Meet CSI:OPIOIDs Team Member, Jim Elliott!

I’m Jim Elliott. I am an attorney practicing local government law in Georgia; this has been my career for over 40 years. More importantly, I am the brother and brother-in-law of Danny and Gretchen Elliott. My brother, after a 30+ year struggle with pain stemming from an electrical accident, died by suicide after having lost a series of doctors after their arrests and/or license suspensions by the federal government. Sadly, his wife took the same path, having been exhausted by her husband’s long struggle to receive and keep medications he needed. I’m appreciative of the opportunity to participate in this study to honor their memory and hopefully help others in similar situations to avoid their tragic fate. 

I know that individually, it would be impossible for me to garner the attention necessary to expose the overreach of government into medical practices, which causes financial loss to physicians but leaves their patient’s life broken. This study will hopefully provide the opportunity to provide wide-spread exposure of the issue to the public at large and, more importantly, elected officials who have the power to mandate changes. 

During the initial phase of the study, I have had the chance to hear stories similar to my brother’s; I was not surprised that others had suffered similar consequences but am thankful to make connections with loved ones and friends who have endured what our family has. 

As this study proceeds, I simply want the relevant federal agencies to recognize that hard and fast rules and regulations don’t fit every situation. Pain patients are not addicts; they need medications to have some semblance of a normal life. They, and in turn, their physicians, are the victims when bureaucrats create red lines that ignore the fervent needs of many, often with disastrous results. 

Meet CSI:OPIOIDs Team Member, Carla Stumpf Patton!

Hi, Carla! Tell us about yourself!

 I’m Dr. Carla Stumpf Patton, VP of Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention at Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

What is your professional background or personal connection to this work. Why are you interested in this study? 

By trade, I am a mental health clinician focusing in the areas of suicide, trauma, and bereavement; I am dedicated to this work due to my personal experiences from being a long-term, military suicide loss survivor, which is why I do the work I do. I am interested in this study as it will help identify how effective and safe pain management treatment plans before an emotional or suicide crisis occurs, can contribute to future prevention efforts.

What ideas do you have that might help us think about suicide and how to prevent it? Is there a special resource or place to learn more about these ideas? 

Studies such as this are illuminating the issue of suicide and opening up opportunities for conversations that have historically been surrounded by silence and stigma. For those who have been personally impacted by suicide, this also offers an opportunity for individuals to courageously share their own experiences—or that of their loved ones—where we can learn more as how to reduce suicide risk by improving delivery of care, medical services, and safer treatment options. 

What do you think people in our society might need to learn at this time about pain and its care? 

It is important for society to recognize that suicide is complex and often results from many contributing factors—both physical and psychological. Issues such as chronic pain are among the significant risk factors, especially when individuals coping with debilitating, enduring pain may not see effective solutions.  By proactively addressing the area of effective and safe pain management, it can be a key area to reduce suicide risk, as it offers hopeful, solution-focused strategies that help to either safely manage or mitigate symptoms of pain. 

March CSI:OPIOIDs Newsletter

A note from Principal Investigator, Dr. Stefan Kertesz:

This newsletter is particularly special so I hope you will give it a read and forward/share it far and wide. I have posted a short piece about Cy, who leads our UAB-affiliated recruitment team, along with our shared commitment to continuing recruitment for the CSI:OPIOIDs study, despite the barriers. As I have worked with Cy, I have come to admire her more deeply.

There is a new website to donate to support the university-affiliated research team. https://go.uab.edu/csisupport 

Please enjoy our newsletter, and share it. 

Stefan Kertesz, MD, MSc

New podcast explores Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and “Policing Patients”

The CSI:OPIOIDs lead investigator, Dr. Stefan Kertesz released a podcast episode that asks how prescription drug monitoring programs affect the physician-patient relationship. The episode features an interview with Professor Liz Chiarello (Saint Louis University) about her 2024 book “Policing Patients: Treatment and Surveillance on the Frontlines of the Opioid Crisis”. 

The podcast series, “On Becoming a Healer” is available on every podcast streaming service, including Youtube at this link.

CSI:OPIOIDs Newsletter: Special Edition

Our research team continues its work to learn how best to prevent suicides of Veterans and non-Veterans with pain. People have asked how they can support the work. We answer that with the story of “Cy”, an amazing recruitment leader, in our latest newsletter from the CSI:OPIOIDs study team.

For people who are new to us, we interview people who have lost someone with pain to suicide after medication changes, to learn and then teach the lessons required to prevent the next tragedy. There is compensation for folks we interview. You may enter the eligibility survey here.

