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New federal guidelines for prescribing opioid painkillers make it much less likely that emergency room doctors will dispense these medications to people who come in complaining of pain.

While emergency room doctors are not the sole cause of the opioid crisis, they are certainly working hard to fight it. In fact, one 2015 study demonstrated that the biggest decline in opioid prescriptions among specialists from 2007 to 2012 occurred among ER doctors. Emergency room doctors also express having been physically assaulted at work more recently in the last few years. One survey showed three out of five respondents reporting assaults within the last year. Additionally, seven out of ten respondents claimed ER violence has increased in the last five years. Some doctors believe opioids may be one of the causes, claiming about half of these assaults are

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How First Responders and ER Doctors Save Lives and Educate