On a December night in 2023 Providence Milwaukie Hospital discharged 26-year-old Jean Descamps from its emergency department after staff treated him with naloxone; bodycam video shows staff calling police to remove him and later describing his condition as malingering, and Descamps died shortly after of drugs already in his system. Providence declined NPR interview and later issued a statement saying the care was inadequate and the hospital fell short. NPR’s reporting, based on interviews with more than a dozen doctors, scientists, federal officials and addiction activists plus research and government data, shows that this case reflects a national pattern in which clinicians routinely withhold proven medications for substance use disorders. The story names naltrexone, methadone and buprenorphine as safe, effective treatments that are underused; studies cited by NPR estimate wider access to medications for opioid use disorder could reduce overdoses by about 60 percent, and some studies show reductions up to 80 percent. The American Medical Association and other experts NPR interviewed identify stigma and deep-rooted bias among doctors and nurses as a major barrier to offering these treatments. NPR ties the withholding of evidence-based medications to preventable deaths and says the gap between available treatments and clinical practice leaves patients at higher overdose risk.
