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Family in Maryland pushes for law on fentanyl testing in hospitals

Many hospitals don't test for the deadly opioid when doing a toxicology screening.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland family has transformed their grief into action following the death of their 31-year-old son in 2022. 

Josh Siems grew up in Baltimore, but was living in the NoMa neighborhood of D.C. when he ingested a deadly dose of fentanyl on his birthday. He was admitted into the ICU of an area hospital but died from an overdose.

Siems had struggled with substance use for years. When summoned to the hospital, Siems' family and partner Melanie Yates knew that fentanyl was the prime suspect in his death.

State records show that from October 2020 through October of 2022 there were more than 5,300 fentanyl-related overdose deaths in Maryland.

Fentanyl did not show up on Siems' medical chart or report. Depending on what hospital you visit, some aren't testing for fentanyl as part of a normal toxicology screening. That's leading to some unintended consequences, not only in Maryland, but across the country.

Josh's father Bob Siems joined us in the WUSA9 studio Thursday night along with Josh's partner Melanie Yates and Maryland State Delegate Joe Vogel (D-Gaithersburg/ Rockville).

Together, they're pushing a bill in Annapolis that would mandate hospitals in the state add fentanyl to the list of drugs to search for in a toxicology screening. It would cost an additional $0.75 per test.  

The family joined Delegate Vogel in Annapolis earlier Thursday to visit other lawmakers and earn their support for the legislation. 

Governor Wes Moore today announced his support for the bill. 

A representative from the Maryland Hospital Association wrote a letter to state lawmakers to explain their thoughts on the bill saying in part, "in general we do not believe clinical practice should be legislated." 

The MHA neither supports the legislation or is opposed to it.  

Caregivers in Maryland’s hospitals and health systems work every day to reduce overdoses in their communities by providing substance use screening to patients, increasing access to naloxone to treat overdoses in the emergency department, and using peer recovery counselors to connect patients to outpatient services when needed.

"Many Maryland hospitals also already include fentanyl screening as part of regular toxicology urinalysis done with patient consent," said MHA Vice President Erin Dorrien in a statement to WUSA9.

Delegate Vogel's bill is modeled after similar legislation that passed in California in 2022. "Tyler's Law" is named for a 19-year-old man who visited a hospital with stomach pains and was assured there were no dangerous drugs in his system after he passed a toxicology test. He died a short time later. 

Having an accurate system to count and track fentanyl overdose and death cases is one of the major drivers behind this bill. Delegate Vogel believes the number of fentanyl-related cases in Maryland could be significantly under reported.  

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