A labor of love aimed at preventing prescription opioid-induced deaths is gaining traction. Governor Gary Herbert signed a Resolution on Tuesday nicknamed by supporters as “Parker’s Bill”. The Resolution is nicknamed after Parker Stewart, a 21-year-old Vernal man who passed away unexpectedly in his sleep just days after a tonsillectomy that he was recovering from just fine in December 2016. Officially named
SCR4: Concurrent Resolution on Deaths from Opioid-induced Postoperative Respiratory Depression
, the Resolution urges further research on the potentially fatal effects of opioid use after surgery which is what is believed to have caused Parker’s death. It also urges physicians to prescribe in-home monitoring devices for patients who are discharged with opioids after surgery. Parker’s family is grateful to have the Resolution signed. Following the signing, they made the following statement: “This will start the process of getting Doctors and Epidemiologists behind it to find more evidence and sources that indicate that this is a problem, that people are dying the way that Parker died…[We hope to] prevent lots of people from dying. This is gaining traction nationally as well as in Utah so it’s going to save many, many lives.” The Resolution was sponsored by Senator Kevin Van Tassell and Representative Scott Chew.
