
June 14, 2017 |
Doctors may be overprescribing opioids to women who have had cesarean sections.
Researchers tracked prescriptions and pill use in 179 women discharged from an academic medical center after cesarean delivery. On average, they left the hospital with a prescription for the equivalent of 30 pills containing 5 milligrams of oxycodone or hydrocodone. Then, using interviews, the scientists tracked how much of the medicine they used during the two weeks after discharge. The study is in Obstetrics & Gynecology.
NYTimes Well
Tags: bioethics, childbirth, harm, opioids, oversight, overtreatment, pain, pregnancy, risks, study, treatment
The views, opinions and positions expressed by these authors and blogs are theirs and do not necessarily represent that of the Bioethics Research Library and Kennedy Institute of Ethics or Georgetown University.