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Doctors at heart of US opioid crisis

Chicago

WHEN 55-year-old Sheila Bartels left her doctor's office in Oklahoma, she had a prescription for 510 painkillers. She died the same day of an overdose.

Her doctor, Regan Nichols, is now facing five second-degree murder charges - one for each patient who overdosed after she prescribed them opioid drugs, such as Oxycontin - prescriptions that can lead to addiction.

"Doctors bear enormous responsibility for the opioid crisis," said David Clark, a professor of anaesthesiology at Stanford University who worked on a government-sponsored panel that studied the crisis, and recommended new training and guidelines for health care providers and regulators.

"We didn't have (a crisis) until doctors became...

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