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Rebecca Thaxton is a family physician.

Breaking down the real cost of the opioid epidemic

Rebecca Thaxton, MD
Physician
January 20, 2022

I have been writing of late about recent developments in the opioid saga. My first piece talked about a fresh decision in California’s seven-year-old The People vs. opioid pharma case. The next one focused on how the middle-man, distributors, contributed to the epidemic’s picture.

Now, I wanted to write an overarching piece hitting some astounding highlights that summarize the opioid crisis through its decades-long lifespan. …

Read more…

Breaking down the real cost of the opioid epidemic

How drug distributors contributed to the opioid crisis

Rebecca Thaxton, MD
Medications
December 28, 2021

A recent headline in my neighborhood newspaper read, “A Dentist Became a Top Opioid Buyer in W. Va. Now a Drug Firm Faces Penalty for Ignoring Red Flags.” The drug firm sent 25,400 hydrocodone pills and 3,600 Xanax to one Huntington, WV area dentist. The DEA raided the dentist’s office and shut it down. The dentist admitted to ordering the pills for personal use.

This summer, also right …

Read more…

How drug distributors contributed to the opioid crisis

The people vs. opioid pharma: Pharma wins again

Rebecca Thaxton, MD
Medications
November 14, 2021

On Monday, November 1, an Orange County California Superior Court Judge said, in a tentative decision, that the opioid pharmaceutical companies were not responsible for the opioid crisis.

This particular case, going by the name of “The People of the State of California v. Purdue Pharma,” started in 2014. The judge’s ruling noted that neither party requested a trial by jury. The trial took place before the judge between April 19, …

Read more…

The people vs. opioid pharma: Pharma wins again

The drip, drip, drip of hate in the U.S.

Rebecca Thaxton, MD
Physician
May 4, 2018

Editor’s note: This article contains racial slurs essential to the story.

A few days ago at my breakfast table, over coffee and my usual peanut butter protein shake, I read Doug Brunk’s article in Family Practice News about gun violence. The article reminded me that on the same day in history (April 16th, 2007) that the Virginia Tech shooter killed 32 people and injured 23 others, 231 other gun casualties occurred …

Read more…

The drip, drip, drip of hate in the U.S.

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  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Retirement isn’t the end of medicine, it’s a second act [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Surgical judgment: the skill no one sees from the gallery

      Mustafa Kemal Çalık, MD | Physician
    • Why haven’t ambient AI scribes boosted productivity?

      Karan Kanwar | Health Technology
    • Paid for twice

      Physicians paid for G2211 twice. Most never bill it.

      Michael Duben, MD | Physician Finance
    • Hospital IT approval has no path for clinician-built tools

      Sanjay Khicha, MD and Gautam Nayak, MD | Health Technology
    • Physician well-being is not an individual problem

      Heather Buckley | Conditions and Diseases
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why CDC opioid guidelines get the overdose data wrong

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Conditions and Diseases
    • Retirement isn’t the end of medicine, it’s a second act [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Sensory processing in autism and the brain’s volume control

      Josette Pelatan, PhD | Conditions and Diseases
    • What maternity care deserts cost a town

      Manisha Kaliaperumal | Health Policy
    • Why medicine needs a national physician license now

      Vaishali Popat, MD, MPH | Physician
    • A cold cost $945. The cost of primary care is broken.

      Susan Newman, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Paid for twice

      Physicians paid for G2211 twice. Most never bill it.

      Michael Duben, MD | Physician Finance
    • The next child

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      Steven Merahn, MD | Health Policy
    • Choosing a limb lengthening surgeon requires accountability

      Hrayr Basmajian, MD | Physician
    • Cited but never checked

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      Nicole Drapeau Gillen | Health Technology
    • How AI phone systems in health care create barriers

      Thuy D. Bui, MD | Health Technology
    • The conflict of interest that discloses as nothing

      Martha Rosenberg | Medications

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