Reports reveal that Jameson Rybak made several efforts to quit opioid usage within the past five years. Still, he couldn’t sustain the outcomes causing sweating, vomiting, and chills in the entire body. His mother, Suzanne, supported his determination and consistency to quit the addiction, but the situation turned to the worst-case scenario within very little time.
On 11th March 2020, 30 years old Jameson was not able to move his hand as his body started losing consciousness. Suzanne took him to the hospital, where the staff members gave him medications, fluids, and supplements to deal with muscle spasms and nausea. But when the experts recommended admitting the patient to the hospital for continuous monitoring of the symptoms, he refused with a reason that he lost his health insurance with his job last month.
As the patient and his mother were not able to find any solid reference or financing options for further treatment, they failed to treat the opioid use disorder on time. As a result, Jameson died due to an overdose of an addictive substance just within few days after the entire incident.
This scenario indicates two major gaps in the health care system in the United States: one is the very high cost of medical treatments and the capacity of addiction treatment. Although both these issues may appear distinct, they are somehow interlinked. The experts believe that the series of missed opportunities in the financial and medical system are the main cause behind increasing cases of deaths among addicted patients.
Reports reveal that hospital ERs in the country have changed the circumstances for patients that are struggling hard with addiction. A case study published in the year 2015 shows that giving some medications to patients for treating opioid use disorder in the ER increased their chances of getting treatment within a month by two times as compared to those who were provided with some referrals to possible addiction treatments.
Providing few medications to addicted patients is not a standard practice in the country. As per the survey conducted in the year 2017, almost 5% of emergency medicine physicians revealed that they provided medications for treating opioid use disorders; however, many ERs simply discharged the patients with some list of contact numbers for nearby addiction clinics.
Suzanne said that she was not even able to receive any referral or prescription for treating the addiction of her son. This was an unfortunate incident that ERs were not equipped with follow-up treatment options or recommendations during the existing drug crises within the country.
In order to deal with the ongoing ER’s fail conditions, the patients need to collect information about few essential factors. They need to ask hospital staff about financial assistance policies and apply them wherever possible. There are always some favorable alternatives that you can try to meet your financial needs for treatment. One can also fix meetings with the financial counsellors and collect information about some assistance programs within the community. These initiatives may improve the outcomes of ERs in very little time. Furthermore, the experts and policymakers also need to deal with relapse and hidden struggles on this path.
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