Long Read About Boogaard and his Drug Addiction

[higgyfan4]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/s...-of-prescription-drugs.html?pagewanted=6&_r=2

 

[puckhead]

It is unclear what ramifications, if any, there were for testing positive on more than a dozen drug tests. But Boogaard was not sent to rehabilitation until he struggled to stand up on the ice in front of coaches and teammates during a skating session in early April.

sweet jesus.

 

[mattola]

It is unclear what ramifications, if any, there were for testing positive on more than a dozen drug tests. But Boogaard was not sent to rehabilitation until he struggled to stand up on the ice in front of coaches and teammates during a skating session in early April.

sweet jesus.

smells like a major lawsuit will be coming soon

 

[pixburgher66]

There's some pretty horrific things in that. Those doctors should all be stripped of their license. That's what MDs hate...when addicts come into the ER with complaints they know aren't real, but they can't call them out and have to prescribe. There's technology that exists which shows how many prescriptions someone has during one time. The fact that it continued after he was in rehab is disgusting.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

I have a feeling a lot of doctors are going to get into a lot of trouble in the coming years in terms of how they are treating athletes. In all sports (football and hockey in particular) often times the solution is pain meds. No thought goes into the long term consequences or the psychological damage done by these. Only a matter of time before this replaces steroids/hgh as the controversial medical talking point.

 

[pixburgher66]

I have a feeling a lot of doctors are going to get into a lot of trouble in the coming years in terms of how they are treating athletes. In all sports (football and hockey in particular) often times the solution is pain meds. No thought goes into the long term consequences or the psychological damage done by these. Only a matter of time before this replaces steroids/hgh as the controversial medical talking point.

Obviously I'm in a different situation at my school, but our team MD is amazing. He's astute to those type of things, deals with addicts at his clinic all the time, etc. etc. Just because these guys are professional athletes doesn't mean you should break your oath.

 

[puckhead]

I have a feeling a lot of doctors are going to get into a lot of trouble in the coming years in terms of how they are treating athletes. In all sports (football and hockey in particular) often times the solution is pain meds. No thought goes into the long term consequences or the psychological damage done by these. Only a matter of time before this replaces steroids/hgh as the controversial medical talking point.

it's the whole culture of sport: anything and everything to not miss the next shift, or the next game... repercussions be damned.
concussion? smelling salts to zap you back into focus
broken foot? don't take your skate off, or you'll never get it back on again. deal with it after the game
wonky knee? cortisone shots to get you through the roadtrip
chronic back pain? increasing doses of painkillers.

i don't know how quickly you can change that.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

it's the whole culture of sport: anything and everything to not miss the next shift, or the next game... repercussions be damned.
concussion? smelling salts to zap you back into focus
broken foot? don't take your skate off, or you'll never get it back on again. deal with it after the game
wonky knee? cortisone shots to get you through the roadtrip
chronic back pain? increasing doses of painkillers.

i don't know how quickly you can change that.

For as long as guys are getting paid the kind of money they're getting to play a game, it won't.

A guy gets a huge contract, so the team raises ticket prices to pay for it, so the fans are pissed if the big name player is sitting out (after all, they paid good money for tickets, merch., beer, etc.).

Add to this that the league wants its best players on the ice/field/court at all times, and you've got a formula that says playing hurt is an absolute must.

 

[sbb122]

What a sad story. My heart goes out to anyone with an addiction like that.

 

[esls79]

No wonder the Wild had such a difficult time in the past four years diagnosing concussions - their team doctor was a pill pusher. This is a huge black eye that hasn't even begun to swell or discolor yet.

I always thought he was a rockstar during his time in Minnesota, now we know he lived like one. It's just sad it had to come to this and how the team doctors were involved.

 

[wings-pens2166]

There's some pretty horrific things in that. Those doctors should all be stripped of their license. That's what MDs hate...when addicts come into the ER with complaints they know aren't real, but they can't call them out and have to prescribe. There's technology that exists which shows how many prescriptions someone has during one time. The fact that it continued after he was in rehab is disgusting.

Pix, that's just it. as sad as this situation is (and it is sad), it's not as simple as "the doctors should have known better, strip their licenses." yes, there is technology out there like prescription monitoring programs, however, many of these programs and technologies are either still in their infancy or tend to be very self-contained systems by regions, state, health systems, etc. and are faced with challenges to interoperability from different software, patient privacy rights, proprietary rights etc.

I'm not saying these doctors couldn't have done more (they certainly could have), but right now the system is set up where it is rather easy to jump from region to region, doctor to doctor to get what you want. throw in some illegal scripts, like Boogaard did, and well, all too often the sad result is what happened to him.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

The doctors should have been more attentive. However, a good deal of blame still lies with the individual. He goes out looking for the extra scripts. He takes more than he should

I am not putting all of the blame on him, but too often people want to excuse the person who ultimately started the cycle and made the final decisions.