To do the work, we draw on the expertise of our university partners, through 2 contracts. Due to important recent events, both contracts are selected for termination.

There are ways to support the recruitment team, led by the amazing Cy. Donations received will not go to our VA team, just to Cy’s team at University of Alabama at Birmingham. Read about it here (and please share)

Please write to us at csiopioids@uabmc.edu with any questions or if you wish to be added to our Newsletter mailing list.

An Update on the CSI:OPIOIDs Study from Dr. Stefan Kertesz

Here’s a very brief video update about the CSI:OPIOIDs study, which aims to understand suicides occurring in chronic pain. A few important points:

  • We have changed details to mask identities
  • We know the situation some with chronic pain face now seems hopeless. Please know this: many of us on the team are working hard to try make the situation better
  • If you are aware of suicide loss survivors, please share word of this study!

For people in crisis, we want to make people aware of the resources we know about:

  • In the USA, the 988 Lifeline (text or phone)
  • Worldwide, the Reddit r/SuicideWatch “wiki” has a global directory of resources.

Join Us as Dr. Kertesz speaks at the TAPS Institute Webinar: Suicide Loss Survivor Experiences – Contributing to Suicide Prevention Research Opportunities

Please join us this Tuesday 9/24/24 12 noon EDT at the TAPS Institute for Hope and Healing Webinar: “Suicide Loss Survivor Experiences: Contributing to Suicide Prevention Opportunities”.

Our CSI-OPIOIDs team is honored to co-present with “Operation Deep Dive” from America’s Warrior Partnership on how our research projects parter with suicide loss survivors to advance suicide prevention.

We are both presenting through the good will of an amazing organization: Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) Institute for Hope and Healing, a leader in training and education for bereavement professionals, bereaved individuals, and grieving military, veteran and civilian families.

It’s public. Register to join online here!

Meet CSI:OPIOIDs Team Member, Mark Flower!

“For a better way of saying it, I give a sh*t. Because it’s about helping people”

Hello Mark, tell us about yourself!

I am Mark Flower. I work with the CSI:OPIOIDs study as an advisor who represents Veterans and people with addiction history.

What is your professional background or personal connection to this work. Why are you interested in this study?

I am a Veteran in recovery. I’ve unfortunately lost too many people I know to the journey of addiction and related issues. Also, suicide is a big part of it. I’ve known too many people in my life who have died by suicide and it shouldn’t have to be that way. Whenever I can work on a project to try to reduce that it’s always good. 

What difference do you hope this work will make to others?

I’m hoping that the work we are doing will allow for more awareness in the community. Finding an alternative to the opioids might be very important. My hope is, out of this project, that we can instill that people will have to help with that process. And also, for family members… it’s a thing, that the more they are aware of it the more they can probably become helpful in the process of possibly preventing a suicide. 

What has been the most interesting/surprising/meaningful thing about doing this work, so far?  

For me, the cool thing was, and I guess surprising, is the conundrum of how we used to deal with pain through opioids. And it has finally come to a point where opioids aren’t necessarily the best way to deal with pain, even though in some cases it may be necessary. It’s not surprising that it was a problem, but that we are finally looking at that. 

What ideas do you have that might help us think about suicide and how to prevent it? Is there a special resource or place to learn more about these ideas?

To me personally, I think a more whole-health approach to the suicide prevention is actually a good thing. Some of the folks that I have lost, it wasn’t really the mental health issue that triggered something. IT was more of an outside thing that triggered it. Like say they are in a financial crisis all of a sudden. Or say a divorce is starting to go down. And to me that’s part of the whole health part. And once we are in crisis, that also starts triggering the mental health side of that journey.

What do you think we need to know about Veterans and suicide risk? 

Well I’m a Veteran and I want to share three things.

One is I’m trained to fix things, whatever that is, whatever the mission may be.

Two is I’m trained to be stubborn.

Three is I’m trained to think about everybody else and not myself. And in some ways that gets in the way of taking care of myself. 

What do you think people in our society might need to learn at this time about pain and its care? 

That’s a complicated question for me, because pain is real even if it may not be. When we kind of get used to the pain, it never really goes away, kind of like that phantom pain where it’s always hurting. I’m not saying to minimize that, but pain is still real. And if I was going to instill something in folks, pain is real in the individual. And even though opioids, in specific may be very appropriate, but as a solution it hurts people. 

For a better way of saying it, I give a sh*t. That’s kind of why I do what I do. Because it’s really about helping people.