Negligence? – November 16, 2019- The wrongful death lawsuit filed by his parents lays the tragedy at the feet of the rehabs and their workers. It also apportions blame for the nurse who, they feel, rendered services that weren’t medically necessary, and with the oversight of a doctor who never saw him. At Casa Bella, Harrison was prescribed a lethal stew of drugs that depressed his breathing and killed him, according to the suit. In civil court, though, the remedy is money. Rehabs often settle for secret sums and go back to running their businesses under new names. “They’re not…
Author: Leonard Buschel
“Sometimes I’m so sweet even I can’t stand it.” —Julie Andrews
Two Donors Needed – NOVEMBER 12, 2019 – The announcement by Henry Ford Hospital came a day after President Donald Trump said he would meet with industry representatives as his administration weighs new regulations amid a nationwide outbreak of vaping-related illness and deaths … “Within a very short period of time, our lives have been forever changed. (The boy) has gone from the typical life of a perfectly healthy 16-year old athlete … to waking up intubated and with two new lungs, facing a long and painful recovery process as he struggles to regain his strength and mobility, which has…
It’s MAT complicated – Nov. 8, 2019 – He saw a physician “rarely, if ever,” according to the lawsuit, and was “continually issued Suboxone” by non-medical personnel. The clinic failed to provide substantive addiction counseling, ignored failed drug tests and failed to properly adjust Mr. Reiland’s dose of Suboxone, according to the lawsuit. Mr. Reiland left the clinic in 2016 and attended a different rehab program, according to the lawsuit. He marked one year of sobriety in June. Federal authorities believe many patients were treated similarly at the clinic’s five locations, spread across Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Five doctors,…
One Day At A Time – Nov. 10, 2019 – Growing up in Canada, the Whole Nine Yards star was raised with a competitive streak and a penchant for tennis. He rose in the junior rankings to No. 2 in Ottawa until relocating to LA with his father in 1984, where he ultimately turned to acting. Like any other struggling actor in the City of Angels, Perry faced a lot of rejection and worked on several failed TV shows before landing the life-changing role of Chandler Bing on Friends, a role he’d play from 1994 to 2004 … Then, three…
When You Need It Most – November 2019 – The Issue When I first got clean, I was told to go to a meeting, so I Googled “AA meetings” and got to some random meeting list page. I showed up at a location listed to find that there hadn’t been a meeting there for years! The list was outdated! I almost took it as a sign that recovery wasn’t for me … it took me a while to figure out that I wasn’t looking in the right place, and that I needed to go to my local area page to…
Recovery Works – Nov. 9 2019 – In a sneak peek at the episode, titled “Surviving the Unthinkable: How to Overcome Adversity,” Davidson recalls the precise moment when he realized he had hit rock bottom. “Philadelphia. I did a show. I was going on stage that night, my talent was gone,” he tells Pinkett Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris. “That thing that came out of my mouth so naturally, was gone.” RELATED: Jada Pinkett Smith Tackles Transracial Adoption On The Next ‘Red Table Talk’ “So you bombed?” asks Pinkett Smith. “It was more than that,” he explains. “I…
No More Murdering? – NOV. 9, 2019 – Speaking at her first meeting in charge of a task force on narcotics, Vice-President Leni Robredo said the strategy should be as much about public health as it was about crime and justice, and that police operations, known as Oplan Tokhang, must be conducted lawfully and based on evidence. Ms Robredo is a political rival of the popular Mr Duterte and has long been a critic of his flagship campaign, arguing that thousands of urban poor have been killed, with no sign of progress towards dismantling major drug networks … “There are…
True Story – Nov. 10, 2019 – She’d never had a problem with drinking before, but felt she needed something to help her cope. She would say it was juice and drink it out of soup mugs to hide it from me, but even aged four I knew she was drunk. I’d find empty wine bottles in the washing basket, and recognise the vacant look in her eyes. When Mum’s drinking got out of control, she would forget to look after me, so her father – my grandad John – would take me in for months at a time. He…
MEDIA: Book Profile – Nov. 9, 2019 – And that was the start of a career in which she worked with other addicts to turn their lives around. In the process, she learned to listen and talk to families too. Some of the steps families can take are part of the clinical process of weaning and keeping an addict off drugs. Family members are integral to recovery, she believes. And the more families know, the better they are able to help recovery work and to keep their own lives on track. Addiction issues — the outbursts, the violence, the neglect…
