Dr. Drew Discusses Jeff Conaway's Death (VIDEO)

Dr. Drew Pinsky spoke Friday on his HLN show 'Dr. Drew' about the death of 'Grease' star Jeff Conaway. Pinsky treated Conaway on the VH1 show 'Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.'

"Jeff was a severe, severe opiate addict with chronic pain, one of the most serious and dangerous combination of problems you could possibly interact with, and one I see all the time," said Pinsky. He continued, "and we live in a time when opioids and opiate pain medication is so available and so readily passed out that for somebody like Jeff, who was a severe drug addict, he never seemed to be able to get away from it. The pain seemed to keep motivating him back to the opiates and I told him for years that it was going to kill him."

Mike Catherwood, Pinsky's 'Loveline' co-host, also appeared on the program and contributed his own thoughts on the subject of addiction. Catherwood described "pill-popping" as "an American plague."

Pinsky explained, "I just want people to remember opiate addiction is a deadly disease. It kills people all the time. We are dealing with a fatal illness, more likely to kill you than the vast, vast, vast majority of cancers. That is the fact, and I have lost a patient today. And frankly I'm sick of it, I'm tired of it, it makes me angry almost more than anything else."

WATCH (via CNN):

Comments

[JJunigMDPhD]

08:33 PM on 05/30/2011

Dr. Drew has always taken a position against long-term use of buprenorphine-- a position that has undoubtedly led to many deaths, including deaths of people less famous than his celebrity 'clients.' There IS a way to treat chronic pain iin people requiring opioids, utilizing buprenorphine along with agonists in a way that greatly increases the therapeutic index-- i.e. greatly lowering the risk of overdose.

While all of the literature supports the use of buprenorphine as a chronic treatment for a chronic disease of addiction, Dr. Drew continues to spew misinformation-- and climb the career ladder. Congrats, Dr. Drew; RIP, Mr. Conaway. If only you had found a doctor who spent more time reading the scientific literature than people magazine!

[brt929]

07:57 PM on 05/29/2011

I have never watched this man, so I don't really know much about him, but I find it unsettling that he finds the need to make these kinds of remarks about an ex-patient. What ever happened to patient privilege? Frankly, this man is an egotist.

[PsychBuilder]

07:37 PM on 05/29/2011

Did Dr. Drew just violate a patient's confidentiality in this piece?

"Jeff was a severe opiate addict with chronic pain."

"Jeff was a severe drug addict." He went into pneumonia, then septic shock.

I think that, without a specific release, Dr. Drew is not demonstrating ethical behavior.

[UrbanAddictiondotcom]

03:22 PM on 05/29/2011

So many people don't understand that addiction is a disease not a moral judgement. Good people can become addicts. I appreciate Dr. Drew and the light his program shines on "the disease of our lifetime" as he puts it. Thank you Dr. Drew for carrying the message of recovery with your TV programs and giving so many people hope.

[tizzylish]

03:09 PM on 05/29/2011

I loved Jeff in TAXI and of course, GREASE. My heart goes out to his loved ones.

[Marc NL]

02:12 PM on 05/29/2011

This fascination that people have with "reality T.V" is a disease and addiction all by it self.
Maybe the next big show can be people watching themselves on T.V.

[MrsPeel]

10:20 AM on 05/30/2011

Bin Laden had a jump on that idea!

[Marc NL]

11:35 AM on 05/30/2011

You must like a lot of Drama...

[Luna4182]

11:03 AM on 05/29/2011

Also the point of the show is to help people understand addiction. That it is a disease. It was misunderstood in medicene years ago,like ALOT of so called treatments,diagnosis. Addiction does not discriminate,at all. It affects rich,poor,smart,talented,ignorant, EVERYONE. And maybe, someone watching the show sees a rich,famous person going through exactly what they are,they might be open to help. Or to help a family member understand. Whatever the case. We are all human, make mistakes. We are always learning new things everyday

[Luna4182]

10:24 AM on 05/29/2011

I think Dr. Drew truly does care.He might be is/was doing too much at once,Celebrity Rehab,Sober House,Rehab for Sex Addicts.I DON'T know how that works,but he was treating seasons at the same time,then I see he has another show on HLN,radio,etc

[me817]

08:46 AM on 05/29/2011

Why is there so much attention to the overdue death of a part time actor, who died of drug and alcohol abuse, an abuse that went on for 40 years. I'm astonished he lived to see age 60.

