Prescription Drug Overdose

Our American population of aging seniors, combined with unemployment, and ever increasing threat of heart disease, obesity, and cancer makes the future of health care management a difficult subject. However, the costs of health care could be minimized with an emphasis on prevention. Prevention combined with the support of social justice initiatives could remedy a lack of continued care for citizens. Currently, the United States CDC exposes a pharmaceutical disaster.

According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control in July of 2013, "Deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses among women have increased more than 400% since 1999, compared to 265% among men." Health care management quickly reverts to the tried and true (although unproven in validity) talk to the patient about pain management options. Hasn't brain science shown that opioid addiction is a physical rewiring of the thought process, which eliminates the patient's ability to choose other options?

One primary concern for the future of health care is access. Efforts to access health care in the U.S. are multifaceted and confusing. This concern is most apparent in the realm of mental health and substance abuse treatments. One severe example is found in research of the Centers for Disease Control. The evidence of deaths caused by opioid drug abuse among women has been increasing exponentially. If health care management options were offered with equality, would there be this rapidly climbing death toll?

In any successful health care facility, a patient seeking care for pain management is welcomed. If treatment for pain is lessened because of a knee-jerk reaction by authority, there may occur a temporary decrease in death due to pain medication overdoses. Despite the help-seeking attitude by the patient as an out-of-date ideal, are we ready to sanction patients who visit their doctor for pain management care? It is out of date because it fails the mental health rubric of supporting an individual's empowerment in becoming self-sufficient. The health care community (being held responsible for our society's loss of leadership and financial ruin) is straddle with drug companies singing the praise of the dollar, and a social, economic crisis. Individuals who are no longer free to access affordable treatments, may stiffen into hardened criminals. The best measure of your personal health remains clear; stay informed, and advocate for your own interests.