SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — Opioids are a common medication used to alleviate pain after surgery, but the risk is palpable. Even when taken as prescribed, opioids can suppress someone’s drive to breathe and lead to fatal consequences.
“My son passed away after just a routine tonsillectomy,” said Yvonne Gardener as she talked about the 21-year-old son she lost nearly 10 years ago. What she thought would be a simple surgery for her son had become a devastating loss to the family. The silent killer that took her son was OIRD, caused by prescribed medication.
Every year, roughly 80,000 people die from opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD) in America, according to Intermountain Health pulmonologist Dr. Robert Mazzola. However, Dr. Mazzola believes that this may be an underestimated number. This is what the team at Intermountain Health aimed to tackle with a new study : How to prevent these deaths by using a simple device.
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“This monitor on your finger measures through light waves, the amount of oxygen that’s saturating on your hemoglobin,” said Dr. Kim Bennion, research director of respiratory care at Intermountain Health. She held up her finger to showcase a lightweight device that was connected to her finger to her wrist. The device was a culmination of six years of research…