Health care workers say a powerful new street drug is clogging Pittsburgh-area emergency rooms with people suffering from violent withdrawal symptoms, including losing control, fighting with staff and needing to be restrained.
For years now, Pittsburgh paramedics and EMTs have been reviving people overdosing with Narcan and rushing them to the ER for follow-up treatment. But in recent months, doctors say many of those patients have suddenly become combative and violent at the hospital, posing a danger to themselves and the health care workers alike.
“They’ll come out of this opiate overdose state and go into this severe withdrawal state sometimes right in front of our eyes,” said Dr. Brent Rau, the director of emergency medicine at Allegheny General Hospital…