‘It’s a life or death moment’ | Bristol doctor, nurse describe fentanyl OD patients

BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) — When it comes to fentanyl overdoses, Dr. James Kneff, a doctor in the emergency department of Bristol Regional Medical Center (BRMC), said medical staff have only minutes to save a life.

“So typically, these patients come in blue. Literally, their skin will be blue [which] is what we call cyanotic,” Kneff said. “Their lips will be blue, their fingernail beds will be blue. They’re not breathing, or they don’t have those respiratory drives and they’re just kind of unresponsive, not breathing.”

The crews in the ER have less than five minutes to get the patient into the trauma room, administer oxygen, begin an IV and begin Naloxone treatment, according to BRMC nurse Angela Bennett. She described those cases as all-hands-on-deck moments in the ER.

“So the impact on our resources at a local level is tremendous because we have to stop and we have to emergently manage these patients because it’s a life or death moment for them,” said Bennett.

The problem of fentanyl overdoses has been steadily increasing in our region since before 2020 when there was a significant spike.

According to data from the Tennessee Department of Health from 2019 to 2022, annual fentanyl overdose deaths skyrocketed in Northeast Tennessee, increasing 548%. Statewide deaths rose 158% during that same time. The nonfatal overdose rate reported by hospitals rose 76% during those years.

Bennett said it is tough when despite her team’s best efforts, she sees a family lose a loved one to an overdose in the ER.

“You see the impact,” she said. “You see the impact on the families when we cannot revive these patients. They’re in these trauma rooms crying for their loved ones and want to somehow make it right, and the damage has been done.”

Kneff has a warning for families.

“If you don’t know where it came from, you don’t know what it is,” Kneff said. “Unless you’re getting a prescription pill from a pharmacy, you have no idea what could be in that. So any ‘the first time’ could be your last time.”

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