A Maryland family learned many hospitals don’t test for fentanyl after a loved one died from an overdose last fall.
Josh Siems was just 31 when he died from an overdose on his birthday in October. He had battled addiction for years.
His partner, Melanie Yates, says he had a magnetic personality.
“He could walk into a room, and every single person would be his best friend by the time he left,” she said.
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She felt confident fentanyl took his life. It was found in his apartment, but his drug test came back positive for cocaine but no mention of fentanyl.
She later learned the hospital where he died did not test for the synthetic drug that’s driving overdoses
“We couldn’t really understand why, and a couple of months later we started doing digging and found it’s not common to test for fentanyl in the emergency department,” Yates said.
She and Siems’ family learned while hospitals routinely test for drugs like cocaine and heroin many don’t test for fentanyl, suggesting a big gap in reporting.
“When I’m looking at the larger public health policy data, all of that data comes from the hospitals,” Yates said. “How are we counting fatal and nonfatal overdoses for opioids if we’re not actually testing for it?”
She and Siems’ family hope to change that. They’re working with Maryland lawmakers on legislation that would require hospitals to check patients for fentanyl use when they’re performing drug testing
Delegate Joe Vogel is sponsoring the bill
“We have a fentanyl epidemic in our state, right now, and what we’re seeing in our hospitals is that we’re undercounting,” said Del. Joe Vogel, D-District 17, who sponsors the bill.
Yates and Siems’ parents are scheduled to testify in Annapolis in support of the bill.
“This legislation would not have helped Josh live, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t help other people,” Yates said.
The legislation is modeled after a law already passed in California. A public hearing will be held Thursday.
According to state statistics, there were 2,000 fatal fentanyl overdoses in Maryland from October 2021 to October 2022.
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