patients with chronic severe pain and people who abuse street drugs. I can tell you with certainty, as a member of the chronic severe pain community for many years, that you are believing a few falsehoods.
First, people with chronic severe pain are typically not addicted to opioid medications; the addiction rate is between 0.8% and 7%. We are dependent, which is very different. Second, our opioid dosages are rarely increased. When our medications are reduced, we don't turn to the streets for drugs. Rather, we look for non-drug alternatives to try to manage the pain. Third, our doctors and "Big Pharma" are not conspiring against us. Our doctors, especially, are looking out for our best interests according to their best medical judgment. We might not always agree with them, or with the restrictions on opioid medications, but we are the collateral damage in the war on opioids.
Grouping chronic severe pain patients with people who are addicted to street drugs (heroin, fentanyl, etc.) does a disservice to both. Withholding adequate pain medication to chronic severe pain patients who use their medications responsibly only punishes and promotes suffering, while doing nothing to solve the opioid addiction epidemic.
27
@Reesa
I disagree Reesa. The ADHD patients are very often misdiagnosed and they do not turn to the streets for drugs because they want to! The Psychiatrists put them in that situation by starting them on highly addictive drugs as their antidote to their difficulties rather than addressing them in a safer way. Adderall is an amphetamine very similar to cocaine & by firstly prescribing amphetamines to begin with when that shouldn't be the first and only recourse. The Psychiatrists just write out script after script during their 15 min "med mgmt" appt and then run away when the pts tolerance has risen to dangerous levels. When the pt or family is suffering with a drug addicted love one, the family or pt is labeled difficult and the Psychiatrists run for the hills. They take no responsibility for what they caused & desert the pt & family to deal with wrecked lives.
1
The number of commenters who think my closest friend should be dead makes my blood run cold. Am I seriously reading what I'm reading? People suggesting that if you overdose, you should be allowed to just die? Most people who OD do not have the horrific fate of the young man described in this article.
Meet my dearest friend. Her name is Jennifer. She was born in 1965. She has a PhD from Berkeley in Economics. She runs marathons. She has no problem with self-discipline or delayed gratification. She is warm and brilliant and has a wicked wit. She works long hours and does great work. She is an adored teacher. She is the kindest friend I have and has been there for me again and again. She has never had any interest in drugs or alcohol and never even smoked a joint.
She was put on painkillers for chronic pain at 41 and was not worried. She took them as prescribed. Until she didn't. She turned into someone else. She nearly died at 43 of an overdose. Again at 44. She has been sober for years now and I am grateful every single day.
Those of you who think she should have been left to die: you make me loathe humanity.
112
@Northstar5 thank you for sharing this story. I’m sick from reading responses that basically say these people deserve to die. It’s appalling.
5
@Northstar5
I don’t think people are saying that we should let people die from overdose. But your friend DID change and get her life together and it is her responsibility alone to maintain her current status.
I think people are struggling with the multiple failures and the toll it is taking on families. I disagree with AA, which I receive a great amount of support, in the insistence of helplessness. When a relapse occurs, it is not a helpless choice by the addict. There is where we need their responsibility to go with all of society’s and families’ support.
If your friend hadn’t made that decision and didn’t do the hard work, she’d be dead. She did it, though, and I think that is where people are saying that the addict needs to held accountable.
8
@Northstar5
Northstar, I think you're misreading the responses. An addict who overdoses deserves innumerable chances to go on Suboxone or methadone until he gets it right, as your brave friend Jennifer did.
One can have a full and productive life, on MAT, even if she never becomes "sober."
What's horrifying people here is the death-within- life of a brain-damaged young man, and the cost to his family--and I'm not talking monetary cost.
A very different situation from your friend, and hats off to her.
18
For those who have commented about the evils of legalizing pot, you need to be more informed before making judgments. Chronic pain makes life very difficult, and in some cases almost impossible. Many people have found relief in non-addictive pot. If we could get over our misconceptions, millions of people could live better lives without the danger of physical addiction that come with currently legal drugs. For people who choose to use recreational pot to the detriment of living a full life, that's a whole other story. It has nothing to do with the people for whom medical marijuana can help, to live the full life that pain has stolen.
26
@Fran EckertI am all for legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, what I don't want are a bunch of stoners walking around or driving cars/bikes etc.
5
@Fran Eckert I suppose there might be something like 'non-addictive pot' but I know I spent thousands of dollars on my step-son's treatment for chronic (daily) pot use.
1
I understand. It's hard to let go of our loved ones. Any sliver of hope is good enough, whatever it takes. It hurts to hear constantly of this heroin epidemic. It seems to get worse as those who advocate for marihuana legalization make gains across the country. It's not a coincidence. Marihuana use can lead to stronger drugs. Its legalization can make it seem its ok to take drugs. It's not ok, not even to take over the counter drugs. They all have negative side effects, including aspirin. But the drug companies do not want us to know this. It's a big market, just like guns.
1
The people who need to read this piece and even meet this family are kids. Kids who cannot yet fully consider the consequences of their actions. Kids who "know" what they are doing. Kids young enough to be influenced. Not all of them will respond, but if one kid gets it, that would be worth it.
No one takes drugs expecting this to happen to them. Some kids say that death isn't that scary.
This should be.
This family is only 4 years into their nightmare. It isn't going to end that soon, and it could get worse. My heart breaks for them.
30
My heart goes out to the Foote family. They are saints. This story underscores perils of the drug epidemic that we don't think about. It's always a horror to read and the fact that 72,000 have OD's and died in 2017....we need serious medical research, scientific and brain research to help turn the part of the brain around that is held in lockdown, hostage to the drug so the survival parts of our brains are "tricked" into instinctually reacting that we need the drugs to survive like air and water. It's a natural phenomenon, only in addicts, it's twisted by the drug. What happens when someone can't breathe? They fight like mad for a breath. That's how drug cravings must feel. You must get that drug! Let's figure out what does this and how to reverse it. Meanwhile, my unanswered question is, why are so many people turning to drugs to feel happy about being alive? That is sad that I ask that in the first place, but why?
14
@GLORIA SCHRAMM
I agree. Things are seriously wrong when we have a significant part of the population seeking this kind of escape.
Apparently, daily life has insufficient meaning and gratification.
