Sky News Australia PAINkillers special investigation – Sky News Australia has announced it will premiere an exclusive investigation PAINkillers – Australia’s Deadly Epidemic on Thursday 8 February at 8.30pm AEDT.
Hosted by Investigations Reporter Taylor Auerbach, the half-hour special examines the silent epidemic of fatal prescription drug overdoses that has now reached crisis levels across the country.
Shocking new evidence uncovered by Sky News Australia reveals an alarming surge in the number of healthcare professionals caught wrongly prescribing potentially deadly drugs, often sidestepping state laws to issue scripts.
The investigations team travelled the country speaking to doctors, experts, addicts, and devastated families of overdose victims, amid claims the Federal Government is falling behind in addressing the national drug crisis.
During the investigation, the team confront a chemist who was stripped of his licence for just six months by regulators after he was found to be supplying underworld crime figures with tens of thousands of pills of dangerous painkillers.
Our cameras are there as our reporter questions a doctor over the 2021 death of his patient, who overdosed on opioids prescribed to him by the doctor and his colleagues for years, despite them knowing he was addicted. The father leaves behind three young children who will never know him.
Taylor Auerbach said:
“Australian medicine needs more than a check-up, it needs a Royal Commission. My grandfather was a doctor, my grandmother, a dental nurse. I grew up around stethoscopes and prescription pads. But what I’ve discovered about the health system during this investigation has devastated me.”
Media Release – Sky News Australia
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Sky News Australia PAINkillers special investigation
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