Tox on the Web: deadly cocaine/fentanyl combination, the rising price of naloxone, and more

  Cocaine/Fentanyl Kills 3 in North Carolina: WTVD-ABC Eyewitness News in Raleigh, North Carolina reports that 3 people local Chatham County died over the weekend — and another 6 were taken to hospital — after using cocaine that had been surreptitiously adulterated with fentanyl. This is somewhat unusual, although many deaths in the past have been caused by fentanyl-laced heroin. A similar death occurred recently in Upstate New York. Naloxone Sticker Shock: The New York Times reported that with demand for intranasal naloxone increasing exponentially as take-home programs and use by police departments and other first-responders become more accepted, the price of the antidote has increased by 50% or more. Podcast of the Week: Free Emergency Medicine Talks has just posted a lively lecture by Bob Hoffman about “Controversies in Emergency Medicine.” Nothing if not opinionated, Dr. Hoffman has interesting things to say about thiamine and Wernicke’s encephalopathy, gastric decontamination, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and several other topics. At one point Dr. Hoffman takes on TPR‘s position that gastric lavage has known risks and no clear benefits, and should no longer be advocated. I won’t go into detail about all the points of his argument with which I disagree, but will point out the sly way in which at 15:20 he tries to advance the notion that adverse effects caused by lavage are not really complications, but bad technique, and ̶...
Source: The Poison Review - Category: Toxicology Authors: Tags: Medical cocaine fentanyl death. gastric lavage fatality robert hoffman tox on the web Source Type: news