8
The epidemic which grips us as a nation is one of psychological pain, financial insecurity, disconnection, alienation, poor education, foolish obsessions, vanity, lack of compassion, and fear. This leaves a giant hole in our national spirit. Drugs fit well into any shaped hole; heroin and the other opiates especially. The drugs aren't the problem, people. They are a solution; a solution with miserable side effects, but one that works to make everything alright for just a moment. We won't see an end to this epidemic until we try to make this country a more tolerable and livable place for everyone.
44
@Krantz
Opiates are a huge problem. However, Alcohol is and has been the larger epidemic for generations. I experienced it starting in the 60's in my early 20's , I saw it in my parents generation and their parents generation also.
It is the biggest killer, always has been. Its part of the pattern of American life and hasn't changed.
The comment above is helpful " .......until we try to make this country more tolerable for everyone...."
6
Meanwhile the states continue to legalize marijuana, which opens a door to other drug use.
No one is asking: "What is missing from these peoples lives that they need to fill their emptiness with drugs?"
Where are we failing as families and as a society?
2
@Michael
Electronics. Electronics. Electronics.
3
@Michael
More people still die from alcohol related deaths. Few if any from marijuana related deaths. I do think that people desperate to escape their lives are tempted by anything which numbs them or allows escape.
Is our society so devoid of hope for so many that risk of addiction pales when compared to the desire to escape? Or is there a relatively constant number of "addicts" in society, with the numbers roughly aligning to population?
1
@Michael
Early and readily available counseling.
Developments in addiction research in recent decades have been extensively covered in the media, and all the research shows one thing: Willpower does not work. It is not about willpower or good or bad decisions.
Why are so many otherwise well-informed people clinging to outmoded, moralizing views of addiction?
The more scientists understand about the brain and addiction, the clearer it becomes that trying to just stop doing opiates or opioids is almost like trying to drown yourself by sticking your head in a bucket of water. It can be done but it is really, really, really hard. Addiction hijacks your instincts. The addict is fighting a force as strong as the survival instinct itself.
As for the people who justify their judgment of addicts by pointing out that addicts must have made bad decisions by getting addicted in the first place, all I can say is, you are clearly complacent and really don't understand that not everyone's experience is like yours. You have apparently never felt the extreme pain, from physical injury/illness, mental illness, or trauma, that causes some people to reach for drugs because they are desperate for relief.
Maybe their solution is stupid, but the desperation is real. Have you ever been in so much pain that you were truly desperate for relief? If so: Did you make great decisions when you were in that state? If not: Stop being self-righteous about things you don't understand.
55
@LR Agree with you completely. For those judgmental people, or for those wanting to understand "addictions", there is plenty of up-to-date information out there. One interesting and helpful book is "Lost Connections" by Johann Hari. Excellent book.
2
@LR
Actually, it is easy to stop doing drugs. Thousands of people stop everyday when they are jailed. And it is not really hard --- for most, the withdrawal is minor, not even as bad as a cold or flu. Alcohol is the exception, detox from long alcohol abuse can be medically dangerous.
What is hard is to choose to be happy and make something of one's life.
3
I wish all addicts on opioids or alcohol could read this piece. It is stark and real. They need to know what their addiction does to others, particularly their families.
I thank the New York Times for publishing it.
29
@Bill The vast majority of opioid users are not addicted, and don't become addicted.
4
What to do about the prevention of the use of these drugs is the bigger question, perhaps.
Thought this was one of Trump’s promises. He wouldn’t have a clue what these families go through. Too busy in the ivory Trump Tower and now the White House portraying he cares.
The medical field is also worn out. As a healthcare worker who has seen this time and time again, it would have been nice to seriously have someone who cared enough, with budget power to help.
But just another trick. And in the meanwhile, more heartbreak - physically and emotionally.
8
@MIMA note that none of the Trump kids were ever druggies
2
@Bar tennant - also note that Trump lost a brother to alcoholism and Trump doesn't consume alcohol.
My sympathies are pretty thin for heroin addicts and any addict at this point. Addiction is NOT a disease the after effects of prolonged use of barbiturates, etc may cause diseases afterwards. These people choose to put that needle into their arms, people don't choose to get cancer. More often than not they don't have insurance so we the taxpayer end up paying for their little bit of excitement. I for one am tired of the excuses as well. Parents if your child's doctor prescribes oxy for your kid's injuries run and find yourself another doctor. Do a little research Lord knows the information is out there. Another thing Personal Responsibility. Try it some time.
17
If you have never make any bad decisions in life, then the personal responsibility approach can obviously work for you. It would be wonderful if that approach was all we needed. Many of the 72,000 who died last year made a fateful decision to first use dangerous intoxicants when they were still children. Often that decision was made shortly before or after society first considered them mature enough to drive a car. In those cases, that decision was made before society trusted them to vote. Personal responsibility is certainly important, but it is not the only thing that is needed.
9
@Margo ChanningWhat is clear is that you don’t understand addiction or the power of it. Be careful of judging what you truly don’t understand. By the time the needle goes in the arm it is too late for most without serious intervention.
10
@Diana
No see I do know about addiction. I work with someone whose child was addicted to Oxy. I see the toll it took on her kids and her extended family. Her parents are in hock and her children are a mess. I've seen the toll it takes, and no one forced this woman to take drugs and self medicate.
1
Eye opening article. But a key question is unanswered: article says that after he left for college he started taking pain medication ( leading to this disaster). But why the pain medication? Football injuries (intimated but not stated)? If so, here's yet another reason not to permit your kids to play that game in high school.
18
@Unconvinced I don't even see where the drug use is linked to this kids football experience in an implied way; One could easily attribute his choice to abuse pain pills on a bad breakup or the stress of being in college.
At some point, this kid decided to start down the path that led him to his OD; Yes, it sounds like I'm making a moral judgement here, but at the end of the day, nobody held a gun to this kid and made him take his first pain pill, it was a conscious decision by someone that is considered an adult by our society, and assigning blame to "the media" or unscrupulous drug makers merely perpetuates our infantilization of people who made a bad decision.
11
@Unconvinced According to a long-term CDC study of people who survived opioid overdoses, the ones who started with pills took pills that weren't prescribed to them. They got their first dose from a friend, relative, or dealer, for free.
4
What a touching article, thank you. Our problem with opiates is 90% caused by their prohibition and the war on drugs. Years of seeing the results of the insane Drug War as a defense atty has convinced me its way more damaging than opiates, as measured by its consequences.
I wish the family all the best, my heart goes out to them.
