The opioid/opiate epidemic is creating a ripple effect that touches many aspects of life. One of its most surprising effects might be its effect on severely sick individuals.
Opioids (also known as opiates) are drugs that can relieve pain and include prescription drugs such as morphine, OxyContin, codeine, Vicodin, , and fentanyl as well as illegal drugs such as heroin.
This type of drugs can also be highly addictive, as many people have discovered. Thousands of Americans have become hooked on opioids/opiates and thousands have died. Opioid/opiate drugs contributed to 33,091 deaths in the United States in just 2015 alone.
Many of these addicts are otherwise healthy. Their addictions might be their only major medical problems, although addiction does, of course, create its own medical and psychological problems.
But if addicts die in otherwise good health, they might be good candidates to donate their organs to people who need them. This is what’s happening, and in surprisingly large numbers. In fact, in a story published in U.S. News & World Report, Steve Sternberg notes that “the number of donors who died of overdoses rose by nearly 270 percent – from 230 to 848 between 2006 and 2015.”
Experts note that many people who die from drug overdoses tend to be young and enjoy relatively good health, which makes them potentially good donors. Since drug abuse can tax the heart and the kidneys, doctors evaluate those organs and various systems to determine the viability of those organs for transplant, although doctors thoroughly study organs from any donor to determine their suitability for transplant.
While donations after overdoses do help to provide a little hope, they also highlight sad situations. After all, they’re using organs from healthy individuals who can no longer use these organs themselves. These donations illustrate that drug addiction can rob people of so much when they have so much to give themselves. Drug addiction can hurt and kill people who are generous enough to consider donating their organs.
