Lauren Kafka rented a machine that delivered cold water and compression to manage pain after rotator cuff surgery. Her insurance company said it wasn't medically necessary and refused to pay for it. Courtesy of Alexander C. Kafka hide caption
opioids opioids
The herbal supplement kratom is marketed as a treatment for a wide variety of health problems. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Billionaire founder of Insys Therapeutics John Kapoor leaves U.S. District Court after being arrested earlier Thursday in Phoenix. Kapoor and other defendants in the fraud and racketeering case are accused of offering bribes to doctors to write large numbers of prescriptions for a fentanyl-based pain medication meant only for cancer patients with severe pain. Ross D. Franklin/AP hide caption
Julie Eldred is back at home in Massachusetts now. But she was sentenced to a treatment program for opioid addiction as part of a probation agreement, then sent to jail when she relapsed. Some addiction specialists say that's unjust. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption
Court To Rule On Whether Relapse By An Addicted Opioid User Should Be A Crime
Third-year students at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine learn how to trim crowns and prep a tooth for a crown. They're also learning to deal with the aftereffects, studying alternatives to opioids for pain relief. Jessica Cheung/NPR hide caption
Dental Schools Add An Urgent Lesson: Think Twice About Prescribing Opioids
Nate Miller is the owner of Express Employment Professionals, a staffing agency in Muncie, Ind., that screens and places workers at local manufacturing companies. Yuki Noguchi/NPR hide caption
Opioid Crisis Looms Over Job Market, Worrying Employers And Economists
The shelter at Houston's Convention Center, seen here Aug. 29, isn't equipped to provide medication-assisted treatment for opioid abuse. AFP/Getty Images hide caption
We might all feel a lot better if we saw a view like this, from the North Shore of Oahu, every day. Vince Cavataio/Perspectives/Getty Images hide caption
Dillon Katz, at home in Delray Beach, Fla., says recovering drug users in his group counseling meetings frequently used to offer to help him get into a new treatment facility. He suspects now they were recruiters — so-called "body brokers" — who were receiving illegal kickbacks from the corrupt facility. Peter Haden/WLRN hide caption
'Body Brokers' Get Kickbacks To Lure People With Addictions To Bad Rehab
A vaccine against heroin wouldn't be like the measles vaccine that you receive once for a lifetime of immunity, say scientists working on it. Multiple shots per year would likely be required, and it would be specific to just heroin and morphine. kimberrywood/Getty Images hide caption
The HHS inspector general found that some 22,000 Medicare Part D beneficiaries seem to be doctor shopping for opioids — obtaining large amounts prescribed by four or more doctors and filled at four or more pharmacies. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
The rate of serious medication errors that occur outside of health care facilities doubled from 2000 to 2012, a new study finds. Gillian Blease/Getty Images hide caption
In a new report, the CDC says U.S. doctors are prescribing fewer opioids than they were in 2010, but that overall rates remain high. Donald Gruener/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption
