ALERTING PARENTS OF OD'S MAY BECOME LAW

Susan Sarmiento's 20-year-old daughter was treated for a heroin
overdose in an emergency room -- then walked out of the hospital and
used heroin again.

But Sarmiento -- who had been trying to get her child help -- didn't
find out about the overdose until two weeks later, when her daughter
finally told her.

"They can't let them walk out. The next day, it could be they don't
walk out -- they are gone," Sarmiento, an Easton mother of three, said.

Now, Sarmiento and others say the laws should be changed to either
force overdose victims into treatment or at least let relatives know
they're hospitalized.

"As a parent, it sounds like common sense to me," state Rep.
Geraldine Creedon, D-Brockton said.

Psychiatric evaluations also need to be mandatory for all overdose
victims at hospitals -- and then addicts need to be committed to a
locked treatment program for at least a few days afterwards to save
their lives, several said.

"They're a danger to themselves," said Jody Price, whose 20-year-old
nephew died of a heroin overdose in 2005.

A four-day report recently by The Enterprise, called "Wasted Youth," revealed:

There were 2,897 non-fatal opiate-related overdose cases treated at
local hospitals between 2003 and 2005.

Of that number, 1,570 were treated at Brockton's two hospitals,
according to the state Department of Public Health.

Also, an examination of death certificates in 28 communities covered
by The Enterprise found that:

74 people in the area have died of opiate-related overdoses --
including heroin -- between Jan. 1, 2004, and Aug. 31, 2006.

At least a dozen deaths since then have been linked to heroin
overdoses as well.

Now, lawmakers are looking at several bills that would mandate
parental notification when a minor overdoses and lengthen the stay at
court-ordered locked treatment centers from up to 30 days to 90 days.

They are also considering drafting other bills that would force
overdose victims at hospitals into treatment through civil
commitments -- known as "Section 35s" -- as well as let their families know.

"If someone overdoses, we need to stabilize them and get them into
lockdown treatment centers," said state Sen. Steven A. Tolman,
D-Brighton, a member of the legislative Joint Committee on Mental
Health and Substance Abuse. "This is a silent epidemic that we have
to address."

State Rep. Allen McCarthy, D-East Bridgewater, said lawmakers need to
make it easier for addicts to get swift treatment -- and find ways to
help parents get their children help.

"It's amazing how quickly these parents have to act," McCarthy said.

Liisa Bennett of Taunton tried to get the court to commit her son
while he was still in the hospital after he overdosed on OxyContin
and another drug last year.

The hospital released him as she was trying to work out the court
details. "Out the door he went," she said.

Sarmiento's daughter, who is now in a treatment program, told her she
overdosed and went to a Worcester hospital -- two weeks after the
fact and before the insurance bill came.

"If they charge my insurance and she's under my insurance, someone
should call me. Even if she's an adult, I'm getting the bill," she
said. "She wasn't of sound mind to tell them who her family was."

Sarmiento said she would have taken action the day of the overdose,
if someone from the hospital had been allowed to call her. "If I had
known, I would have had her go into treatment right then," she said.

One local emergency room nurse, Lynn Oriani, said once someone is in
the emergency room for an overdose, they need to stay -- and get more
help. "They should not be allowed to leave at all," Oriani said.

But emergency room doctors say there's little they legally can do if
overdose victims over age 18 refuse treatment -- and strict privacy
rules don't allow them to notify relatives.

"We can't 'section' them, we can't lock them up, we can't do any of
these things," said Kenneth S. Lawson, chief of emergency medicine at
Brockton Hospital. "When we bring them back, they typically are awake
and alert. At that point, unfortunately, they are able to make all of
their own decisions."

Richard Herman, chief of the emergency department at Caritas Good
Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, shared that sentiment. "You
walk the tightrope between allowing a responsible, competent adult to
make bad decisions for himself," Herman said.

Kathy Snyder, whose son is now in drug treatment, said it is clear
the addicts can't make the right decision.

She said overdose victims should be considered a danger to
themselves, which is the key element in a civil commitment, where the
person is sent to a locked treatment facility.

"You end up dead and pulse-less. How much more can you be a danger to
yourself than being pulse-less?" Snyder said.