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From pain killer to killer: Opioid epidemic blamed for rising overdose cases
Cases at Northeast Georgia Medical Center topped 700 in 2016
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Angela Gary, left, the Northeast Georgia Health System executive director of Emergency Services, and Leah Wallace have seen plenty of opioid overdoses come through the emergency room. In a year’s time, the medical center had more than 400 more overdose cases.
In Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s Gainesville emergency room, the doctors saw roughly 400 more drug overdoses between 2015 and 2016. For Angela Gary, executive director of emergency services, there’s no rhyme or reason to explain the jump in the number of patients. “In all three of the emergency departments that I’m in contact with, it’s kind of all over the place on who it is, the age of them and what they’re overdosing from,” she said.