On December 4th, 2016, Parker Stewart, a healthy 21-year-old Vernal man, passed away unexpectedly in his sleep. He had had a tonsillectomy just days before but was recovering well and his death came as a shock to not only his family but the Doctor who had performed the surgery. How could this happen and why? In the year since, the quest to answer those questions has led to an awareness campaign, an official statewide Resolution, and a push for more research on the potentially fatal impact of used-as-directed prescribed opioids. Since Parker Stewart’s death, Dr. Michael Catten, the ear, nose, and throat specialist at Uintah Basin Medical Center and Ashley Regional Medical Center, sends his patients home with a device to track their oxygen levels if they will be taking prescribed opioids for pain management. He, along with other medical professionals, have found a correlation between patients using the prescribed pain medication and experiencing dangerously low oxygen levels while recovering from surgery, the same condition that is believed to have killed Parker Stewart. “I want local people to become aware of the dangers of narcotics even when they are prescribed at ‘correct doses’,” shares Dr. Catten. “Many people are aware of the addiction risk but not many realize that many people die every year from the narcotic side effect of respiratory depression. Those patients die doing exactly what the doctor told them to do.” Dr. Catten urges the public to be wary of taking narcotics in all situations and if using a prescribed narcotic is elected, patients should insist on being monitored by a pulse-oximeter machine while they sleep. The practice, Dr. Catten says, will save lives.
Parker and Madi Stewart
Parker Stewart
