Opioid Use Complicates Doctors' Decisions About Who Should Get Heart Surgery

In other news on the nation's drug crisis, two studies give cautious hope that opioid use among teens and poisonings of young children may be declining. And a Maryland sheriff's office publicly counts the county's fatal overdoses. The number just hit 100.

In his late 20s, Christopher Milford of East Boston, Mass., got high on some OxyContin his friend gave him. By the time he was in his early 30s, he was shooting heroin and Suboxone. Milford would reuse the same needle for a week or more. Then, one day, he was so sick he couldn't get out of bed. (Rodolico, 3/21)

In the midst of an opioid epidemic that continues to devastate families, a sliver of hope has arrived. Two long-term studies published Monday show that opioid use among teens and opioid poisonings among younger children are on the decline. (Haelle, 3/20)

With four fatal heroin overdoses this weekend, Harford County has reached the tragic milestone of 100 opioid-related deaths since the sheriff's office started keeping track at the start of 2015. And Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said the worst is yet to come. The deaths this weekend – three Saturday and one Sunday – bring the total of opioid-related deaths this year to 20. With 56 in 2016 and 27 in 2015, that's 103 heroin deaths, according to statistics from the Harford County Sheriff's Office. (Butler, 3/21)

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