Recommended Reading: Physicians and Opioid Abuse
While physicians prescribing opioids are often implemented in the ongoing war on opiate addiction, less attention is given to the physicians and anesthesiologists who have ready access to the drugs or to the potential for them to be susceptible to opioid abuse.
In fact, the idea is so unthinkable, that many refuse to address the problem or even acknowledge that the problem exists so that the very present danger is at risk of disappearing under the radar.
Sometimes it takes the gift of the storyteller to take us beyond our preconceptions, shine a light in the dark corners, and expose just how precariously life can hang in the balance.
Steven Orebaugh is one such storyteller.
This gritty and thought-provoking novel follows a talented, dedicated anesthesiologist on the cusp of a prestigious career. The novel opens with Dr. Kurt McCain, a highly-principled and hard-working professional, reacting in despair at yet another young addict choosing to risk all to chase an opioid high, and who is lying semi-conscious on the stairs on Billy Buck Hiil, the stairs which feature on Kurt’s route to and from the university hospital where he saves lives on a daily basis.
As we follow Kurt McCain through his fast-paced routine in the hospital, we experience the stress, the unsociable hours, the pressure of making life-and-death decisions, and the loneliness of an existence dedicated to work. As the pressures begin to take their toll and Kurt begins his foray into, what he believes to be, controlled recreational use of opioid pills, we see how easily he can persuade himself that this is nothing more than an, almost innocent, means of coping.
We witness his descent on a downward spiral that takes him from the brink of a glittering career, acclaim, and prestige to the point where he is caught brazenly stealing fentanyl from his patients in the operating room.
This is a tough subject to address.
However, a deftly and sensitively crafted story has the ability to get under our defenses and judgment and allow the very real message to hit home with impact. Here we learn just how fine the line is between the observer of the addict and the addict and the reminder that “there but for the grace of God, go I.”
The author, Professor Steven Orebaugh, is an anesthesiologist and so his description of life in the OR and the everyday demands on the anesthesiologist are authentic and vivid. This is a gripping, page-turner for any practitioner of anesthesiology – and a great gift idea for friends and family members who have no idea what an anesthesiologist does!
