There is no greater pain a parent can face than the loss of a child. If that loss was preventable, how much more burdensome must the anguish be?
Charleston resident David Grubb shared his pain with the state, with his senators and with President Barack Obama when the latter visited the Mountain State in 2015 to kick-start an initiative to end the drug epidemic.
Grubb’s daughter, Jessie, battled drug addiction for seven years, but had at long last turned her life around, had gotten clean and was rebuilding her life in Michigan.
A runner, Jessie injured her knee training for a marathon and had to undergo surgery. Her parents traveled to Michigan to tell doctors and hospital personnel that she was a recovering addict and shouldn’t be given opioid painkillers.
A different doctor prepared Jessie’s discharge from the hospital, and he sent her home with a bottle of 50 oxycodone pills. The next day, she was dead of an overdose.
In the aftermath of Grubb’s telling of his story, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito introduced Jessie’s Law in the United States Senate on April 27, 2016. The bill would provide that past opioid addiction should be displayed in a patient’s record in a similar manner to “other potentially lethal medical concerns,” such as drug allergies.
At a press conference announcing Jessie’s Law, her father said, “I’m hoping Jessie’s life can have meaning. I hope this legislation can save lives in the future.”
As seems to be typical with important legislation such as this, the bill languished. According to congress.gov, the bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. It was also introduced in the House of Representatives and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which subsequently referred it to the Subcommittee on Health.
And that was all.
Until this week.
Manchin and Capito reintroduced the legislation, which will help prevent tragic events like Grubb’s death by enabling physicians and medical professionals to consider a patient’s addiction when determining appropriate medical care.
“After learning of Jessie’s passing, I promised her father that her death would not be in vain,” Manchin said. “... I am re-introducing ‘Jessie’s Law’ to make good on that promise and to do all that I can to prevent parents around our country from experiencing the grief that Jessie’s parents feel.”
Manchin called her death “100 percent preventable” and said he will not give up until the law is passed.
Capito said West Virginians have lost too many loved ones to the scourge of addiction. “That’s why I am joining again with my Senate colleagues to reintroduce Jessie’s Law in the hopes that Jessie’s story can help save lives and make a difference as we continue fighting the drug epidemic.”
We are grateful that our state’s senators are again taking on this bipartisan effort to make just this one thing happen to put a barricade in front of the overdose tsunami.
Our prayer is that Manchin and Capito can impress upon their Senate colleagues how important Jessie’s Law can be as a deterrent to further opioid deaths.
Our wish is that for this one time, lawmakers put their party affiliation on hold and embrace the Manchin-Capito cause.
Addiction pays no heed to party affiliation, to the rich, the poor, the employed, the unemployed. It has no prejudice.
Let our senators, and the House of Representatives when its chance comes, show their extreme prejudice against addiction and pass this one law that could save so many lives.