Sincerely,
David Anderson, JD
15
@David Anderson
Well, in the case of opioids, it's also a result of the decision to identify pain as the 'fifth vital sign' and aggressively push opioid pharmaceuticals.
16
@DW
No pain prescriptions are not the major cause of opoid addiction...it is the street drugs. I do believe that opioids have been given too freely but pain must be treated especially for those who live with constant debilitating pain.
The number Opoid scripts have been cut by more than 25% in the last few years but the number of people addicted, suffering overdoses has risen well over 100%...street drugs. Illegal, , mostly foreign made street drugs. Let’s try to stop illegal drugs from entering our country. Let’s concentrate on what is clearly the problem
@Barbara, you forget that there is a cottage industry in manufacturing meth and synthetic drugs made right here in the USA.
1
THE PLIGHT Of survivors of drug overdoses who survive with severe impairment places a crushing burden on family caregivers and community resources. The monies that are needed to fund care for those who overdose are necessary to the survival of many people. Last year about 72,000 people died from opioid overdoses. I imagine that many more than that survived with severe problems, whether medical or mental health. But the funds for such programs have been taken from the 99% an given away to the 1%. Now's the time to speak with feet and start pounding the pavement to get out the vote.
29
There's now an app called Remote Egg Timer that will notify loved ones if the person using has overdosed.
Maybe that app or some other vital sign monitoring systems can be promoted and save more people from death or permanent injury.
It is devastating to hear about all the suffering caused by addiction. May we find a way to stop this terrible epidemic.
12
I was fortunate. Thanks to a cascade of illnesses and injuries resulting from them, and to be fair too much alcohol to compensate, I became seriously ill from rare infections and was hospitalized, where for 11 days I was put on extreme pain medication. I had to stay on it for three weeks after I was discharged, as it was unbearable. The withdrawal took two weeks and was almost as bad.
Some months later, a doctor told me that injuries I had in my shoulder and knee from falls leading to torn tendons and broken bones weren't worth surgery, since at my age I wouldn't be tossing footballs, running, or lifting heavy objects. I felt worthless, when I had once, frankly, flown pretty high in my profession and was a titanic physical specimen for my age from near daily workouts to keep my energy up for my arduous work schedule.
One night, obviously depressed, I drank far too much and miscounted my pain meds, which I was still on in reduced amounts. I OD'd. I stayed that way for some hours, before my wife and some workmen she had outside found me. Long story short, I got saved before any permanent brain damage or any real loss of my faculties, fingers crossed.
I found a doctor who felt I was worthwhile, did superb surgery, and while I am still on much reduced pain medication, I am recovering well, working out again, and have found meaning in life with a new grandchild and a religious home for me that felt right after decades of searching.
This story showed me what could have been.
60
@Publius .. there but for the grace of god go I.
4
@Publius - so glad that your story has a happy ending. People who have never been through chronic pain have no clue its effect on your daily life and your psyche, let alone your body. God obviously has a plan to keep you around, may you continue to find peace and fulfillment.
7
That is a heartbreak. Thanks for telling people this can happen. It must have been hard to write, too.
32
Isn't it time to move past the idea that the prolonging of mortal life at all costs is the only meaningful, compassionate decision to make?
84
Perhaps we might not need to be spending vast amounts of money to keep Andrew and people like him alive if we directed more money to the prevention and treatment of drug addiction.
But, of course, nobody makes a buck out of disease prevention so why bother.
And I wonder how many times Dr. Lamas has actually taken the time to try to prevent the things that happened to Andrew from happening to others or whether it's not her problem until they end up needing the care of a pulmonologist.
11
As a society we do have common problems that should be solved by the community as a whole.
But your comment is akin to asking a divorce judge to spend more time preventing marriages from falling apart. That’s not his job.
34
@Francisco - if it's not Dr. Lamas' "job", and since "community as a whole" is a rather vague entity. Exactly whose "job" is it to try to stop these problems before they start?
2
@J Jencks It's all of our responsibility. But being human, each individual can only do so much. But within our families and our support systems, we can always do better.
1
There but for the grace of god...
As parents, we cannot stop a child's descent into addiction. More love and support often turn into enabling the kid to keep on using. My experience is that addicts stop using when the pain and consequences from using are greater than the fear of a future without using. The greatest gift we can give these kids is the gift of desperation.
I've been in a ton of recovery meetings and never heard anyone say they got sober because their parents wanted them to.
102
@Griffin
By Floyd P. Garrett:
"It is therefore not at all the case that alcoholics & addicts 'have to want to get better' before recovery can commence, much less that they must 'want to get better for themselves and not for someone else.' For the addict's double-mindedness makes such 'pure' motivation all but impossible for the vast majority of addicts.
"Luckily for the addict, recovery is just as likely, perhaps even more likely if he is in effect marched at bayonet point in the direction of behaviors that are good for him... for it is one of the many curious paradoxes of addiction and recovery that genuine and sincere motivation for recovery is a result of and not a prerequisite for recovery."
Rarely a day goes by, where I do not remember my childhood friend who started taking 'recreational drugs', as they were known in the 60s.
On an afternoon filled with sunlight, with a view to the Seine in Paris, long ago, he was enthusiastic in describing the usage of LSD. Two years later, his mother overdosed on sleeping pills, when her husband took off with a younger woman, who she thought at the time was her son's girlfriend.
By the time a doctor arrived at the apartment, she was pronounced dead, but he managed to revive her heart after five minutes. Released from a hospital, already spirited and volatile in nature, she was now unstable.
Her son had become psychotic and violent, but she did not want him placed in an institution. A few years later, he killed her in London and was sent to an asylum for the criminally insane. In 1981, he died in Rikers Island; an apparent suicide victim.
Thinking of Andrew and his parents this evening. A caring and courageous family portrait, please do not let us be judgmental of their choices in reading of this testimony. His father has more soul than many others; his mother shows great heart and Andrew is surrounded by their love.
Drug substance abuse and opiates are on the rise, not only among the young, but the elderly are vulnerable too. It is one of the gravest problems we are facing here in the rural regions, and impacts on all of us. It is 'our' problem and let us work at putting an end to it.
47
@Miss Ley
If I am correct this friend is the subject of a book and movie called savage grace. You can watch ch the trailer for free.
