112 | Dr. David Berry | The ER doctor who lost everything | Overcoming alcohol and opiate addiction | Helping our patients recover

I’d like to welcome to the show Dr. David M. Berry, MD, he is a growing voice in the recovery and addiction space, an area that we deal with a ton across EMS and the emergency departments. He is an Emergency Medicine physician with over two decades of experience.

 You can reach him at dberrymd@hotmail.com

He has an incredible story. He was conceived following a one-night stand and was almost aborted before being put up for adoption to a loving family. 

He had his first child and felt the gift of knowing his first genetically related family member for the first time.

Tragically, his first daughter was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a diagnosis not compatible with life and she later died around 9 months of age.

This led David to turn to alcohol to help deal with the pain. His family took notice of this, so he transitioned to opiates instead of alcohol, something that he could hide more easily. 

He was eventually found out and spent some time in jail and tried some treatment centers. He lost his medical license, his family left him and he became homeless.

His rock bottom was when he found himself homeless living under a bridge with no ID and realized that no one would even realize if he had died.

With the help of another doctor, David started taking Suboxone, which helped him to overcome opiate addiction.

This opened a path to Dr. Berry getting his medical license back and eventually led to a role as chief of staff of his hospital as well as opening up a rehab clinic in Colorado.

Hearing David’s story helps put in perspective the fact that none of us are that far removed from the homeless, drug addicted patient we care for in the ER.

He talks about his new appreciation for his life and his family

We talk about techniques to get patients to open up to us despite our short time with them:

“Do you mind if I examine you?” gives the patient some control in the situation

Some of our biggest misconceptions about these addicted patients is “They are trying to game the system,” maybe they are, but maybe they are totally out of options or are having a real emergency.

“What can I do to help you?” may open up a conversation about what they feel they need

Small, short conversations can make a big difference over time

We often don’t have enough time with patients to label them with anxiety disorder or opiate use disorder, so avoiding labels is probably best in the ED

Have a way to work up patients that avoids your bias