After a devastating motorcycle accident, Hopkins bioethicist Travis Rieder was prescribed high doses of opioids to stave off pain. When he began to taper off the drugs, he was immediately thrown into withdrawal.
The advice Reider got from his doctors was to go back on opioids. His medical team had no plan for weaning him from the drugs.
Reider’s book, “In Pain,” explores the history of opioids, why they are so addictive and how the medical system should be changed. Check out his Ted Talk here.
This interview originally aired July 2, 2019.