I knew Tony Bakeland, if that is the person, and it is a very confused story with many opportunities to treat that were missed according to the book. Tony was psychotic from childhood and I saw some of it in a rage in Central Park with him and another school mate. Tony was gay and used drugs from an early age. His father ran off with Tony’s girlfriend according to the book. His father always refused him treatment so he stayed psychotic. According to the book Tony’s mother is reported to have tried to sleep with his m to make him heterosexual. This may not have been accurate, but it points out the dynamic sometimes seen in mother son relationships of schizophrenic sons.
1
It’s not just illicit drug use. We have a family member who was found in the same condition from prescription drugs that were completely accepted as normal treatment in our society but grossly misused.
Until prescription drug overuse, as well as recreational and illicit drug overuse, is brought out of the quick condemnation of society as being “bad” and “criminal” behavior we will continue to have young people alone in their struggles and found too late, too often. They need our guidance, not our criticism. They need society to go the second mile and take a chance on them so they can regain their momentum into adulthood, where they can start again into their journey towards productive, independent living.
23
@Carol Setters Isn't 'grossly misused' the same as 'illicit use'?
Thank you for this powerful piece. I have nothing but awe and respect for his family. Thank you for the reminder that, despite all of my own daily afflictions and stresses, I am incredibly fortunate to have the life that I do. I don’t know if I possess the strength that these amazing people do. I hope I never have to find out.
51
Part of the problem is the media glorification of drug use. Even today, the Billboard Top 50 songs in the US are full of references to drug use. This needs to stop. Drugs are not cool or hip, and fighting against drugs isn't some conservative conspiracy. This article describes the real consequences of illicit drug use.
Don't blame doctors, whom the vast vast majority do not overprescribe (just ask the patients with chronic pain how hard it is to procure prescription opiates legally). Blame the culture that thinks drug use is cool, youthful and normal way of escaping the realities of life. Also blame the culture that has such intolerance to any life pain. In Asian countries, opiates are rarely given after surgery, but such a physician in America would be quickly fired due to patient outrage. Think about why that is.
53
Maybe you never had horrible pain. I did, and opiates were a great, temporary fix until surgery.
17
I have been a recreational user of a wide variety of drugs for over a decade.
I lead a successful and happy life by any metric and what I do in my free time is my business. Sure there are dangers, but these can be minimized if you take the appropriate precautions. I’ve had many incredible experiences on drugs that I wouldn’t trade for anything, including opioids.
That said, I would never do heroin. I feel for heroin addicts and their family. It is a brutal drug
12
@Jonathan
Considering that doctors still prescribe several times the amount of opioids they did in 1990 with no apparent reduction in the number of people suffering chronic pain, it would appear there are still many doctors who are overprescribing.
And if patients with chronic pain are having a more difficult time obtaining prescriptions for opioids perhaps its because more physicians are becoming aware there are no studies supporting the use of these drugs for chronic pain and that approximately of 24% of those prescribing these drugs for chronic pain end up abusing them.
5
This is so heartbreaking--may the family find peace.
Although I voted to legalize marijuana, I've always held back on legalizing things like heroin, which are so obviously addictive and destructive. Maybe it's time to reconsider. Would it be better to legalize even drugs like these? How much of the danger is from addiction, and how much from the risk of street drugs being laced with things like fentanyl? Out in the open at least it's possible for the FDA to guarantee purity.
22
@M. But the FDA cannot guarantee dosage self-administered. As long as we agree that the medical consequences of use or misuse belong solely to the user. who, as a free agent has chosen to use, your plan seems ok to me.
5
@M. - As part of a much more comprehensive set of policies, legalization could result in saving many lives. But there's no easy answer. Even countries like the Netherlands, that have attempted various degrees of legalization of drugs and prostitution have found it very hard to control the related black markets.
There's really no parallel, or at least very little, between marijuana and heroin. Marijuana is hardly addictive and has very few negative health consequences. It's extremely difficult to overdose on it, compared to a drug like heroin. Also, once legalized, it's fairly straightforward to set up a system for controlling the production of marijuana, as it can be done entirely within US boundaries.
Do we really want to go into the business of growing opium poppies in the USA, as part of a heroin legalization scheme? It would be necessary, as the world's main source at present is Afghanistan, specifically, Taliban controlled areas. We really can't justify legalizing heroin then buying it from the Taliban.
The devil is definitely in the details with this one.
6
@M. Some countries do. It works. Heroin addicts are just like the rest of us. They understand risks, but are trapped by reward. Our brains are built like that. In England they're offered exact doses of clean product used under supervision. and many addicts there live regular lives, and eventually kick the habit.
8
Stories like this should be required reading for young people.
136
@John
And they should read "Go Ask Alice" - and old book and somewhat dated but the journey of "Alice" is one of self destruction and it's written for teens
1
@debbie doyle
Please don't push "Go Ask Alice" - it was long since debunked, it was fake. It probably did more harm than good, since kids won't listen once they understand they've been lied to.
Opioids became a big(ger) problem when Congress passed the so called 5th vital sign law. Doctors were required to enquire about pain level and some patients complained about pain, perhaps amplifing the severity, when prompted. Opioids were also a safer alternative in some ways to NSAIDs (ie Motrin/ibuprofen). NSAIDs cause ulcers, kidney damage and interfere with high blood pressure medications. BUT, few docs recognized the high addiction potential of these narcotics. Unfortunately we do not have a genetic test for addictive personality. In people that are not prone to addiction, narcotics can provide pain relief - although they become less effective overtime due to development of tolerance.
There is an effective, safe alternative called LDN. If your doctor has never heard of it, you might want to switch to a pain specialist. LDN is low dose Naltrexone. It is actually an opiate receptor blocker. However, in low doses it has been shown to dramatically help with pain. Ketamine, an analgesic and often abused has also been shown to help with chronic pain. It is given by IV but the pain relief wears off after a few days/weeks, so it is not very practical. Hope this answers a few questions.
I’m sorry for Andrew. Some day we will have a genetic test for ‘addictiveness’ and we can avoid narcotics in susceptible individuals.
54
While there is still no definitive genetic test for substance addiction, can we at least require doctors to access the medical histories of a pain patient's birth parents, grandparents, & siblings when possible, for palpable clues/probabilities of addiction tendencies?
As what other commenters have noted, at least some adoptive parents are made fully aware that their adopted child was prenatally exposed to addictive substances, so they got to plan/prepare for such.
Some biological families are also more enlightened than others in tactfully & discreetly discussing w/ their mates/spouses, offspring, primary care physicians, and applicable specialists about known family histories of substance abuse, so they could at least have informed choices on file about what substance types should not be made available if/when excruciating pain from illness/injury occurs (kind of like a Pain Management Directive/No Opiates counterpart to a Do Not Resuscitate/No Artificial Life Support directive).
