Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

A tragic Fentanyl story without redemption

Marcia Glass, MD
Physician
April 1, 2019
Share
Tweet
Share

Matt was 40, my sister’s age. He was training for a marathon and trying to talk his many friends into joining. He lay in bed with his three-year-old son every night to help him fall asleep. It’s hard to sleep train a toddler with a newborn to nurture at the same time, but he loved spending this time with his two kids and being the dad everyone counted on.

Matt’s best friend Ben organized his groomsmen to fly to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. They planned a crazy night out together, and a break from their busy home lives juggling long work hours and small children. This was a weekend to suspend responsibility. Las Vegas is a good place for that.

They found an Airbnb to rent near the Strip and set out for a night of drinking once they arrived. At some point, one of Matt’s friends asked him if he wanted to try cocaine. He hadn’t planned on it, but the party momentum was mounting and the Vegas attitude contagious. Matt decided to try some.

A friend of one of the groomsmen handed the cocaine out, and Matt snorted it soon after. He fell on the ground immediately, and his heart stopped. Ben’s friends desperately tried to resuscitate him with CPR. It took at least 20 minutes for them to call 911. The cocaine Matt snorted was mixed with Fentanyl, a drug readily available on the streets and hundreds of times as strong as morphine. Those are the 20 minutes that ended Matt’s life.

When EMS arrived, Matt still had no pulse, so they tried to stabilize him in the field before bringing him to the hospital. They quickly gave him Narcan, the opioid reversal agent that almost certainly would have saved his life if they had made it to him sooner. They put a breathing tube in him since he was no longer breathing on his own. They gave him drugs to start his heart beating again and shocked him several times with a defibrillator. Eventually, his heart started to beat spontaneously, and they drove him to our trauma hospital.

When I met him, he looked like a burly athlete who was sleeping connected to a breathing machine. His wife was sitting next to him after getting a call in the middle of the night to fly to Las Vegas immediately. She’d brought her baby and her toddler. She was petite, naturally pretty, completely in shock. She asked me if he was going to wake up. I wondered the same thing.

Our ICU team tried everything and talked to everyone – the ER doctors on call the night Matt came in, the neurocritical care specialist, the medical director of Las Vegas EMS. We went through every detail of his cardiac arrest, of the attempts to bring him back, of each medication given to him in the hospital. We checked his neurologic function over and over; we got second opinions, we sat in the room and listened to everyone cry. And still, he didn’t wake up. We went on like this for a week. Every day Matt’s wife came to the hospital after she breastfed her baby and sat by his bed holding his hand and waiting for his eyes to open. Every day she asked me if he was going to get better.

After a week, Matt’s wife was ready to disconnect him from the ventilator. This machine was keeping his breathing going while his brain, the essence of his personality, had left a week ago. She knew he would never want to be kept alive by machines, and she couldn’t watch him in this state anymore. She gathered her family together and explained as much as she could to her toddler, who’d been asking every day if his dad would help him fall asleep that night. Her raw personal suffering and her grief by proxy for her children were a hideous burden to witness. The resolution I felt knowing Matt would be spared an institutional existence tortured by devices was tempered by the nagging thought of his innocent children. They hadn’t signed up for this.

There is no redemption in this story. This is what’s happening in our country. Matt could be your lawyer brother, your college daughter, or the groomsman in your wedding. Narcan would have saved his life, but no one at the bachelor party had it, and no one called 911 in time for EMS to bring it. Fentanyl is a lethal substance concealed in drugs in your city. And no one knows who will be next.

Marcia Glass is an internal medicine physician and author of Opiana.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Real estate syndication 101: a physician's guide

April 1, 2019 Kevin 0
…
Next

Superhero movies: a perspective from a woman in medicine

April 1, 2019 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Hospital-Based Medicine

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Real estate syndication 101: a physician's guide
Next Post >
Superhero movies: a perspective from a woman in medicine

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Marcia Glass, MD

  • A patient predicted her tragic future

    Marcia Glass, MD

Related Posts

  • The story of how this physician started her blog

    Sasha K. Shillcutt, MD
  • Why everyone needs a six-word story

    Alexie Puran, MD
  • Every patient has a story

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • A physician’s addiction to social media

    Amanda Xi, MD
  • A medical student as storyteller and story-listener

    Yoo Jung Kim, MD
  • My Klonopin withdrawal story

    Bethany Silverman

More in Physician

  • How to handle chronically late patients in your medical practice

    Neil Baum, MD
  • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

    Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD
  • Why medicine must evolve to support modern physicians

    Ryan Nadelson, MD
  • Why listening to parents’ intuition can save lives in pediatric care

    Tokunbo Akande, MD, MPH
  • Finding balance and meaning in medical practice: a holistic approach to professional fulfillment

    Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib
  • How regulatory overreach is destroying innovation in U.S. health care

    Kayvan Haddadan, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

      Dave Cummings, RN | Policy
    • How digital tools are reshaping the doctor-patient relationship

      Vineet Vishwanath | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in every emergency department triage [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why PSA levels alone shouldn’t define your prostate cancer risk

      Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD | Conditions
    • How to handle chronically late patients in your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Reframing chronic pain and dignity: What a pain clinic teaches us about MAiD and chronic suffering

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • Why medicine must evolve to support modern physicians

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 18 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

      Dave Cummings, RN | Policy
    • How digital tools are reshaping the doctor-patient relationship

      Vineet Vishwanath | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in every emergency department triage [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why PSA levels alone shouldn’t define your prostate cancer risk

      Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD | Conditions
    • How to handle chronically late patients in your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Reframing chronic pain and dignity: What a pain clinic teaches us about MAiD and chronic suffering

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • Why medicine must evolve to support modern physicians

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

A tragic Fentanyl story without redemption
18 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...