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With a new infusion of federal money, The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is getting an upgrade with its own short number, 988. That will reduce interventions by armed law enforcement and reliance on emergency rooms, and ultimately help keep more people alive. There are growing concerns that the hotline, which is already badly overloaded, will not be able to keep up with demand. Hopefully, the government cash infusion will be able to address this with more staffing.
The national awareness that has been created by the opioid crisis is a great thing, and has saved many lives. However, The New York Times Recently ran an article about some unintended consequences caused by physicians being more cautious about prescribing pain medications. Many doctors refer patients who need pain killers to “pain clinics,†which specialize in treating those with chronic pain and often prescribe opioids. However, even the pain clinics have become increasingly cautious. The Times told the story of Brent Slone, who flipped his vehicle to avoid a stalled car and suffered severe injuries. He miraculously survived, but was paralyzed from the waist down and in intense pain. Six years after the car wreck, the pain clinic he went to cut his pain medication in half with no explanation. He showed up at the pain clinic in his wheelchair, but they gave him no sympathy and told him he couldn’t get a refill on his prescription for six weeks. He sent his wife a text which said “They denied script im done love you.â€Â He then went to a local park and committed suicide. Although his family won a nearly $7 million malpractice judgment against his doctors and the pain clinic, this was a small consolation to his wife.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/opinion/opioid-crisis-pain-victims.html
One of the many laws that Governor Gavin Newsome is about to sign into law is SB-380 which will make it easier for terminal patients to end their own life. In 2016, California became one of a small number of states to allow people to end their lives with a prescription from a doctor. Now that the public has come to accept the concept, lawmakers are streamlining the process. Instead of requiring that the patient make two separate requests for fatal medicines 15 days apart, the person can now make the requests only two days apart. The new law will also eliminate the need for a written statement from the patient.