Is it possible too that the drive for Andrew's college team to win football games (gaining more alumni donors, ticket/merchandise/enrollment boosts, etc.) - plus his own drive to keep his athletic scholarship &/or pro league draft aspirations alive - may have also wrongly made the college doctor & Andrew into thinking that taking the prescribed potent pain meds was the only way to keep his academic & pro plans on track?
Our college athletes are not disposable racehorses! The Footes deserve better.
Heartbreaking. And my heart broke further when I read of Mr. Foote's melanoma diagnosis. What an awful situation. And I cannot imagine what Mrs. Foote's daily stress level is like.
246
Been there.
Good luck to all the Foote family. It's a long road.
38
A heartbreaking story. I'd like to put in a good word for the nursing home, however. At 93, our Alice asked to go there, as she was sick and unable to care for herself at home. She really was in bad shape, having to lie flat for a few months once admitted. But she has thrived there, really thrived. They took good care of her while she was flat, and then had her up and walking with daily therapy. She participates in the myriad of activities that the devoted staff plan. I hope you can find a similar place for Andrew when the time comes.
95
@Islandgirl, yes, at 76 I choose to move into a long care continuing community, now in an independent apartment. I've had two hospital stays since moving here, and have no regrets re: moving to "the home." One of my main motivations, single with no children, was to keep my friends as friends, going to/bringing me to brunch or the ballet, coming here for dinner, having good conversation, not changing their roles to health care givers. I lead a frugal life, so I had the money to move here, effectively to buy my care givers. One can't buy friends. They are priceless.
16
I was a child in the 60s, and remember the horror stories of LSD overdoses , "trips" from which people never returned, and hallucinations that drove users to suicide. So I never took illegal drugs. I did take narcotics for pain, due to recurring infections contracted in a hospital. Those narcotics might have killed me, or made me an addict like Andrew. We have to find better ways to relieve pain. Lidocaine patches work, too.
20
@Stephanie Wood
We already have better ways such as physical therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, acupuncture, and non-opioid medications.
Of course, why believe the research supporting the efficacy of all these for chronic pain when so many people would prefer to take opioids for which there is no such research.
We can always use better ways to treat any disease but the idea that we don't have anything other than opioids to treat chronic pain ignores reality.
5
@Steve Have you lived with relentless severe pain? I have, due to a hospital error during what was supposed to be a routine 45 minute surgery and ended up taking 8 hours during which my spleen, lungs and colon were all damaged. I use a low dose of morphine to make life tolerable, and have for 10 years with no increase in doseage and no ill effects. Physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, acupuncture and non-opiods did NOTHING to reduce the agony. I consider those techniques appropriate for milder, intermittent pain, not the kind of pain that makes you rend your clothing and tear at your hair. You are the one ignoring reality if you think talk therapy or needles inserted all over the body even begin to alleviate the pain. I hope you never experience that kind of pain, because the pain is bad enough but having people who insist on offering solutions for problems they have not experienced makes coping even harder.
25
@Steve I think the people who treat pain properly do take a multitude of approaches, and opiods are a part of it, not the whole thing. I think it is a useful and necessary component for treating both acute and chronic pain. I think it is most useful when it is a component rather than the only thing.
The doctors who can prescribe opiods and do accupuncture and do CBT are extremely rare. I was lucky to have found such a doctor who can at least do two of these things in WA state four years but not in NY so far. But I've gotten past needing all of these fortunately and my pain is manageable with the what I am doing right now.
1
This is such a sad story. My heart goes out to the Foote family and to Andrew. I think we need more research on preventing addiction before it starts. After all, we screen for cancer and for heart disease - wouldn't it be easier to screen for addiction and nip it in the bud, rather than waiting until it becomes a vicious cycle of addiction/treatment/relapse, all too often ending up with a sad story like Andrew's.
I also wonder if feeding tubes are ever worth it. It seems like every time I hear of a feeding tube being inserted, the patient never recovers, or only partially. Feeding tubes and aggressive treatment don't have a Hallmark Channel happy ending. Perhaps we need to reconsider their use.
127
@CD
The problem is that in order to screen for addiction and other mental disorders, physicians need to talk with patients as there are no tests to take it. This takes time for which they aren't paid so why bother doing it.
Somehow you think that doctors actually care about public health. If they had, they wouldn't have overprescribed opioids and antibiotics simply to please patients who didn't really need them.
1
At 57 years of age and after surviving a witnessed cardiac arrest, I picked "No artifical nutrition/no feeding tube" for my POLST. My young Primary Care doctor tried to convince me to change my wishes. She couldn't see that sometimes living would be worse than dying.
2
“As long as he can stand and somewhat help me, I’m not putting him in a nursing home,” she said. “I wouldn’t even consider it.”
The parents' love is powerful stuff. Alas, sometimes that might be the greatest obstacle. This is not an accusation but just an observation from an disinterested individual. Lord knows Mr & Mrs Foote have struggled long enough even before Andrew ODed. Dealing with an addict is no picnic either. All the phone calls. All the disappointments. All the fears. All the heartbreaks.
Now they have to face their own mortality through yet another set of lens.
As difficult as it may be difficult though, maybe sooner is better than later if nursing home is a viable choice, while they are still capable to know and fight for a better home for their son. For by the time they are not capable to do so, they are leaving that to others to make the decision.
Understandably, this is from a pragmatic standpoint. However, there are so many hurdles just to get Andrew to a good home, and the financial arrangement associated with it, they won't have the energy to make such an arrangement.
p.s.: getting to a nursing home is not cheap. Does that mean Andrew will need to become the ward of the state? And other logistics? That's what I mean when I wonder if it is a viable choice etc.
81
@Bos
You clearly know of what you write:
"Dealing with an addict is no picnic either. All the phone calls. All the disappointments. All the fears. All the heartbreaks."
Ditto and second all you state. Earlier planning for inevitable changes would be better for the parents. Perhaps other siblings should try to convince them of this ...?
4
Heartbreaking and realistic. His Father sold his soul, AND the lives of himself AND his wife. I would never presume to tell another family what to do, BUT, I would let go. How ??? Pneumonia is an old Mans best friend. A young mans, also. A dislodged feeding tube, must that be replaced, in their State ???
