Less than 500 of the estimated 5,000 to 10,000 heroin addicts in Lancaster County can obtain relief from addiction, in large part because physicians are unwilling to treat them out of greed and indifference.
Until a few years ago, there was no methadone clinic in Lancaster. Today Addiction Recovery Systems treats over 300 clients and enables them to return to near normal life with family, friends and jobs.
A breakthrough with even greater potential came with permission for physicians to prescribe buprenorphine, usually in the form of Suboxone, which is as effective as methadone for most patients and can be obtained with a prescription from pharmacies rather than through a clinic.
According to Wikipedia and confirmed by NewsLanc: “In the United States, a special federal waiver is required to prescribe Subutex and Suboxone for opioid addiction treatment on an outpatient basis. However… an eight-hour course is all that is required. Each approved prescriber is allowed to manage only thirty patients on buprenorphine for opioid addiction as outpatients…”
Hundreds if not thousands of Lancaster addicts are unable to obtain buprenorphine treatment. Why? Addicts are not perceived as attractive patients and often do not have the ability to pay or qualify for third party payment.
Does not the medical profession have an ethical responsibility to provide treatment for all who seek it?
Should not publicly owned Lancaster General Hospital lead the way in providing such services for the hundreds and possibly thousand who desire it?
To what more appropriate use can Lancaster General Hospital put two or three million dollars of its $113 million in earnings?
The irony is that treatment of addicts ultimately saves the public far more than it costs, and even can prove “profitable” for the hospital because it reduces the not fully remunerated high costs of treatment of health problems resulting from addiction.
If a single qualified heroin addict is unable to obtain treatment upon request, it is a disgrace. How much more shameful is depriving hundreds and possibly a thousand of the opportunity!
