4 HEALTH • Spring 2018
C E N T R A L M A S S A C H U S E T T S
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HEALTH
{ From The Editor }
O
ne of the greatest assets someone can possess is common
sense, a fact underscored by my interview with Southbridge
resident Beverly Pratt. Pratt, 72, has raised four children and
worked in shipping for a local company for many years before
retiring. Her life experience, including having a loved one die
from a drug overdose, informed her decision never to take drugs – including
the kind that doctors sometimes prescribe to people living with chronic pain.
Pratt has suffered from arthritis for years, causing debilitating back pain, yet
has never accepted a prescription for opioid painkillers to manage her
condition. By eschewing such medication, she has avoided what many in Worcester County and
beyond have not: a life-threatening addiction.
At its peak in 2016, 2,155 people in Massachusetts died of opioid overdoses. If only they'd enjoyed
the clarity Pratt did about the risks of opioid prescriptions – which experts say often lead people to
buy heroin on the street – many would likely still be here today.
In the roughly 20 years leading up to the opioid addiction implosion, opioid prescriptions had
become the de rigeur method of pain treatment, with doctors and dentists prescribing them as a
matter of course to patients who had had surgery, both minor and complex. The opioid crisis
brought that fast-and-loose approach to prescribing these pills to a grinding halt in 2016, when Gov.
Charlie Baker signed new regulations significantly limiting prescribing practices. The results have
been encouraging: Opioid-related deaths finally appear to be leveling off in the state, though Baker is
hoping to expand prevention efforts with new legislation, as the danger persists.
Perhaps even more encouraging is many providers seem to now truly appreciate the dangers opioid
medications present. As detailed in my Page 16 feature, patients such as Pratt now have access to
comprehensive pain management offered by Harrington HealthCare. The Southbridge-based
healthcare system is emphasizing the need for pain relief that doesn't rely on prescriptions, in a
region that's been hit hard by opioid addiction.
Meanwhile, Central Massachusetts cities and towns are joining scores of others across the country
planning to take on who they believe are the major culprits behind the opioid epidemic: major
pharmaceutical companies manufacturing and marketing the pills, as well as distributors. Our Briefs
section beginning on Page 5 highlights plans for Worcester to file a lawsuit against such companies
in Superior Court – the largest community in the region to announce plans to sue.
With such lawsuits pending, the pharmaceutical industry could go the way of the tobacco industry
in the late 1990s, having to pay out billions to settle lawsuits collecting damages for the public health
costs of the product they produce.
Perhaps Big Pharma will learn the lesson that Pratt, local and state governments, and providers in
Massachusetts have already taken to heart: Opioids are a killer.
- Emily Micucci, HEALTH editor
Catching a killer with better care,
laws, litigation, and common sense
Central Massachusetts HEALTH is published 4
times a year by New Engand Business Media LLC.