Really, really think before you start down the road of “ doing everything “. That may encompass years, even decades. What happens when both parents are finally gone ??? Warehousing. And that’s absolutely as bad as it sounds. Personally, I would never wish to be alive in that condition. Discuss your wishes with your Family. Make plans to complete the legal documents, required in your State. Don’t wait.
55
My, my. So judgemental. SAD. Let's hope that you do not succumb to the need to ameliorate whatever feelings or pain plague your body and mind. Medicos and other "experts" have yet to discover the root-cause(s) of the drive to self-medicate ... whether by alcohol, pot, heroin or whatever is needed by a tortured soul to escape the agonies they suffer.
55
@Dr. Mandrill Balanitis the root cause? Probably trauma.
1
Thanks to this family for having the courage to share the incredible hardships their son has faced.
Something you seldom hear about, but most emergency staff know, is that a person can survive an overdose only to come back to a body that is so damaged, s/he might only survive a few years longer. It could be brain damage, kidney failure, or, for cocaine. even congestive heart failure. I think we need to do better at teaching youth just how dangerous illicit drug use can be.
52
It's very poignant that he doesn't understand what he has lost, and perhaps for the best.
88
There is also a chance that he does know and is trying not to make things even worse for his mother. Or he knows but is unable to articulate it and is living in a perpetual hell.
4
@Joey Y
Possible. It read to me that he had something to say, but couldn't get the words out. He may well experience more than he will ever be able to articulate.
If you choose to use these drugs, you should have to wear a medical bracelet that instructs paramedics and police "Do Not Resuscitate."
Opiate abuse is a scourge of the highest order. How many lives will these drugs, and their ever more powerful analogues, destroy and then take? And it is not an obscure calculus! Use these drugs, get addicted, get sick, build tolerance, overdose.
As people said once regarding tobacco, opiates are a class of drugs that, when used as a drug of abuse, will destroy you. Period.
We need to make that more plain. Do not resuscitate.
46
All the things our government wastes money on and you want over dosed drug users to be left to die. They deserve it, huh? They cost too much? Compared to what?
I am constantly amazed and disappointed in the “reasoning” and priorities of some people.
@pjc Those countries that follow your rules, like Russia, Iran, North Korea, are uncivil, cruel, and full of agony. Our nation is sadly full of unkind voices as well, mean spirited, without empathy.
1
@pjc Addiction is a disease to which perhaps 5% of the population is susceptible. Shall we shoot the alcoholics too? How about anyone else with a deadly disease with a genetic component (as is the case with addiction)? Where would you draw the line?
More like three OD victims. Anyone doing drugs and alcohol is selfish. Too much tolerance is selfish as well. Higher reasoning certainly does us no favors sometimes.
25
@John Doe Wow. As if he actually chose to be that way.
@John Doe There are places that fit what you'd like. Iran, Russia, for example. Why do you hide behind a fake name?
Even when there is no "overdose," long-term drug use among young people stunts their normal brain development. Even if they are successful at being "clean and sober," their brains are developmentally delayed and damaged by starting drug use at an early age. I wish I had known how to raise a child who did not feel the need to inject drugs for a long time. It has cost him so much. And it has cost me so much.
122
@Juanita Best wishes. You are not alone.
1
Juanita, sending you love. I know your pain.
2
Feeding tubes are often an interim step to full recovery. I needed one ten years ago due to complications from surgery, had it for three weeks, am now fully recovered, living a great life. Every situation is different. I've also declined feeding tubes and intubation for relatives who had limited recovery chances and were near death. This is all part of the modern medical system's limitations and amazing capacity for near-miracles. The fine deciding line between them falls to family that often hasn't the capacity or presence of mind to make the right call. But there is no one better to do so.
3
I have nothing but respect for his parents.. what an easy life I have.
215
No one is looking to find out what is the motivation to try and enhance your life experience this way. It seems to me that we need to be looking at the society we have built, flawed in so many fundamental ways. There is a deep and carefully cultivated ignorance of who we are supposed to be, who we are as a species, how much it costs the planet for this specie to survive, what is the true moral alternative to dismissing what we are doing to other species, ecosystems. There is a total disconnect between this reality and the knowledge of it. The result is a life with no connections to any other life, even though each human comes at tremendous cost to other life forms. Purely human affairs is not enough to give meaning. Some basic ingredient is missing, which will not be found in religions, or in personal gratifications. It is a kind of need to elevate the self to a higher level. This concept, however, is totally taboo. That is why people adopt politicians as cult leaders, as we are seeing with Trump. But he is just another man and can never fill the ties that bind us to our nature, which is inextricably bound with the earth and its beings. We are planetary creatures totally unmoored from the planet. With 7,600 Million of us is easy to see how the real is obscured by the banality. And one needs more than banality. So people try to get to a more meaningful place, by the wrong methods.
29
Believe it or not, some of us do understand the motivating drivers behind this type of addiction. They are admittedly subjective, yet remarkably similar in their own strange way.
10
@tiggs benoit. After carefully reading your post you seem to be saying that non-human life is as important as human life. It is not.
The article doesn't explain why Andrew first started taking pain pills. Did he have some kind of a painful injury, maybe sports-related? Were the pain pills prescribed by a doctor? Did Andrew turn to illegal drugs when his doctor would no longer acknowledge his pain and wouldn't prescribe any more pills? There are too many unanswered questions about how and why Andrew became an addict.
47
@workerbeeThere are ALWAYS too many unanswered questions about why a person became an addict. On the very slight chance that it is a matter of someone thinking it might be a lark to get high on opioids rather than finding him/herself addicted to pain pills that started with an illness or injury, this is the story we need to tell our children. It's not a story of a good kid romantically dead or harmlessly stoned. It is a picture of where your life could be if you survive. We need to tell this story over and over. It should not be the "hidden" cost of the epidemic. It should be the publicized cost, the life brain damaged.
31
@workerbee I think that information is deliberately absent. The family has some right to privacy. The other option is that he was snorting or smoking pain pills, which is euphoric, like heroin, and never had a legal prescription from an ethical doctor. I don't think it matters that much.
7
@workerbee Why assume it started with pain and doctors? Because that's the fashionable way to relieve addicts of responsibility for their own behavior? The several heroin addicts I've known started with voluntary recreational use and went on from there. One relative of mine fleeced his parents of their entire life savings to support his habit, while his frantic mother misguidedly enabled him and even defrauded others (myself included) out of money in a misguided effort to "help" him. I forgave him only because he did ultimately take responsibility -- he had to do rehab twice, and it was tough, but he did it, and he's clean now and rebuilding his life.