My sympthy is to those who die every day, at much younger ages, who did not abuse themselves, from disease that they had no control over. Stop the phony hand wringing over this person who did nothing except be a part time semi-talented, nothing special actor and drug addict.

[Kimgelle]

10:47 AM on 05/29/2011

If you don't care then don't click the article. This part time semi-talen­ted, nothing special actor and drug addict, as you put it, was someone's family member, friend, and lover.

[Luna4182]

11:28 AM on 05/29/2011

Thank you. Addiction is a disease! With no cure, BUT it's treatable, like umm cancer. It can be arressted in most who are treated, but it can return

[augustmoon]

11:00 AM on 05/29/2011

Well you certainly picked an appropriate screen name.

[queenkiwinc]

11:26 PM on 05/28/2011

Dr. Drew is an ambulance chaser. He gets his fame from others misfortune.

[sue1mar3]

12:43 AM on 05/29/2011

Do you feel the same way about other psychiatrists? I think it is good to see on his show how drugs can have a negative impact on lives. I bet due to the show many people recognized the symtoms and got help for their family members.

[JoePenn]

06:46 AM on 05/29/2011

Yes - good thing Doc Drew is letting us know this - otherwise, I'm pretty sure we'd all thing drugs, addictive ones especially, were fantastically great for us due to their holier-than-thou lobbying group......

[Ian Perge]

12:15 PM on 05/29/2011

That's one of the problems here: Dr. Drew, while very much an MD *is not* a Licensed Psychiatrist or Psychologist but by all accounts considers himself one and throws around all the well-known buzzwords of one (my Better-Half is a Dissertation Defense away from her PhD in Psychology, and responds to at least 2/3rd of his Mental Health comments with "That's bullsh*t"). What he's spouted on his television show in that particular field is not only unhelpful but potentially dangerous to his Patients.

And as someone with multiple disabilities, one of which is Neuropathic Chronic Pain Syndrome and on heavily monitored/controlled dosages of Opiate-based painkillers, having viewed

[Dano Potter]

07:56 AM on 05/29/2011

You are obviously not a very bright person.

[leftyirishwoman]

11:00 PM on 05/28/2011

Chronic pain and opiate addiction is a horrible combination. Given enough pain, all you can sya is, "There but for the grace of God, go I."

[shespeaks]

10:34 PM on 05/28/2011

Has Dr. Drew helped anyone on the "reality" show where Conoway said producers told him to
produce "drama"? When you are being paid and given attention you are desperate for, doesn't it make sense that you might continue the behavior that was giving you what you craved. These people seem to enhance their behavior, from drug use and depression, to violence...just for the camera capturing the "spontaneous". Dr. Drew should be asking himself if he should have done more.

[Rasalom]

11:05 PM on 05/28/2011

Dr. Drew has asked himself that. How dare you insinuate anything else? Read the Mirror Effect.

[sue1mar3]

12:44 AM on 05/29/2011

Jeff Conaway had more problems than a short-treatment plan could fix. I never got the idea from the show that he wanted to change.

[Patrap]

09:13 PM on 05/28/2011

As a USMC /NOLA K survivor and resident on Opiates for pain mgt,,abuse is widespread,and Im lucky my intake is monitored as well as my overall Health as well.

Thanx to every one for contributing to my and others care post service.

Serving America to me,was a privilege.

Visit my wunderblog, A Pause to Remember

http://classic.wunderground.com/blog/Patrap/comment.html?entrynum=294

[longnow]

09:12 PM on 05/28/2011

The average star in NY can get around w/o hassel except
for the papa-zombies.
In todays NY Times I read about a new B'dway star
singer who "stopped taking steroids" as in anabolic steroids.
I didn't know that singers can extend their voices with AAS.
The unspoken secret, if it's possible to say that word, is
that anabolic steroids are not just frequently used, they are
like opiates, endemic

[Ossit]

07:43 PM on 05/28/2011

I loved Jeff Conaway's acting. The only thing I have of him is a Stingray episode "Cry Wolf" and Jeff played his part so well. He was funny. Loved him on Taxi and kept hoping he'd get a part. I choose to remember Jeff Conaway as an actor even though I haven't seen everything he did and a good person from what I've read from those who really knew him. I don't care what problems he might have had, I'm saddened by his passing just as I am of all the other actors before him He's in good company. He's with Burt Lancaster, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Bill Bixby, Patrick Swayze, John Wayne, Jack Lemon, Walter Matthau, Ossie Davis and countless others.

I'll light a candle for you Jeff.