Really, I’m Fine – November 9. 2019 – One would not tell someone who has high blood pressure that it’s just in their head and they need to get over it, so why would we tell someone who has a very real mental health issue that it’s all in their head and they need to get over it? It’s wrong. Ignoring serious mental health issues is like telling a patient who suffers from crippling anxiety and chronic depression to “deal with it”. Ignoring the problem not only hurts us, but it also discredits our feelings, making us feel more…
Hope is the thing with feathers… – November 10, 2019 – “Hope” is the thing with feathers —That perches in the soul—And sings the tune without the words —And never stops — at all.”—Emily Dickinson I just finished Paula Becker’s powerful memoir “A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction.” It’s a gripping story of a mom living through her son’s drug addiction. She writes from her heart, with brutal honesty. Hers is a beautifully written but painful story of how hope and fear can turn our souls inside out. Becker is a local author and…
Destiny, Fate or Drug Addiction? – Nov. 9, 2019 – He famously lived for years just a few blocks from the boulevard in a small apartment crammed head to foot with Superman action toys and Superman cutouts and Superman dioramas he made by hand. And out on the street, he embraced the role so fully that he sometimes chased down real bad guys in his pillow-padded, muscle-bulging, stretchy Superman get-up. He held his body straight and his shoulders back, which made his neckline appear manly where red cape met sunny-day-sky-blue suit. In just the right light, at just the right…
No More Constipation – November 10, 2019 – A decade ago, 45 people a year aged 60 or over were treated in hospital in England for cocaine-related disorders. The number treated has soared to 379. Experts say the rise in the number of older people taking drugs and ending up in hospital was due to existing users living longer, the increasing purity of the drug as well as falling prices. Full Story @TheTimes
Sequel or Seroquel? – Nov. 6, 2019 One of the burning questions regarding McGregor’s interpretation of the role is, who is this Dan Torrance? Is he the older version of the King character or Kubrick’s rendition? I recently got the chance to sit down with McGregor and he told me all about that balancing act, what it was like working with director Mike Flanagan, and also about how the themes of addiction and recovery drew him to the project. You can give it all a watch for yourself in the video interview at the top of this article. Also, be…
MEDIA: Film Review – November 8, 2019 – They call Dan, who as a child had the nickname “Doc,” Doctor Sleep. But Dan’s stability is rocked by the appearance of a girl with a shine 100 times more powerful than his. She’s called Abra (as in cadabra) and is played by the marvelous newcomer Kyliegh Curran, who, mark my words, is going places. So is her character. Abra shines so brightly that she is soon forced to go on the run, with Dan as her mentor. Abra, you see, has drawn the unwanted attention of Rose (Rebecca Ferguson), the leader…
Drugs Are The Answer? – November 7, 2019 – Dr. Keith Heinzerling, an addiction medicine specialist at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, Calif., says he prescribes naltrexone off-label, in combination with other medications, for methamphetamine addiction if patients are interested in trying it. And he believes, when combined with physician oversight and counseling, it can be an effective treatment. “I think there’s a great opportunity to try naltrexone,” Heinzerling says. “There’s actually a decent amount of evidence that it might help, and if I had a family member [addicted to meth], I would recommend they try it.” …
Children Too! – November 8, 2019 – Pups that experienced calm, gentle teachers, however, performed better at tasks that researchers assigned to them, such as locating a bowl with sausage in it — in a roomful of empty but sausage-smeared bowls. More harshly trained canines were slower to locate the treat bowl, which authors interpreted as showing that their experiences had made them more depressed, less hopeful hounds. The biologists also analyzed dogs during training to look for “stress behaviors” such as lip-licking, paw-raising, yawning and yelping. “Critically, our study points to the fact that the welfare of companion dogs…
No More Putz – November 7, 2019 – According to Kirk, there is a history of alcoholism in his family. When he and his wife began having children, Kirk says the pressures to provide did a number on his anxiety, leading to an increase in drinking while he was on the road. Though he says he never drank before or during a round, he says he needed something in his system to feel right. “I’ve got to drink the right amount at night so that I feel normal the next day,” Kirk told the PGA Tour’s Helen Ross. “Not too…
It’s All In Your Head – Nov. 8, 2019 – Mr. Buckhalter had his operation on 1 November at the West Virginia University Medicine Hospital. Three more volunteers will also have the procedure. It starts with a series of brain scans. Surgery follows with doctors making a small hole in the skull in order to insert a tiny 1mm electrode in the specific area of the brain that regulate impulses such as addiction and self-control. A battery is inserted under the collarbone, and brain activity will then be remotely monitored by the team of physicians, psychologists and addiction experts to…
