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As the opioid epidemic, also known as the painkiller epidemic, sweeps the nation, questions have been raised about how much work injuries are contributing to America’s painkiller addiction.
How Are Work Injuries and the Painkiller Epidemic Connected?
The Columbus CEO, an employment and industry news and information website, recently featured a report on how work injuries are contributing to Central Ohio’s opioid epidemic. Per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data from the Columbus CEO article, for each drug overdose death, there are another 130 people living with a drug addiction. In Franklin County, Ohio, 350 people died from drug overdose in 2016. For every one of those 350 people, there are another 130 Central Ohio residents who are probably struggling with drug addiction. How many of those people are struggling with a painkiller addiction because of an on-the-job injury?
In many cases, following a workplace accident, employees are prescribed opioids to relieve the pain of their work injury. Unfortunately, if they are over-prescribed or even unnecessarily prescribed these drugs, it can result in addiction, overdose and death. We have covered the topic of workplace painkiller addiction and what Ohio is doing to prevent it on our blog before. It is a disturbing trend that is impacting working families both in our community and nationwide.
Our Columbus law firm is dedicated to making sure that work injury victims receive the help they need following on-the-job accidents, and not just in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Our workers’ comp attorneys will be there for you and your family throughout the process, including applying for benefits, receiving the medical attention you need and rehabilitating your injuries. We want to make sure that you are not only properly taken care of in the short term but in the long term as well.
The workers’ compensation lawyers at Larrimer & Larrimer have been successfully helping on-the-job accident victims and their families in Columbus, Ohio since 1929.