His story begins like many other addicts: from experiments through ruined health and finding himself on the edge of life. After years, Mr. Mateusz managed to get out of the addiction, which is called fentanyl, but adversities appeared on his path again. Since the accident in which he suffered a spinal injury, he has been fighting addiction again.
It relieves pain as quickly as it is addictive. – I feel disgust for this drug – admits Mateusz. – I feel disgust for myself – he adds after a moment. Mateusz, an ambitious boy from the countryside, went to high school in Żuromin. In the town, whose name – thanks to investigations by reporters of the program “Uwaga!” TVN – has become synonymous with fentanyl in Poland – for years everyone knew where to find a dealer.
The famous organizer of the drug trade obtained from painkiller patches with fentanyl in Żuromin was the recently arrested “Duch”. – People were excited that there was some medicine that gave a kick, after which you could feel blissful and all – says Mateusz.
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When his fentanyl-addled friends started moving to the cemetery one by one, Mateusz saw the light. He went to rehab. He started to get his life together. He has a daughter and a fiancée. He was clean and had dreams until the day of the accident in which he injured his spine. Now he is struggling with addiction again. – It was my choice then. Now I don't feel guilty – he adds.
After the accident, confined to a wheelchair by pain, he went from doctor to doctor, returning from each one with a prescription for fentanyl. An opioid that is 100 times stronger than morphine. “He was disabled because the doctors, instead of helping him, put him on these drugs, right? They really ruined his life,” says Edyta, Mateusz's fiancée.
Deadly toll of fentanyl. Fragment of “Uwaga!” TVN“Attention!” TVN
He told himself he could keep control.
Mateusz didn't say he was an addict because no one asked, and all he cared about was for the pain to stop. He convinced himself that after 10 years of rehab, he would be able to maintain control.
What kind of pain are we talking about? The doctor who, many months after the accident, referred Mateusz for tests, explains anonymously. The doctor who was the only one of many interested in why it hurt. – A prolapsed intervertebral disc, a crushed nerve root, this pain is comparable to a gunshot wound. He should have urgent imaging tests and urgent surgery – the doctor indicates.
Reporters from “Uwaga!” TVN tried to determine why doctors prescribed fentanyl to Mateusz so thoughtlessly, when there has been so much talk for months about how careful one should be with this drug.
– None of the doctors agreed to talk on camera. They claimed medical confidentiality and referred us to spokesmen, who in turn did not want to provide information – says Joanna Pęcherska-Fiałek, documentary filmmaker of the TVN program “Uwaga!”.
Mateusz's family has hired a law firm that will fight for compensation for him. – First, we will refer the case to the insurer of the facility where he was treated, we will also submit a motion to the Patient Rights Ombudsman to initiate explanatory proceedings in his case – announces Joanna Lazer, attorney.
Mateusz is waiting for a date for spinal surgery and every day he tries to beat the pain on a reduced dose of fentanyl. – I stopped loving myself. If a person wakes up in the morning and is not happy that a smiling daughter, fiancée, whom I love very much, will come running to him. I simply cannot cope – he admits.
Main image source: “Attention!” TVN