Dangers of painkillers

The death last week of Elliot Eurchuk, a 16-year-old student at Oak Bay High School, raises a troubling issue. The boy had been through several operations to repair sports-related injuries.

Although his parents protested, he was given opioids for pain management. They said that during a five-month period between surgeries, he turned to street drugs and died of an accidental overdose.

The question many parents would ask is why, over their objections, a 16-year-old would be prescribed such an addictive drug. The answer is that provincial legislation allows children under 19 to give their own consent in certain conditions.

The child must understand the nature of the treatment, and the risks associated with it. And the attending physician must be satisfied that the treatment is in the child’s best interest.

But can a 16-year-old boy fully grasp what the possible consequences might be in a case such as this? Kids that age believe they’re immortal. And opioids, beyond being addictive, dull the senses.

There are two sides to this debate. If a 16-year-old girl wants a prescription for birth-control pills, should her parents be allowed to stand in the way?

Which is another way of saying, there is no easy answer here. But in the midst of an overdose epidemic, there is a need for heightened precautions.

Elliot’s death is not a cause for rewriting the legislation. But it is a call to the medical community to be doubly certain a youngster understands where an opioid prescription might lead.