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Several weeks ago, a friend and colleague shared that she was going to have a knee laparoscopy to repair a minor tear in her meniscus.  This wasn’t her first knee repair, and so she approached the procedure without much trepidation.   A few days before the surgery, she got a notification from her pharmacy that she had a prescription waiting for her. Confused, she traveled the short distance to the pharmacy to figure out what exactly had been prescribed to her without her knowledge. When she arrived, she found a prescription in her name for 15 Percocet for her post-surgical care, even though she hadn’t even needed a Tylenol after the first surgery. This was more devastating to our friend, as she had witnessed her son’s own 15-year struggle with opioid addiction after he was prescribed copious amounts of opioids after a minor surgery himself.  His addiction ultimately led to his tragic overdose death only four years prior.

In an outraged text message to several of the iTHIRST Team, our colleague shared, “They prescribed it without even telling me!! I just can’t believe doctors are still doing this after all that’s happened.  I’m fuming.  The message has not gotten out there.”

Indeed, the message still has not gotten out there fully.  Namely, opioids are still being overprescribed for minor procedures.  While there are, admittedly, many who suffer from debilitating chronic pain which must be managed by opioids, there is no doubt that there are still many prescribed opioids given to those who could get by with over-the-counter pain medicines for minor procedures. 

A recent article from The Washington Post, entitled, “Inside the sales machine of the ‘kingpin’ of opioid makers,” (May 10, 2022- link below) describes the history of this pattern of overprescribing which has recently come to light as the result of new evidence released in 1.4 million records from the nation’s largest manufacturer of opioids.  While Purdue Pharma has clearly garnered the most public attention and outrage, it has not been the largest manufacturer of opioids, nor even the worst offender when it comes to promoting overprescribing.  That dubious title belongs to the little-known manufacturer, Mallinckrodt, who literally had a stable of doctors, numbering in the hundreds, whom they could count on to write “a steady stream of pain pills.” The article states that between 2006 and 2014, Mallinckrodt had a 27% market share of opioids prescribed in the nation, compared to 18% for Purdue Pharma.  Mallinckrodt’s 30mg oxycodone tablet became the street drug of choice, so much so that the drug smuggling route between Florida and Appalachia became known as the “Blue Highway,” so named for the baby blue pill.

While the article goes on to state that many of those Mallinckrodt ‘preferred doctors’ went on to have their licenses revoked, were convicted of crimes related to their medical practices, and paid significant fines, it also reveals that in the middle of the crisis Mallinckrodt knew that their 30mgs were the most popular and they continued to promote them with reckless abandon.

One bereaved mother from Boston who lost two of her three children to overdoses stressed that the release of these documents would help heal families who want to know what happened to their child, where it started and who is to blame. 

In her book, Drug Dealer, MD,  Dr. Anna Lemke writes that the drug epidemic is not just the problem of a few ‘deviant’ doctors who overprescribed for personal gain, but rather, “ it is the result of a large population of well-intended doctors working in health care factories that prioritize through-put of body parts on an assembly line over whole-patient health…Pills that are addictive are particularly likely to be overprescribed because they provide patient-customers with short-term satisfaction and a proxy for human attachment—but not necessarily improved health.”

Upon arrival at the pharmacy, my colleague refused the Percocets. The pharmacy had to dispose of them.  Perhaps, for all of us in these situations, it’s time to use that oft-maligned slogan of the ’80s.  It’s time for us to “Just Say No.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/mallinckrodt-documents-doctors-sales/

When you think of a Saint of the Church what comes to mind?  Perhaps the Holy Apostles, the first messengers of the Good News?  Perhaps some of the Doctors of the Church, like Aquinas or Augustine, St. Teresa of Avila, or the Little Flower, St. Therese de Lisieux? Or perhaps your mind goes to some of those most pious of more recent times, like St. Padre Pio, St. Teresa of Calcutta, or St. John Paul II? Had you ever even considered that someone who might be afflicted with the disease of addiction, might himself be considered a holy and most worthy Saint?  If you hadn’t, then this is an opportunity to introduce you to St. Mark Ji Tianxiang.

St Mark, or Ji, as he is often called, was a devout Catholic and a medical doctor, born in 1834 in what is now Hebei, China.  It is thought that he contracted some sort of malady that attacked his stomach, and he began self-treatment using opium.  He quickly became addicted to the drug, which became his lifelong struggle.  Still, Ji maintained his very strong faith, regularly receiving the sacraments, spending time in prayer, and attending daily mass.  At a certain point, his parish priest denied Ji the sacraments, thinking that he must have been of little moral strength, not being able to ‘just stop’ his opium use.  For 30 years, Ji was denied the sacraments, yet he remained faithful and continued to attend daily mass.  After 30 years he was once again permitted to partake in the Holy Eucharist and in Reconciliation.

Ji was one of the many Christians killed during the Boxer Rebellion in July of 1900.  Rebels, protesting Western Imperialism, considered Christianity a distinctly Western religion, and so the “Boxers,” rebels largely trained in Chinese martial arts, or “Chinese boxing,” killed nearly 32,000 Chinese Christians and 200 Western Missionaries in northern China.  Ji insisted that he be the last among his group killed so that he could provide spiritual consolation to each of them as they were beheaded.  Ji was beheaded for refusing to refute his Christianity on July 7^th, 1900.

In 1946, Pope Pius XII beatified Ji and 120 other Chinese martyrs. He was canonized on October 1^st, 2000, by St. John Paul II, then the Holy Father.

St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, you, like St. Paul, understood what it was like to be tortured by a compulsion to do something you didn’t want to do.  Help us to overcome our attachments in our lives so as to worship God with as much devotion as you did.  St. Mark Ji, pray for us!