Pennsylvania SB 1299 and opioid overdose response legislation

¶ … legislation on PA SB 1299

The General Assembly of Pennsylvania

Senate Bill No. 1299

Session of 2014

Introduced by: Ward, Pileggi, Erickson, Schwank, Washington, White and Baker.

The significance of PA SB 1299 Bill

Preamble

The deaths from overdose on opioids have been a common occurrence across the nation with many of the people falling victims to either ignorance or intentional negligence by the people around then when they suffer the overdose symptoms to death. Initially, there were rampant incidences of the arrest and prosecution of the volunteers who called the law enforcement and the first responders to the scene since they too were often found to have used the drugs. The first responders were also not allowed to administer opioid antagonist at the scene to the person suffering obvious signs of overdose on the opioids hence the death rates from the overdose kept increasing even amidst the knowledge that such deaths could be eradicated in a constructive manner that does not promote the drug use.

Position on proposals of the Bill

I am in support of this PA SB 1299 Bill since it perpetuates the same concerns as expressed by the law mentioned hitherto. This Bill seeks to amend existing law to allow a first responder to administer an opioid antagonist to another person in order to save the life of that individual. This is one of the Bills that need to get all the support possible and be nurtured into a law since it is positive and constructive in ensuring the death rates out of overdose on opioids are significantly reduced.

Points on supporting the Bill

The passing and eventual implementation of this Bill into Law will be a step towards securing lives of the addicts, give the first responders a better leverage at their work and hence more significance and also giving chances to the drug users to reconsider their stand on the same once they are saved from the brink of death. There are families that lose their loved ones purely due to lack of quick intervention, say for instance the case of David Rose who died of an overdose from heroine in Virginia. After successfully serving in the military assignment, he walked home a decorated veteran but with injuries sustained from the service, which were actually the main cause of his medical discharge from the military. He sunk into drug abuse but just had changed his ways and was looking forth to an already planned marriage and settling in a new job, he succumbed to heroine overdose. The sustained injuries subjected him to large quantities of pain relieving medication which actually triggered the addiction to heroine. The life of such an important everyday member of the American society could have been saved if the antidote would be readily available (Umble A., 2015). Such stories are not unique to one state but are wide spread across the U.S. And there is need to have a solution that would see an absolute end to this trend.

When an individual overdoses on opiate-based painkillers, the death or the continued living of that individual is practically dependent on how fast the opiate antagonist is administered to the individual, time is of the essence, as the above case of a lost life indicates. The antagonists that are administered often help in combating the oxygen deprivation that the victim suffers occasioning slowed breathing as well as triggering an immediate withdrawal. This critical status of oxygen deprivation may not wait much longer before the individual dies and to give immediate help to the person, the first responders need to be empowered to act fast and administer the antagonist at the scene before carrying the individual to the hospital for further medication (Incorvaia M., 2015). As a matter of fact, these first responders will be acting under the standing order from a licensed physician hence there will be due diligence exercised and absolute care with well spelt out procedures used by the first responders and a report thereafter generated.

The first responders' actions in line with the Bill will be after a conviction and in good faith that the individual is suffering an opioid related overdose. The amount of care that will be involved and the care is a show that the first responders will be at the scene to first save a life before they are involved in taking statements to facilitate the law enforcement on who supplied the drugs used in the overdose or not. The good faith and the mindful approach that the first responders often use is a good sign that they need to be facilitated to save more lives in better time by being allowed to administer the needed medication at the scene when they arrive.

From the daily experiences that the communities in different parts of America have, in most metropolitan U.S., the paramedics are known to respond to the scene and make contact with the patient literally within minutes from the time they are contacted. The response times are further reduced by the use of the contemporary IT which deliver accurate, online and detailed information of the nature and location of the emergency (EMS1, 2015).This is in stark difference with the longer duration that the paramedics will take to arrive at the scene. This shows that the first responders will have the advantage of time, long enough to asses whether the individual is suffering from opioid overdose and administer the required antagonist long before the paramedics make it to the scene, hence implementing this law that allows them to have naloxone for such emergencies is totally acceptable if the welfare of the victims is to be taken care of. The other access point for these antagonist would be the families that have lost their loved ones on the overdose on these opioids, they know how important it is to readily administer the antagonists to the victim with the aim of saving their lives. These can be some important contact points or sources of the antagonist within the community which can see a neighbor being saved before the medics arrive or before they are ultimately taken to the hospital.

It is a common feature that in most healthcare facilities, the drugs for handling such overdose cases do run out of stock or get to be in limited supply. Indeed many emergency care medications are on a low supply than ever seen before. The passing of this bill and subsequent implantation could be the much awaited trigger of demand for such drugs as naloxone hence the increase in the supply of the drugs from the increased manufacturing that will be aimed at meeting the demand created. The new supplies will not just meet the demands of the first responders but also the needs of the paramedic agencies and hospitals that are also in dire need of the same, in effect the bill shall solve bigger problems than it focuses on.

There is need to have a realistic and practical approach to the abuse of the opioids in the communities that make up U.S.. Blind condemnation of additional naloxone in the package of the first responder is misguided, out of touch with the society we live in and quite political. The passing of the Law that will allow the first responders to administer the antagonist to the victims who overdosed on opioids and are looking at death in the face is simply empowering the responder to save lives, which is the basic duty they set out each day to do. There is need to support safe proper medicine use among Americans just as much as there is need to face the abuse of same medicines in a realistic and practical way with each community having a unique requirement to make this a reality. Just like the 'good Samaritan' law, this too, if well applied and necessary measures put into consideration, it can be one more constructive law towards eliminating the deaths from opioid overdoses.