Also, my friend is in the hospital and apparently will be there for a week or two. So he will leave with several hundred thousand dollars of debt, which will probably be shackled around his mom's neck.
This is a medical crisis that will never get solved because our medical system doesn't want to handle people with these addictions. No one does of course. But that's the only way to solve it in my opinion.
Sorry to hear about your friend. What was he hospitalized for? Several hundred thousand dollars is an exorbitant amount of money even with how high the cost of healthcare is in the US.
From a mutual friend, apparently the withdrawals were severe. He was actually admitted to a recovery place with his mom's help (that was $45k for a month!). Fentanyl is stored in fat cells apparently. It takes a long time to leave the system. So he was hospitalized because his potassium levels dropped to a dangerous place.
I'm not sure of the price tag. But i had another friend who was told to go to another hospital when his wife's pregnancy took a bad turn. They spent two weeks and it was several hundred thousand. The insurance said, just beg the hospital to reduce it? It was ridiculous. I'm just sure my friend won't leave with that covered. Not the hospitals responsibility for sure but it's outrageous the cost and prevents people from seeking help.
This is a medical crisis that will never get solved because our medical system doesn't want to handle people with these addictions. No one does of course. But that's the only way to solve it in my opinion.