Briana Heaney Published

More Calls To Poison Control Are Ending Up Deadly

A doctor is seen visiting the bedside of a patient.
Compassionate language plays a crucial part in discussing the drug epidemic. This language is also medically accurate, as clinicians' diagnostic manuals have changed.
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Calls to poison control centers are more often resulting in hospitalizations and death according to a new study by the University of Virginia. 

The study has found that poison control centers are fielding more calls for severe poisoning over the last couple decades. 

The number of calls about intentional exposures –- like suicide attempts and consumption of both legal and illegal drugs – that resulted in death is up nearly 250 percent for adults. For children, deaths associated with intentional exposures are up around 75 percent. 

Researchers say a combination of a mental health crisis and the opioid epidemic are major drivers of the increased number of deaths following a call to poison control.