Absolving addicts of responsibility for their actions is just another form of enabling. We don't do them any favors by saying they can't help it. They can. And it does take self-discipline and willpower for them to get out of the morass once they're foolish enough to get into it. We can pity them and acknowledge their great difficulty, but we also have every right to expect them to step up and do the right thing for themselves and the people who love them.
2
The question that comes to my mind: if I find someone who is clearly not breathing, and I have no idea since how long, should I attempt to bring him back ? Same for a stopped heart. My personal theoretical answer is: no. But what if it's a loved one ? Distressing question.
143
@sissifus I worked on a brain injury unit. I know the devastation of anoxic brain injuries (when the brain is deprived of oxygen for more than 4 minutes or so). My husband knows the answer I would give to your question, also assuming I had no idea how long he had not been breathing.
35
@sissifus
If you truly love a person, you have all the more reason not to bring them back. Let nature take its course. Some lives are far worse than death.
5
@sissifus
I took CPR training recently and learned that the percentage of people who live after getting CPR is tiny.
If you find someone who is not breathing and you didn't just watch them collapse, the chance of you bringing them back to life is about zero.
1
How could he possibly answer that last question? It seems cruel to me for one to ask, but maybe it is somehow beneficial/therapeutic.
4
I am lucky enough to have escaped the heartbreak of having lost a child to addiction, but I fear for my grandchild, close to two years old. And I fear for all children who will no doubt be exposed to all sorts of recreational drugs, some deadly during their first experience. This is an epidemic ten times more deadly than AIDS. And is some areas it is only getting worse. Drug companies need to be held accountable.
11
This isn’t on the evil drug companies, this is on the person who does this to himself. Drugs available in the 60s, 70s and 80s were also dangerous. The world is brimming with dangerous stuff. Illegal fentanyl is probably the king of killer drugs. So don’t do it.
49
@Duane Coyle Here is an article that you might find interesting (or not): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2622774/
It is about the marketing of OxyContin. A lot of people who were taking legitimate medications prescribed by doctors had no way of knowing what kind of potential for addiction they were exposing themselves to. It's really not as simple as saying "don't do it." If you look at research for treatment for substance use disorders, we still have no reliably, universally effective treatment. I would say that we can trace some of the roots of the current opioid epidemic to unethical profit-chasing, and as a society we're simply completely unprepared to respond to the result. It is a tragedy.
2
@NICHOLS COURT,
No, people need to be held accountable. Patients, users, providers, doctors, pharmacy but not the producers. I have had a prescription for opiates for more than 10 years for severe pain. I could take it daily but I take none to four in a three month period, usually in last days before a quarterly out patient treatment for my severe pain. The pain killing/lessening pills, which I take with great thought and care, allow me volunteer, to sleep, to live. I thank the producer.
3
Very touching, this story could probably help other young people. My very best wishes to the Foote family all the way from Spain.
41
Question: Why do I beiieve that someone who survives an overdose without dying is, by default, okay?
7
@Jay David a human can be kept alive in many tortuous ways that by default is worse than death. The man in this piece is not necessarily suffering to that extreme but many people are. Science can keep a heart beating inside a brain dead body for years with a ventilator and a feeding tube and expect the family to manage this in their home with very little assistance from home health nursing. The degree of “okay” is always dependent on each individual situation.
11
@Jay David
"People think..." does mean that you personally think "..."
1
Jay: Please define your concept of "being, by default, okay". If you were in his condition, would you be "okay"? Even though the damage to his brain was self-inflicted and is probably permanent, is that okay? Explain.
7
Heartbreaking.
44
Why is this story of a single (caucasian) man on the front page while, in New Haven, CT, some 45 people (mostly African American), overdosed en masse yesterday and appears only in the NY metro section?
199
Actually the number is more like 95 as of today.
13
@Yann Because this is America. Few people would have stopped to read the article if it was about a young African American man.
5
This story was already in the making.
12
This story for me was a warning. A warning about the horrible things that drugs can do to your life. It is truly amazing that Andrew had a beating heart after his overdose, and he is lucky to still be living. Even though it seems like he isn’t living an ideal life, it is still a life and that is something to look up on. However, to me drugs are a choice, and if you make that choice to do them, opioids more than others, you are taking that risk of changing your life. Never take drugs lightly, because as show in this story, they can really mess up your whole life. You can be living a great life, make a stupid decision by using drugs like heroin, and it’s all over. It’s sad but it is the truth. Thank you for sharing this story with us, this could help a lot of people if they are dealing with a similar problem or just to make them aware.
15
@Dan Rossitto
"...and he is lucky to still be living."
No, this poor young man isn't "lucky" at all. Not only is his brain damaged life a horror story, his parents' lives have been destroyed, too. The most humane course of action would have been to decline aggressive treatment and simply let him go.
277
@Dan Rossitto Some people are in way too much pain after a back injury, car accident, etc. to “just say no” to pain killers. Imagine living in horrible pain 24/7 with no relief. So pain killers are taken and, unfortunately, some people are wired to become addicted. When they can no longer fill the Rx to get more, they look for something else. Heroin is cheaper and easier to get than prescription pills. So that’s where they turn to. It’s not always a stupid choice. The powerful pull of addiction is something that very few human beings can beat.
3
@Noodles
Many events can cause brain/body trauma and I guess we do not know what the outcome will be. Bodies can live on: Sunny von Bulow -- comatose for years. Alzheimer's patients. This person is conscious. Caring for very sick people provides jobs!! In an era of fewer jobs perhaps not so terrible.
Given what we know about the consequences of opiate abuse, anyone who would still abuse them despite knowing this should be allowed to suffer the consequences on their own.
24
@Chloe: It's an addiction. And many people started out on prescribed opiates by their provider. They then turned to heroin when their prescription runs out. No one expects one thing to lead to another. And the entire family, community and country suffers the consequences, not just the individual.
139
@Anne most people who are prescribed opiods for *legitimate* reasons don't misuse or become addicted. People don't just become addicted if they take pain medication for pain. If they decided they like it and start taking the medication for pleasure they can get addicted (which is different from physical dependence which is normal with many medications). Somewhere along the line the person makes poor choices that lead to addiction. And sometimes those choices are influenced by past trauma or mental illness or just a feeling of invincibility. We can recognize that, like many other conditions, a person has responsibility for the choices that led up to the condition but should still be helped. It's like people who get hurt rock climbing or someone who smokes and gets cancer. It's very sad they made a choice that hurt them, we try to minimize the risk to others, and we should treat the injured party with compassion because no one makes perfect choices. Refusing to recognize the personal responsibility involved in addiction though does not help to make people feel as if they can make concrete choices to avoid addiction or get help for addiction.
