Guilford Mom Endorses 2 New Bills To Curb Opioid Epidemic

The Guilford woman whose tragic loss of her son to a drug overdose caught President Donald Trump’s attention believes two news bills allowing and/or requiring first responders to take someone to an emergency treatment facility after being given Naloxone as an overdose reversal drug is a major step forward in combatting the epidemic.

“When a person has been given Naloxone (Narcan) to reverse an opioid OD they wake up and immediately go into withdrawl,” said Sue Kruczek, of Guilford, whose son Nick died of an overdose at age 20 in 2013.

“We found after after Nick passed away that he at at Yale - revived with Naloxone and then allowed to just get up and walk out. Nobody was called or notified. He was alone, sick, and left to deal with this on his own,” Sue Kruczek said.

“Nick died of an overdose alone in his apartment later that night,” she said. “I could not wrap my brain around how that could happen. How was that ok? How is there no policy in place?

“My child who was sick, couldn’t think realistically for himself, needed help and intervention and was allowed to walk out and die. This is crazy,” Sue Kruczek said.

One of the bills introduced call for “transportation to a treatment facility which provides medical triage to a hospital after administration or an opioid antagonist.”

The bill has been introduced by Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, Michelle Cook, D-Torrington, Maria Horn, D-Salisbury, Kevin Witkos, R-Canton.

“In the four years that I have worked on this issue I have had countless first responders tell me anecdotal stories about reviving someone with Naloxone only to have that person refuse to go to the hospital and then overdosing a second or third time later in the same day,” Scanlon said.

“By requiring automatic transports, I believe we have a better shot at helping that individual attain the moment of clarity they need to decide to get help whether it’s from a physician or one of the recovery coaches we now have at many Connecticut hospitals,” Scanlon added.

The bill is here: https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGABillStatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=HB6131

The other similar bill, has been introduced by Scanlon, Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, and Noreen Kokoruda, R-Madison.

It “allows a police officer who has a reasonable cause to believe that a person who has a substance use disorder and is dangerous to himself or herself or others or gravely disabled, and in need of immediate care and treatment, to take such person into custody and take or cause such person to be taken to a general hospital for emergency examination.”

“We are by law releasing drug addicts when they are most vulnerable and need our help more than ever,” said Kokoruda. “I spoke to more than one mother that said their sons were released after being given Narcan and they were never notified when their children were in terrible withdrawal with no help available.”

Kokoruda added: “I understand that people have rights but when extremely ill people cannot help themselves we need to do something.”

That bill is here:
https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGABillStatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=HB5900

To Sue Kruczek, both bills are simple common sense and deserve bipartisan support.

“Substance use disorder is a disease. It’s time we treat it as a disease,” she said. “If I was standing on a ledge ready to jump and got talked off that ledge - I wouldn’t be allowed to walk away with a number to call if I needed further help. I would be brought somewhere and held to keep me safe.”

“Nick was robbed of the adequate care he needed and deserved,” Sue Kruczek said. “I don’t know if Nick would be here today. But I do know he shouldn’t have died that night.”

Sue Kruczek has been one of the leading advocates for new laws to battle the drug overdose epidemic in Connecticut and last year she gained national attention when she wrote a letter to Trump about her son’s death.

She made an appearance in front of millions on the nationally syndicated television show Fox & Friends, stating she was encouraged by the attention political leaders across the country were putting into fighting the drug overdose epidemic.

She received a lot of attention for a response she received, via tweed, from Trump, which said: “Thank you to Sue Kruczek, who lost her wonderful and talented son Nick to the opioid scourge, for your kind words while on Fox & Friends. We are fighting this terrible epidemic hard - Nick will not have died in vain!”