Wednesday, September 6, 2017 Skylor Weyaus is 24 years old. Up until last week, he had his whole life ahead of him. Now, he is laying in a hospital bed in St. Cloud in a coma – a coma from which he will never awaken. Skylor loved basketball more than anything. “If he could have […]
Each year, more than 300 patients with chronic pain take part in a three-week program at the Pain Rehabilitation Center at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Their complaints range widely, from specific problems such as intractable lower-back pain to systemic issues such as fibromyalgia. By the time patients enroll, many have tried just about everything […]
On Thursday, President Trump said he intended to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency, as previously recommended by his opioid commission. With the death toll from drugs rising faster than ever, this article is a quick review guide for anyone needing some more basic information. There is also a nice explanation of practical implications […]
Breaking the Opioid Habit in the Dentists’ Offices – a Minnesota connection! Harold Tu’s “aha!” moment came in front of the Washington Monument. In October, 2014, Tu, director of the division of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, was visiting Washington, D.C., with his wife. Tu was there to […]
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner is sounding an alarm. Dr. Andrew Baker says the opioid epidemic and a national shortage of medical examiners have created a perfect storm that is taxing death investigations in Minnesota and across the country like never before. There have been a lot of long days and nights at the Hennepin […]
Much of the conversation surrounding the opioid epidemic has, understandably, centered on poorer Americans, many of whom are insured under the Medicaid state-federal safety net program for low-income people. But a new analysis of more than 200 million private insurance claims finds that the crisis is also taking a massive toll on those with private […]