MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marilyn M. Heng, MD, MPH, FRCSC Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeon Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery Harvard Medical School  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: The ultimate background for this study does come from the larger context of the opioid epidemic that is seen worldwide but particularly in North America. Orthopaedic surgeons should take responsibility as being among the top prescribers of opioids. The more specific background that led to this specific study was the observation that several colleagues would insist that a drug like hydromorphone was so dangerous that they would not prescribe it but seemed okay prescribing large amounts of oxycodone.  It seemed like an urban myth that the type of opioid was what made it dangerous, so that led us to do the study to see if there was evidence for that.  (more…)