Deep-seated bias against people with addiction within the American healthcare system is contributing directly to preventable overdose deaths, according to an NPR investigation. The report centres on the case of 26-year-old Jean Descamps, who died from an overdose in December 2023 shortly after being discharged from Providence Milwaukie Hospital in Oregon, where staff had dismissed his severe withdrawal symptoms as "malingering" and pressed police to remove him without ever conducting a toxicology test. Police at the scene objected, warning that he could not be left on his own, but hospital staff proceeded regardless — an episode experts say reflects a wider pattern of clinicians treating addiction patients with a dismissiveness not tolerated for other conditions.

The scale of the problem is stark: more than 40 million Americans live with addiction, yet over 80% who need treatment receive none, and alcohol- and drug-related disorders kill more than 250,000 people a year, with two-thirds of overdose deaths judged to have involved a missed opportunity for intervention. Proven medications such as methadone and buprenorphine can cut overdose risk by 60-80%, but most doctors still don't prescribe them even after Congress eased restrictions in 2022, while only one in five physicians express interest in treating opioid addiction and 43% of healthcare professionals wrongly believe such medications simply "substitute one drug for another." Experts attribute this to a legacy of the drug war framing addiction as criminal rather than medical, compounded by gaps in medical and nursing school training. Providence Milwaukie Hospital faced no disciplinary action after Descamps' death and, per a follow-up investigation, continued discharging vulnerable patients unsafely, saying it lacked the "capabilities nor resources" to manage patients after discharge.