For over 30 years, Danny Elliot suffered from severe chronic pain, the aftermath of nearly getting electrocuted to death in a home accident. The only thing that eased his pain was the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, which was prescribed to him by a doctor.
But in recent years, it had become almost impossible for Danny to obtain fentanyl—even with a prescription. With illicit fentanyl made by Mexican cartels causing thousands of overdose deaths, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been cracking down on all sources of supply—including doctors suspected of operating illegally and over-prescribing. A week after the DEA’s visit to Danny’s third doctor in four years, he killed himself. His wife of 25 years, Gretchen Elliott, also took her own life at the same time.
VICE News correspondent Keegan Hamilton first spoke to Danny two years ago for an episode of the podcast series “PAINKILLER: America’s Fentanyl Crisis”. This week, he went to Danny’s funeral and talked with friends and family who told a story of a tragedy that was as predictable as it was avoidable.
This story was reported and produced by Keegan Hamilton and Jesse Alejandro Cottrell. It was edited by Stephanie Kariuki and Annie Aviles.
VICE News Reports is produced by Sam Eagan, Sophie Kazis, Adreanna Rodriguez and Adriana Tapia. Our senior producers are Jesse Alejandro Cottrell, Janice Llamoca and Julia Nutter. Our supervising producer is Ashley Cleek. Our associate producer is Steph Brown. Sound design and music composition by Steve Bone, Pran Bandi, and Kyle Murdock. Annie Aviles is our Executive Editor and Janet Lee is Senior Production Manager for VICE Audio. Fact Checking by Nicole Pasulka. Our theme music is by Steve Bone. Our host is Arielle Duhaime-Ross.
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