Bipartisan pair of senators reintroduce bill to expand fentanyl testing in hospitals
The bill from Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., is called “Tyler’s Law,” named after a California teenager who died following a fentanyl overdose.
WASHINGTON — Nearly seven years after Tyler Shamash, a 19-year-old from California, died following a fentanyl overdose, a bill that his mother says could have prevented his death is getting renewed focus nearly 3,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.
Shamash overdosed a few days before he died while he was living at a sober living house in 2018. His mom, Juli Shamash, was told he tested negative for drugs because the five-panel tox screen doesn’t test for fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.
“Had we known, we could have sent him to a place with a higher level of care, instead of the sober living home where he died,” Juli Shamash said in a statement.
She said she believes the doctor didn’t know that fentanyl isn’t included in the standard test run in emergency rooms across the country, which tests for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, PCP and natural and semisynthetic opioids, but not synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., on Tuesday reintroduced the bill, called “Tyler’s Law,” that would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to provide hospitals with guidance on implementing fentanyl testing in routine ER drug screens, according to a news release first shared with NBC News.
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