Health Care – Nov. 10, 2019 -Health care provider Kaiser Permanente says its chairman and CEO, Bernard Tyson, has died unexpectedly at the age of 60. No other details were provided in the company’s announcement, which said that Tyson died in his sleep early Sunday. The board of directors has named Executive Vice President Gregory Adams as interim chairman and CEO. Executive Committee Chair Edward Pei says Tyson was “an exceptional colleague, a passionate leader and an honorable man.” Full Story @ABCNews
Sober Stone – Nov. 10, 2019 – Ronnie, 72, said: “I’ve calmed down a bit but I’m still crazy. I’m very surprised that I’m still here. “I believe there is a power greater than us all, whatever that spirit is. But it’s wonderful it has taken care of me. Maybe a guardian angel, more like. “It’s lovely to still have my life after the cancer and surviving all the dope and the alcohol. Somebody up there does like me — I’m so lucky.” This week the rocker looked blissfully happy as he took his three-year-old twins Alice Rose and…
Misery in Bloom – November 5, 2019 – Nasima, a mother of seven, said one son left home while she was high. She says that he began using heroin because it was in the house. “My 15-year-old son is roaming the streets. I don’t know where he is,” she fretted. She breastfed her youngest son as she spoke. The center appeared to offer respite for the children, at least. Behind heavy steel doors, boys and girls played in a small courtyard, shrieking and manically running. In one room, they worked at sewing machines, making outfits of red pants and…
It’s a Man’s World – November 10, 2019 – Lamm described as arguably the greatest challenge in working with the chemsex patient (often but not always a gay male) the establishment of a healthy “sexual recovery plan.” The dominant thinking for patients becomes, “How can they possibly self-regulate without the drug and the sex in their life?”, he said. That is particularly challenging because both meth and sex are so readily available, at any time and any place. “It is present for all of us,” Lamm said—potentially minutes away. A sexual recovery plan will involve components such as avoiding fantasy…
Long Road to Healing – November 9, 2019 – One in six Iraq and Afghanistan veterans also suffer with a substance abuse disorder, according to Justice for Vets, which advocates for reforms for veterans in the justice system; the organization counts 25% of veterans as identifying as mentally ill prior to incarceration.Roughly 9% of veterans and military members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have been arrested since their return as well, according to a report cited by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Tomy Parker is a Ronan veteran who hit a bad skid of abusing painkillers, and did…
Unsafe at Any Speed – November 04, 2019 – “Capitalizing on the opioid epidemic and prescription drug abuse in the United States, drug trafficking organizations are now sending counterfeit pills made with fentanyl in bulk to the United States for distribution,” said DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon. “Counterfeit pills that contain fentanyl and fentanyl-laced heroin are responsible for thousands of opioid-related deaths in the United States each year.” Fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids remain the primary driver behind the ongoing opioid crisis, with fentanyl involved in more deaths than any other illicit drug. Full Story @DEA
No Money in Sobriety – Nov. 9, 2019 – Some U.S. states have taken tentative steps down the path of legalization. Cannabis, for example, is now legal for recreational use in 11 states and the District of Columbia. And Nadelmann says he sees growing support among people and some policymakers for an approach that views drugs as a medical problem. But the U.S. is different from Europe, he says, in ways that make bigger changes feel unlikely anytime soon. Society is different. “The [U.S. social] support system is not as robust,” says Nadelmann. Plus there is less tolerance for addiction.…
Passing It On – Nov. 7, 2019 – Former NFL quarterback Joe Namath on the dangers of addiction and how he overcame it. Full Story @FoxNews
Mental Injury – NOVEMBER 6, 2019 -“I have PTSD,” she tells Winfrey. “I have chronic pain. Neuropathic pain trauma response is a weekly part of my life. I’m on medication; I have several doctors. This is how I survive. But you know what, Oprah? I kept going, and that kid out there or even that adult out there who’s been through so much, I want them to know that they can keep going, and they can survive, and they can win their Oscar.” Full Story @Refinery29
Food Glorious Food? – November 6, 2019 – Nobody has to score Hershey’s kisses on the street. Nobody has to smuggle Pringles across the country hidden in the wheel well of a car … But that doesn’t mean that the life-sustaining substances we come into the world loving and couldn’t survive without—the sugars and salts and fats and proteins, the fruits and vegetables and breads and meats—can’t get us into every bit as much danger as the deadly, often illegal substances that cause so much suffering. You can eat compulsively just as you can smoke or drink or do drugs…