In my talks on ethics to the healthcare community, I often bring up an organization by the name of Purdue Pharmaceuticals. If you are unfamiliar with the company or its marketing tactics, here is the latest link to their legal issues to get you started on your research. I don’t quite know how many lives the opioid manufacturer destroyed, of both victims and families.
So, I am not accused of bias, let me interject that Purdue was hardly alone in creating the opioid mess; additional manufacturers, healthcare clinics, healthcare providers and crooked pharmacies all had a hand in the opioid mess.
If your town or city has sprouted “homeless camps,” rest assured some of those tents contain men and women whose only thought are opioids.
Not Much of a Leap
I am thinking a lot about opioids as I write this post, as a drug scandal has again surfaced, and rocked the world of professional sports. At the outset, let me state that the “leap” from a homeless camp opioid addict to Major League Baseball can be measured in inches. Other than money and the perception of respectability, there is little difference. And, those who deal, are every bit as despicable.
Now we fast forward to the latest ESPN article (February 16, 2022) on the trial against Eric Kay, a front-office worker, an unethical nobody, for the Los Angeles Angels.
Eric Kay is a clean-cut looking kind of guy who could fit in with most any office in America, and therein lies the problem. He is a dealer and he is facing drug distribution and drug conspiracy charges.
The trial focuses on Kay and whether the pills he provided, killed Angel’s player Tyler Skaggs. As the investigation has expanded, four additional athletes who played for the Angels during that time period have all admitted to taking opioids provided by Kay through Skaggs.
According to the article, the players admitted: “that the use of oxycodone and over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol was common in the big leagues.”
As the prosecution further hammered away, the powerful testimony of Dr. Stacey Hail, an emergency medical physician, “bolstered the government’s accusation that the fentanyl Skaggs snorted is what killed him, a key point the government must prove.”
The other players who testified, claimed different levels of opioid abuse, from one not liking the way it made him feel to those who admitted to much longer-term addictions. The common element was Kay. Kay, the PR guy who traveled with the team on their away games, was himself addicted and had to go into rehab.
While what has not yet been proven, that Kay “was the only one who could have provided the drugs that led to Skaggs’ death.”, and that the drugs were delivered after the team arrived in Texas. The defense counters that Skaggs had multiple suppliers, and that the last drugs Kay gave him were delivered before the team left.”
This, of course, leads to even larger questions; for example, just how widespread is opioid abuse in MLB? How many Eric Kay’s are connected with the league, either within organizations or a text away?
And the Ethics?
The biggest resistance to ethical training and counseling (both collegiate and the pros), is the simple refrain of “we do that stuff in house.” In this case, and in many, many more, they think their programs are working, but it is obvious that they aren’t.
In conversation with one of Skaggs’ teammates, the question was asked if anyone was looking out for him, if anyone warned him to stop his opioid and alcohol abuse. The teammate said he regretted it, but neither he nor anyone else reached out to Skaggs. And that sums it all up in a sentence.
There was no ethical culture on the Angels, and chances are, the lack of such culture is a system-wide problem throughout the league. One player may have died because of it.x
