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US Senate passes Jessie’s Law

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate passed “Jessie’s Law” Thursday, a significant step in helping doctors understand their patients’ history with opioids.

Jessie Grubb, 30, died March 2, 2016, in Michigan.

The bill, which was introduced by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., would require the federal Department of Health and Human Services to develop standards for hospitals and medical professionals, enabling them to have full knowledge of a patient’s opioid addiction following consent.

The legislation is named after Jessie Grubb, a Charleston native who had battled opioid addiction for seven years before becoming sober and moving to Michigan. She was six-months clean when she underwent surgery for a running-related injury. The discharging doctor was unaware of Grubb’s addiction and prescribed her 50 oxycodone pills. She died the following day at the age of 30.

“After learning of Jessie’s passing, I promised her father that her death would not be in vain,” Manchin said in a statement released Thursday. “Today, Jessie’s Law passed in the Senate and it is a moment I am grateful to be a part of. This legislation honors the life of Jessie, someone who was lost too soon to something that was 100 percent preventable. She should still be with us today.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., was one of the bill’s co-sponsors. She was also the leading Republican sponsor.

“The opioid epidemic touches communities across the country, and we have seen more than our fair share of its devastating consequences in West Virginia. Too many of our children have fallen victim to this national crisis, and too many of our families have suffered the pain of losing a loved one to addiction,” Capito said in a Thursday statement. “As a mother and grandmother, I can’t begin to imagine what the Grubb family has endured. Their daughter Jessie’s story is heartbreaking, but it has also inspired action.”

Grubb’s father, former West Virginia State Senator David Grubb, spoke to then-President Barack Obama about his daughter during an October 2015 summit in Charleston. Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act in December 2016, which is aimed at providing $1 billion to states to combat opioid addiction.

“I am ever so grateful for the passage of Jessie’s Law; it eases a mother’s aching heart that this law will save other lives and give meaning to Jessie’s death,” said Kate Grubb, Jessie Grubb’s mother, in a statement released by Manchin’s office.

Manchin and Capito said they would continue to work to make sure the House passes the bill that passed the Senate Thursday.

An identical version of “Jessie’s Law” was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in March. Republican Reps. Alex Mooney and Evan Jenkins are co-sponsors of the identical bill.





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