Study Looks at Prescription Drug Overdoses

Accidental deaths from prescription drugs are up, and a study in West Virginia shows some of the causes. The state had the nation’s largest increase of such deaths. The study looked at 295 accidental deaths from pain-killers in 2006. Nearly 2 out of 3 of those who died overdosed on pain-killers, but did not have a prescription. More than 1 out of 5 people who died had pain-killers prescribed by at least 5 doctors. HealthDay News wrote about the study December 9. It appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.