Tag: overdose
U.S. Life Expectancy Continues To Fall As Overdose And Suicide Rates Soar
It’s the longest-running decline in U.S. history since World War I, when a flu pandemic killed almost 700,000 people nationwide.
American mortality rates have continued to rise alongside worrying upticks in overdose and suicide rates, according to three new government studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Life expectancy dropped to 78.6 years in 2017, down from 78.7 in 2016, contributing to the longest-running decline in U.S. history since World War I, when a flu pandemic killed almost 700,000 people nationwide between 1915 and 1918.
The primary group that saw jumps in their death rates were white Americans ― a 0.6 percent jump for white males and 0.9 percent for white females, according to the CDC.
“Life expectancy gives us a snapshot of the nation’s overall health and these sobering statistics are a wakeup call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable,” CDC director Robert Redfield said.
The 10 leading causes of death remained the same, with heart disease and cancer at the top of the list. Yet a second CDC report revealed that the rate of drug overdoses jumped 9.6 percent between 2016 and 2017, totaling 70,237 deaths last year. The rate of death from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl jumped by 71 percent between 2013 and 2017 and by 45 percent between 2016 and 2017 alone.
The age groups particularly affected in 2017 spanned the 25-34 range, as well as 35-44 and 45-54. The highest overdose rates were also concentrated in only a handful of states, including West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.
A third report found that suicide rates also continue to climb, particularly among rural Americans. Between 1999 and 2017, the suicide rate increased by 33 percent. Men saw a 26 percent jump while women experienced a 53 percent increase. More remote areas have seen rates almost twice as high as in urban areas.
“I think this is a very dismal picture of health in the United States,” Joshua M. Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The Washington Post. “Life expectancy is improving in many places in the world. It shouldn’t be declining in the United States.”
Article via HuffingtonPost
Toddler passed out on sidewalk at midnight apparently overdosed, police say
PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (FOX 11/ AP) – Police who responded to a report of an Ohio toddler apparently passing out on a sidewalk from a suspected drug overdose in the middle of the night say she was treated at a hospital, and her parents are charged with child endangering.
Portsmouth police say a frantic person approached an officer Wednesday, shortly after midnight, seeking help for the 18-month-old girl, who was unconscious and having trouble breathing. Police say the girl’s father and another person drove her to a hospital before the officer arrived at the scene in the Ohio River city, about 90 miles east of Cincinnati.
olice found the girl’s 26-year-old mother unresponsive from a suspected heroin overdose inside their apartment nearby. She also received medical treatment.
Court records didn’t list attorneys for the parents.
According to local media, the parents– Brandy Estep and Jason Bolden– are charged with one count each of child endangering, a third degree felony that carried a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
via: http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/us-world-news/247277429-story
Mother dies and father unresponsive from heroin overdose in 7 year old daughter’s hospital bathroom
CINCINNATI — Police arrived at an Ohio hospital Thursday to find a mother dead and a father unresponsive from a heroin overdose on the floor of their 7-month-old child’s hospital room bathroom.
The parents had traveled from Alabama to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to seek treatment for their child.
The mother, identified Friday by the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office as Mary Landers, 31, of Trinity, Ala., was found dead from an apparent overdose at the hospital, police said.
Wesley Landers, also of Trinity, was found with a heroin syringe in his arm, needles strewn on the bathroom sink and a loaded and chambered handgun in his pants pocket, according to court documents.
He was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for treatment and was arrested on charges of possession of drugs, carrying a concealed weapon, having weapons while under disability and possessing drug abuse instruments.
During his arraignment in Hamilton County (Ohio) court Friday, Wesley Landers’ stance and posture were unchanged for most of it until his wife was mentioned.
At that moment, Landers dropped his head, closed his eyes and leaned against the lectern in front of him.
“If the heroin epidemic has exhibited itself in a more tragic form, I haven’t seen it,” said Judge Curt Kissinger during Landers’ arraignment.
Bond was set at $500,000 with the judge saying he weighed heavily that Landers is now a single father. The amount could be revisited in coming days, Kissinger said.
Officials at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center would not release further information on the incident and referred further questions to police.
Facebook and GoFundMe pages linked to the Landers show they were in Cincinnati seeking medical treatment for their 7-month-old daughter. Posts state the family was seeking assistance with covering out-of-pocket expenses for surgery the baby was undergoing Wednesday.
Trinity is about 33 miles west of Huntsville, Ala. The family traveled about 400 miles to Cincinnati for treatment.