16
@Chloe
They "...should be allowed to suffer the consequences on their own."
Would you feel the same for patients stuck with the sequela of a head injury from a motor cycle accident? What about a ruptured brain aneurysm in a young woman who uses meth? How about a ruptured aneurysm in a non drug user? Or perhaps the person who continues to smoke cigarettes or drink when they are well aware of the consequences from experience? What about children who are left with severe brain damage from an infection because their parents don't believe in vaccinations?
Chloe-how about if that person it was your child,or your sister ?
Should we abandon those afflicted who do not fit our own moral beliefs? Should our intolerance of the stupidity and carelessness of others drive us back into the days of savagery?
78
“I remember driving into Boston and crying and crying and begging just to say one more word to him. I basically sold my soul,” Mr. Foote said. “And to me, this is my wish. I got my wish. So now I just have to do what I have to do.”
Wow. Powerful sentiment. Powerful writing. Sad and sobering and important. Thank you for this.
287
Sad to watch. Drug overdoses may not kill you but leave you stranded, unable to care for yourself. Let's trust that, by making Andrew's plight public, we may save others that couldn't imagine being in exactly the same predicament, the joy of life gone, and family's plight an awful commitment of love, yet bankrupting them to no end.
54
Just one?
Cynicism is realism.
3
What a tragedy. My prayers go out to Andrew and his family. He seemed to excel in high school and then this.
I know the opiate crisis is multi-faceted and complex. I wonder (just wonder) if colleges provide students with a class on the dangers of opiate abuse, and/or counseling for students when academics, peers, and missing home feel like too much to tolerate.
Narcan is great, but only if someone is there to administer it.
What a heartbreaking story. I wish the Footes the best.
26
Oh dear! I teach at a university and do not believe a “course” needs to be offered. Students are supposed to come in with basic knowledge of these facts from parents, high school, medical personnel and simple curiosity about this plague. Next up do we require a class at your first job? Second? When would it end?
The information is OUT THERE! People have to start taking it on board.
So sad. Best wishes for this tragic family.
3
@factumpactum
“counseling for students when academics, peers, and missing home feel like too much to tolerate.” Some kids, having enjoyed a lifetime of coddling through their eighteenth birthday, are simply not ready for adulthood and don’t belong in college. In that tender transition period, they should instead be encouraged to work the soda fountain of their local Woolworth for four or five years from the comfort of the place where mom does their laundry, cooks their meals and cleans up after them.
This has happened to a young man who lived across the street, age 28, I believe, father of a six year old daughter. He is now back home, and I don't know the details, but his mind is gone. No short term memory. It's been close to a year, but as I understand it, there has been little or no improvement. Sad.
58
Most of the battle against the opioid epidemic has focused on reducing exposure to prescription opioids and enhancing mental health and addiction services. In the ideal world, all people with opioid addiction could be successfully treated with medication and therapy, thus diminishing the possibility of overdoses. However, not everyone is ready to enter a treatment plan. So prevention also means preventing unwanted deaths until people are ready for treatment.
One way to prevent overdose deaths is to get Narcan, an overdose reversal drug, into the hands of those that are most likely to need it, such as first responders and family and friends of people with addiction.
Another way is open Safe Injection Facilities, so that people can take opioids in a safe environment - with clean needles and access to Narcan.
However, there is another step of prevention - avoiding overdoses in the first place. Left unsaid is the reason why so many people overdose - variations in the potency and content of opioids, especially with the increased presence of fentanyl in the drug supply.
It is now time to consider prescription heroin for those with a documented addiction to opioids who are in the early phases of thinking about treatment. Providing a known dose of heroin will minimize the chance of overdose, and therefore prevent the kind of tragedy that we see in this article. Reversing an overdose may save the person's life, but doesn't guarantee there will be no side effects.
80
@HN Or just legalize the sale of heroin to people over 21. If it were legal it would be very affordable and wouldn't dominate the addict's whole life. If you didn't like the idea you would have to ask why people felt they needed it. As far as I know heroin use is no big pleasure, it merely eliminates physical or emotional pain. So why should so many people feel a need for it? And what is wrong with a society in which they do?
59
@Paul Easton once people start using, it is a physical need. That’s why they keep using. It is physical. Why they start using may be depression, peer pressure, stupidity, all kinds of things.
1
@Paul Easton - the world's primary source of heroin is Taliban controlled Afghanistan. A lot of it also passes through the hands of Central American drug cartels' distribution networks.
Legalizing it would have to include policies for its production here within US borders and systems to eliminate the black market.
I'm not opposed to legalizing it. But it's not a simple solution. It needs to be worked out in great detail and will take a major coordination between our political parties, law enforcement agencies and the FDA.
Legalizing heroin would be nothing like legalizing marijuana.
I hadn’t cried in a long time before reading this.
Thank you for an exceptionally well-written piece.
49
@Davís
This is a heart-breaking & a tragic story for everyone who has adrug-addicted loved one! My heart goes out and is broken for all who has endured & is continuing to endure this. It's only recent that prescribing opioids has reached epidemic proportions & is now in the forefront. MD's are to blame for this & buying into big Pharma & reaping their"perks". It's taken forever to recognize the abuse & damage of Big Pharma & the Drs. that prescribe them in a knee-jerk fashion.They are legal drug dealers; they absolutely know what is destined to happen. However, it is NOT only Opioids. ADHD medications:Adderall & Ritalin are given to children regularly and merely b/c they or the parents answered "yes" to questions that superficially appear to meet the criteria for ADHD. Those are amphetamines-period.The patient QUICKLY develops a tolerance & Drs. increase the dosage immediately. And then, when the dosage is too high for them to prescribe without drawing attention to themselves, they stop increasing the dosage further. However the patient is already severely ADDICTED & what follows is the patient then "needs" really NEEDS the higher dosage because of the course & road those Drs set them up for & the patient buys from streets and the results follow exactly the same as course as Opioid abuse & addiction. This problem is not only with Opioids! Big Pharma & MD's are businessmen. They forgot the oath of do no harm. Making $ is the bottom line for them.
2