In the past six months, six patients with endocarditis have been admitted to Pepin Heart Hospital in Tampa, Fla., after injecting oxycodone, and four of them have died, according to a St. Petersburg Times report.
Endocarditis can eat away at the heart value, requiring major surgery, which saved the life of one of the patients.
Oxycodone comes in a time-release tablet that dissolves slowly so it can be absorbed in small amounts over time, but habitual users require higher doses, leading them to inject it. Prescription drug abuse kills an average of almost eight people a day in Florida.
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