Hey I'm Rita Kim.
大家好,我是丽塔·金。
My doctor ruined my life.
我的医生毁了我的生活。
Five years ago I had a headache .
五年前,我患上了头痛。
My doctor prescribed Norco.
医生给我开了诺科。
Those pills helped.
那些药片缓解了我的疼痛。
But that was when the nightmare started.
但也正是从那时起,我的噩梦开始 了。
At first, one pill was enough to kill the pain.
起初,一片药就能镇痛。
Those tablets made me feel pleasant.
药片使我感到舒适愉快。
Every time I needed to relax, I could easily get the pills from my doctor.
每次需要放松的时候,我都能毫不费力地从医生那里得到药片。
After all, they are for “legitimate” medical use.
毕竟,它们具有“正当”的医疗用途。
Soon I got addicted.
很快,我就对这个药上瘾了。
I had to take twice the recommended dose to stay calm.
我必须服用两倍推荐剂量才能保持镇静。
This went on for about three years.
这种情况持续了大约三年。
Then I found the doctor's “help” wasn't sufficient.
后来我发现医生的“帮助”不管用了。
I turned to drug dealers.
于是我找上了毒贩子。
Heroin became my only source of happiness.
海洛因成了我唯一的快乐源泉。
Now I'm in rehab.
现在,我在戒毒所。
Most of my savings were wiped out to pay for addiction treatment.
我的大部分积蓄都花在了戒毒治疗上。
Many of my neighbors had the same experience.
我的很多领居也有同样的经历。
Our community Staten Island has less than 500000 people.
在我所在的纽约斯塔滕岛,人口不到59万。
But there's one overdose death every five days.
但每五天就有一个人因毒品吸食过量死亡。
People here are getting used to these deaths.
这里的人已经习惯了这种死亡。
Police carry naloxone to save us from overdoses.
警察也随身携带纳洛酮治疗过量用药的人。
Rehab is big business in America.
戒毒康复在美国是一门大生意。
My doctor and many of his colleagues are paid to prescribe opioid painkillers.
我的医生和许多他的同事开阿片类镇痛药能拿到提成。
The more opioids they prescribe, the more manufacturers pay them.
他们开的这类药越多,制药商给他们的钱就越多。
The payout sometimes runs into six figures.
提成有时高达六位数。
These doctors have another job-distributing rehab leaflets to patients.
这些医生还有另一项工作——给染上毒瘾的人发康复传单。
After all, we are potential customers for rehab.
毕竟,我们是戒毒所的潜在客户。
Overuse of “legitimate” sedatives make us easily addicted to drugs.
过量服用“正当用途”的镇静剂让我们很容易对药物上瘾。
And don't forget the insurance companies.
别忘了保险公司,
They profit from lobbying doctors to prescribe medicines not covered by the insurance.
它们通过游说医生开医保不予报销的药来获利。
All these stakeholders have a finger in this sprawling pie.
所有这些利益相关者都在分这块不断变大的蛋糕。
And the US public is paying the price.
而美国公众正在付出代价。
The rehab industry in America has grown 1.7 percent per year between 2018 and 2023.
2018年至2023年,美国康复行业每年增长1.7%。
Revenues are predicted to reach 53 billion dollars in 2025..
2025年该行业收入预计将达到530亿美元。
American presidents vowed to expand national health services.
美国历届总统都承诺要扩大国家医疗服务。
But the current system is becoming the most profitable industry in America.
但目前的医疗体系正在成为美国最赚钱的行业。
And we the public are the victims.
而我们公众是受害者。
We went to the doctor to cure our diseases and save our lives.
我们去找医生看病,是为了治病救命,
But we ended up paying with our health and and sometimes our lives, to feed the medical industrial complex.
到最终我们却要用自己的健康,有时甚至是生命,来供养医疗产业。