Physician anesthesiologist Bonnie Milas, M.D., experienced firsthand the power of naloxone – a drug that reverses opioid overdose – having used it to save her son when she found him unresponsive on the kitchen floor.
With drug overdose deaths hitting a tragic record high in 2021, she knows that anyone could find themselves in her shoes, often without access to naloxone. Although she ultimately lost both of her sons to drug overdoses, she was grateful naloxone gave them additional chances to heal from their addiction.
Dr. Milas, a clinical professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ (ASA) Committee on Trauma and Emergency Preparedness, is committed to reducing the stigma associated with opioid use disorder, saving lives from opioid overdoses with easy access to naloxone, and working to ensure others don’t experience her devastating loss.
Both Dr. Milas and ASA support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel’s recommendation to make naloxone available over the counter and are crusading to ensure that it receives full FDA approval. She and Michael W. Champeau, MD, FAAP, FASA, president of ASA, are available to talk about the importance of easy naloxone access, how to identify and respond to an opioid overdose, ASA’s REVIVEme initiative, and how physician anesthesiologists have a critical role in the fight against opioid overdoses.
